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Direct Sellers Association of Canada Privacy Policy

Last Updated: November 16, 2021

The Direct Sellers Association of Canada (the “DSA”) is committed to the protection of personal information. The DSA’s Privacy Policy was designed to inform members and other individuals of the privacy practices employed by the DSA with respect to the collection, disclosure and use of personal information. At any time, you may contact the DSA with questions or concerns regarding the Privacy Policy or our practices.

Privacy Policy Summary

What Personal Information we collect. The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us and our website. We may collect your name, contact information, information to process your application or purchase, such as billing information, information you provide if you apply for a scholarship, such as educational history, goals and interests, information about your business or professional goals, and other information you provide, such as in your communications with us.

How we Use the Personal Information we collect. We use the information we collect for the activities and business of the Association, which includes establishing and managing memberships, registering you for and administering our programs and events, evaluating applications and awarding scholarships, to respond to you, to send you information including promotional and political materials, to administer our promotions and conduct surveys and research, to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, to statistically analyze site usage, and to improve our content. If you are a Member or Valued Contributor, your name, business name, address, website address, phone and fax number will be posted in our public directory.

How we collect and use information using technology. We collect some information automatically when you visit our site using technologies such as cookies, pixels and web beacons. This includes IP Address, device ID, operating system, browser type, username, the pages of the site that you visit, the time spent on those pages, access dates and times, the links and other portions of the site you click, how you access the site (e.g., a link or a search engine), which pages are most popular, and general location derived from IP address. We use this to personalize content, understand user interests, understand and improve the success of our advertising, and to provide social media features. We also use this information to ensure the website functions properly, that it suits user interests, and for statistical analysis. We may advertise on third party websites based on your visit to our sites, and we may work with third party service providers, such as Google Analytics and Facebook, to do so. We collect analytical information when you interact with our emails, such as if you open them, or click the links they contain, the time you do so, and the actions you take following this, such as responding to a survey or registering for an event.

How we share the Personal Information we collect. We may share information with service providers that help us carry out the purposes we describe in this policy. We may also disclose information with your consent, or if permitted or required by law.

Your Choices. If you receive our email advertising, you may contact us to unsubscribe, or use the “unsubscribe” tool in such email. For information about how to opt out of online targeted advertising, please see How We Collect Information Using Technology below.

Full Privacy Policy

What Personal Information We Collect:

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. The personal information collected by the DSA depends on how you interact with us and our website. For example, we may collect:

  • Information to identify you, such as your name, and contact information such as your address, telephone number, email address, and fax number,
  • If you apply for membership, information to allow us to process and administer your application and membership, such as contact and billing information,
  • Information you provide if you apply for a scholarship with us, such as information regarding your educational history, goals and interests,
  • Information about your business or professional role,
  • Information contained in your communications with us such as if you submit an inquiry or correspond with us for example by using the “Contact Us” form on our website, and
  • Any other information you choose to provide.

How we Use Personal Information:

The DSA uses the personal information it obtains for the activities and business functions of the Association. For example, we may use personal information:

  • If you apply for membership, we use the information you provide to process your application, and manage your membership, including processing your payments,
  • To allow you to register for our programs and events,
  • To evaluate your application for a scholarship, and if it is accepted to provide the scholarship,
  • To respond to your questions, inquires and complaints,
  • To send you information you have chosen to receive, such as our newsletters, promotional materials, and materials relating to the political positions and goals of the DSA, to improve our communications and understand your interests, we collect analytical information regarding your interaction with our emails, such as whether you open them, click the links they contain, the time you do so, and the actions you take following this, such as responding to a survey or registering for an event,
  • To administer a contest or other promotion you have chosen to enter, including to confirm contest winners’ identities and obtain their contact information to communicate with them to administer the contest,
  • To conduct surveys or research,
  • As a Member or Valued Contributor- Supplier, your name, business name, address, website address, phone and fax number will be posted in our directory to be viewed by the general public. A master list of the current DSA Members and Valued Contributor- Suppliers, by product and/or service is posted on the DSA’s website. If you would like to have your information removed from the directory, you may contact us using the information below,
  • We may use personal information and technological information as described below, to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, to statistically analyze site usage, to improve our content and product or service offerings and to customize our site’s content, layout, and services,
  • For other purposes that we disclose to you and to which you consent, and
  • For other purposes which are permitted or required by law.

We may also anonymize, aggregate or otherwise strip any personal information or other information we collect of all personally identifying characteristics and may use or share that aggregated, anonymized data with third parties for any purposes we deem appropriate.

How we may Disclose Personal Information:

We share your personal information with third party service providers that help us use your personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. For example, we may work with delivery companies, payment processors, companies that help us run our website, and analytics service providers.

We reserve the right to transfer any personal information we have in the event of bankruptcy, or if we or any part of our organization merges with or is acquired by a third party, or if any such transaction is proposed.

We may also disclose personal information to third parties if we have reason to believe that disclosing such information is necessary to: (i) conduct investigations of possible breaches of law; (ii) identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating an agreement they have with us; (iii) to protect our rights, safety or property, or those of others; (iv) for other purposes that we disclose to you and to which you consent, and (v) for other purposes which are permitted or required by law.

The DSA retains the right to share personal information with its legal advisors and other third-party service providers.

The DSA may also disclose personal information where required or permitted by law, including for the purposes of specific legal action.

How we Collect Information Using Technology

A cookie is a small file which is placed on your device’s hard drive. Cookies and other technologies can help analyze web traffic or let us know what portions of our site people visit. We may use cookies to identify and keep track of, among other things, your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address or device ID, operating system, browser type, username, the pages of the website that you visit, the time spent on those pages, access dates and times, the links and other portions of the site you click, and general location derived from IP address.

Cookies allow our website to respond to you by personalizing the content on the site, providing social media features, and remembering likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences and use of the site.

This helps us analyze data about web page traffic, ensure the website is functional and improve our website in order to better tailor it to user needs and interests. We also use this information for statistical analysis purposes.

Some of our web pages and electronic communications may contain images, which may or may not be visible to you, known as “Web Beacons” (sometimes referred to as “clear gifs”). Web Beacons collect information that includes a cookie number; time and date of a page view; and a description of the page on which the Web Beacon resides. These are used to track usage of the website and activities associated with the website.

We may advertise our products and/or services on third party websites based on your visit to our websites. For example, if you visit our website, you may see advertisements for our products and/or services on other third-party sites, or on other portions of our own website. For information on how to opt-out of this, please see the end of this section.

Google Analytics and the Facebook Pixel are used on our website.  Please visit these third-party sites to review their privacy policies and manage their cookies, and for information on how to opt-out of some of these practices:

  • Google Analytics is a web analytics service that provides statistics and analytical tools for search engine optimization and marketing purposes. We use Google Analytics on our website to analyze how users use the website, and to provide advertisements to you on other websites. Google Analytics may collect information such as general location as inferred from IP address, the amount of time a visitor spends on our website, which pages are more frequently accessed, how the website is accessed (either directly, a search engine, or from a link), what sort of software is used (e.g., operating system, browser type, etc.), as well as demographics. For more information on how Google Analytics collects and processes information, please visit: google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

For information about how to opt out of having your information used by Google Analytics, visit: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

  • We work with Facebook to collect data that helps us track conversions from Facebook ads, optimize ads, and remarket to users (e.g., targeting ads). For more information on Facebook’s advertising tools and your options to opt-out, please visit:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies

Some of our advertising services providers are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (https://optout.networkadvertising.org) or the Digital Advertising Alliance (https://optout.aboutads.info). If you do not wish to receive personalized ads, please visit their opt-out pages to learn about how you may opt out of receiving web-based personalized ads from member companies.

You can also choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

How we Protect Personal Information

The DSA uses physical, organizational, and technological means to help protect the personal information we hold against loss and unauthorized access and disclosure.

Personal information may be accessed by persons within our organization, or our third-party service providers, who require such access to carry out the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.  Personal information we collect is primarily managed from our offices in Etobicoke, Ontario.

Please only submit information to public areas of our website, such as our job posting program and member directory, if you want that information to be published. Please note that the DSA reserves the right not to publish submissions, or to remove them after they are posted. Likewise, note that the DSA cannot control, and is not responsible for, how any third parties may use the information you choose to post to public portions of our site.  You should exercise caution when posting information publicly.

Even though we have taken steps to help protect the personal information in our control, you should know that we cannot fully eliminate security risks associated with personal information. No security measures can provide absolute protection. We cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us.

We may transfer Personal Information to other Countries

Personal information that we collect may be stored and processed in Canada or any other country in which we or our service providers maintain facilities, including in the United States, India, and the Philippines. Personal information processed and stored in another country may be subject to disclosure or access requests by the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies in that country according to its laws.

By using our site or by providing us with personal information, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country. If you have any questions regarding our use of service providers outside of Canada, you may contact us using the contact information we provide below.

Accessing and Correcting your Personal Information

You have a right to request access to your personal information and to request a correction to it if you believe it is inaccurate. If you would like to have access to the personal information we have about you, or if you would like to have it corrected, please contact us using the contact information provided below. Please note that in some cases, we may not be able to allow you to access certain personal information in certain circumstances, for example if it contains personal information of other persons, or for legal reasons.

To help protect against fraudulent requests for access to your personal information, we may ask you for information to allow us to confirm that the person making the request is you or is authorized to access your information before granting access. For example, we may require you to verify your identity before you access your personal information.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the below address.

Your Choices

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

  • You may write to or email us using the contact information below to withdraw your consent to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
  • If you receive commercial email from us, you can also unsubscribe using the unsubscribe tool we provide in such messages.
  • For information on how to opt-out of certain online targeted advertising and analytics, please view How we Collect Information Using Technology above.

Please note that if you seek to withdraw consent from our processing of personal information necessary to provide our services, we may no longer be able to provide those services to you.

Children

We do not intend to collect information from children who are under 13 years of age. If you are under 13, please do not provide us with any information. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child who has provided us with personal information, you may ask to review or delete this information.

Third Party Links

The DSA may direct users to external websites and/or referrals to certain third parties’ products or services. If you choose to visit a third party’s website or use its products or services, please be aware that the third party’s privacy policy, and not the DSA Privacy Policy, will govern your activities and any information you disclose while interacting with the third party. Once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, the DSA cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this Privacy Policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to any website you visit.

We may Change this Privacy Policy

The DSA reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy as it deems appropriate. You may find the most current version of the Privacy Policy by visiting the DSA website. Your continued use of the DSA website will be subject to the obligations set forth by the current Privacy Policy.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, any personal information you have submitted to us, or if you would like to:

  • access personal information that you have already provided to us so that you can correct or update it;
  • request the deletion of personal information regarding your minor child; or
  • to submit a complaint,

Please advise us by contacting our Privacy Officer by writing to: 180 Attwell Drive, Suite 250, Toronto, ON  M9W 6A9. You may also email us at info@dsa.ca.