LEGAL NOTICE

Naturally you would expect an Association made up of and serving lawyers, to have a page on their website serving notice on users of said website, of their rights, privileges, obligations, etc. (or the lack thereof).

Well we are not about to disappoint you . . .

Here It Is!

(all the stuff our lawyers made us say)

Privacy Policy

Introduction

The Executive and staff of Bruce Law Association (“BLA”), recognize and respect their members’ personal information and endeavour to safeguard that information from unauthorized use, retention or disclosure to third parties. The protection of our members’ personal information is governed by the BLA privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”), as follows:

The Privacy Policy of the BLA assures you, as a past, existing or future member, that the Executive and staff of the BLA will handle your personal information in accordance with this policy pursuant to all applicable Federal and Provincial legislation, including, but not limited to, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”).

Scope of the Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy governs personal information collected from members and from organizations that have information relevant and necessary to fulfilling the services which the BLA provides.

Personal information is defined under PIPEDA as any information that is identifiable or directly attributable to an individual. It does not cover information about an individual that is available from a public source, such as a telephone directory or legal directory. It also does not cover aggregated data, used for statistical and reporting purposes, from which data a member’s identity cannot be determined.

This Privacy Policy applies to the Executive of the BLA, staff and contracted employees.

Purposes for Collecting Personal Information

The BLA collects personal information for the following limited purposes:

To establish and maintain a membership database and an e-mail network for the collection of membership dues, publication of a members’ directory, sign-out cards, lockers, record keeping and statistical purposes and to respond to legitimate inquiries from the public; and
To establish and maintain mailing lists for newsletters, notification of workshops and seminars, or legal updates that BLA believes might be informative or of benefit to the members.

Consent to the Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Personal Information

When an individual commences or renews a membership with the BLA, he or she will be deemed to consent to the BLA collecting, using and disclosing personal information obtained for the purposes listed above unless he or she explicitly advises otherwise in writing.

The BLA does not sell, barter, or lease personal information it obtains from its members to third parties (i.e. the BLA does not provide our member mailing list to businesses).

Under PIPEDA and other Federal and Provincial Legislation, the BLA may disclose personal information without a member’s consent to:

government or legal enforcement agencies if the BLA determines that the member has provided incorrect information for fraudulent or illegal purposes;
government or legal enforcement agencies if the information is collected in the midst of a criminal investigation;
legal enforcement agency if the BLA determines that there is imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm, including psychological harm, to an identifiable person or group of persons;
disclosure to a third party individual or organization, if so ordered by a Court or Tribunal of competent jurisdiction; and
defend against allegations of criminal or civil liability, or professional malpractice or misconduct, by the member or former member.

Accuracy of a MEMBER’s Personal Information

The BLA endeavours to ensure that all personal information provided by the member and in its possession, is accurate, current and as complete as is necessary for the purposes for which the personal information was collected, used and maintained. Upon notification by a member that the personal information requires correction or updating, the BLA will make the necessary amendments to the member’s file where applicable.

Retention of the MEMBER’s Personal Information

If the person is no longer a member of the BLA, his/her personal information will continue to be updated and maintained unless the person requests otherwise.

Safeguards

The BLA has implemented a number of physical, organizational and technological safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the member’s personal information, including but not limited to:

Members’ files are maintained electronically and in paper form, located in areas where access is restricted to authorized personnel.

The BLA utilizes the most current firewall, virus protection and other technological safeguards to protect personal information that is retained on the computer network. The BLA has developed and implemented safe Internet and email use protocols for its staff and contracted employees to reduce the risk of inadvertent disclosure as a result of Internet-sourced viruses.

Regarding electronic transmission of personal information (i.e. email), there is no method of transmitting or storing data that is completely secure. The BLA uses all available technological security in the transmission of the member’s personal information.

Notwithstanding these technological safeguards, all Internet transmissions are susceptible to possible loss, misrouting, interception and misuse.

Openness

The BLA makes available its privacy policies and procedures regarding the handling of personal information that it collects on the Internet website on our website (see the link in the footer of each page: "Legal: Privacy Policy & Terms of Use:). As well, any inquiries regarding personal information management practises may be directed to the Chief Privacy Officer, namely, the President of the BLA.

Individual Access

Under PIPEDA, an individual is entitled to access to the personal information held about him/her with the following exceptions as permitted under the Federal Privacy Legislation:

The BLA will deny access if the individual seeking access fails to produce sufficient identification to verify that they are the individual about whose personal information access is being sought;
No access will be granted to personal information that is not about the individual seeking access;
No access will be granted to information that is part of a criminal investigation;
No access will be granted where such access would harm or interfere with law enforcement activities and other investigative functions of a body authorized by statute to perform such functions;
No access will be granted to information where such access might threaten the life, safety and security, including psychological safety, of the individual seeking access;
No access will be granted to the individual who is a minor or mentally incompetent.

The BLA reserves the right to refuse access that it believes is repetitious, frivolous, or vexatious.

Upon receiving a request for access in writing, the BLA will endeavour to have the information available to the individual seeking access within 60 days of verification of the individual’s identity.

The individual entitled to access may challenge the completeness of his/her personal information under the BLA’s care and control. Upon successful demonstration that there is an error in the personal information held by the BLA, the BLA will amend the information where appropriate.

Investigating Complaints

The President and Executive of the BLA, or their designate, will investigate all concerns or complaints respecting the handling of personal information under the control of the BLA that are received in writing. As promptly as possible, the President and Executive of the BLA, or their designate, will report to the individual the results of the investigation and, where the complaint is found to be justified, steps will be taken to resolve the matter.

If the individual is dissatisfied with the report provided by the President and Executive of the BLA, or their designate, or feels that the corrective action taken by the BLA is insufficient, the individual may direct a complaint to the President of the BLA or the Federal Privacy Commissioner in writing.

Amendment to the BLA Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is in effect as of September1, 2020. Further, this Privacy Policy is subject to amendment in response to developments in the privacy legislation. The President and Executive of the BLA, or their designate, will review and revise this Privacy Policy from time to time and notification of any changes in this policy will be posted on the BLA Internet website. Any changes in the Privacy Policy will apply to personal information collected from the date of the posting of the revised Privacy Policy on the BLA website.

Contact Information

If a question arises regarding access to your personal information held by the BLA, or there is a concern about the manner in which the BLA collects, uses, retains and discloses your personal information as a member of the BLA, please contact:

President:

Andrew Loucks

Louck& Loucks

Chesley ON N0G 1L0

P: 519-363-3223

E: aloucks@louckslaw.ca

And

Administrator:

John Gilbert

Bruce Law Association

Bruce County Courthouse

207 Cayley St

PO Box 818

Walkerton ON N0G 2V0

P: 519-881-2384

or Toll Free: 1-866-486-4365

E: bruce.law.assoc@gmail.com

Terms of Use

The following sections of this page state the terms and conditions under which you may use this website, which is the property of the Bruce Law Association (“BLA”). Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of these terms and conditions.

These terms were last revised on September 1, 2022.

The contents of this site are owned by and copyrighted by the BLA and others. You may print or copy portions of this site for your own use only – provided that all copyright and trademark provisions contained on the site remain intact.

Unauthorized use of any portion of this site beyond that contained in the previous paragraph may violate copyright, trademark and other laws.

This site is for informational purposes only and nothing contained herein constitutes the provision of legal advice. The user should contact a qualified lawyer in the appropriate jurisdiction if legal advice is required.

While the BLA uses reasonable efforts to maintain this site in an up-to-date fashion, it does not warrant the completeness, timeliness or accuracy of any information contained on this site, and may make changes thereto at any time in its sole discretion without notice. All information contained herein is provided to users “as is”. The BLA disclaims all warranties or conditions, express or implied, in respect of any information on this site, including any implied warranties or conditions of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability and non-infringement.

In no event shall the BLA or any third parties mentioned on the site be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, direct, incidental or consequential damages, lost profits, or damages resulting from lost data or business interruption) resulting from the use or inability to use this site or the material contained on the site whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory, and whether or not the BLA is advised of the possibility of such damages.

The user will indemnify the BLA and its' officers, directors and staff, for any damages the BLA may suffer resulting from its use of this site or breach of these terms.

This site is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, excluding any conflicts of law provisions and excluding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Any legal action against the BLA shall take place in the courts of the Province of Ontario. The parties attorn to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario.

You may link to the home page of this site; however, you may not link within this site or within frames on your site.

Any third-party sites that are linked to this site are not under the BLA's control. The BLA is not responsible for anything on the linked sites, including without limitation any content, links to other sites, any changes to those sites, or any policies those sites may have. The BLA provides links as a convenience only and such links do not imply any endorsement by the BLA of those sites.

To the extent that the BLA collects any information from its users, either by cookies, actively provided information, or from its Web hosting service, it uses such information only for its own purposes. Such information is not knowingly provided to any third parties and will not be divulged unless required by competent authorities.

The BLA may be contacted at: