Privacy policy

BIOQuébec is committed to protecting your personal information, being transparent about the information it holds about you, and complying with the legal provisions set out in Quebec and Canadian laws.

The purpose of this policy is to clearly explain how we collect and process your personal information.

The data collected allows us to better fulfill our mission on a daily basis. Your personal information will not be used without your consent or for purposes other than those for which it was collected or in accordance with applicable laws.

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact BIOQuébec’s Privacy Officer using the contact information provided at the end of this policy.

BIOQuébec is committed to obtaining your explicit, free and informed consent regarding the collection, use and storage of your personal information.

Personal information refers to any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data from which identity has been removed, i.e., anonymous data. We may collect, use, store and transfer different types of personal information about you, which we have grouped as follows:

• Identity data includes first name, last name, title, customer number, date of birth and gender;
• Contact data includes address, billing address during a transaction, email address, organization, position held, telephone number(s), emergency contacts;
• Sociodemographic data includes household type, primary source of income, income, type of housing, reason for using services, ethnic origin, citizenship, family members, language spoken, health information (special diet, disability), education level;
• Payment and purchase data includes payment card details (credit or debit). Donation data includes details of donations made by and for you and other details about donations and services you have made or obtained from us;
• Marketing and communications data includes your preferences for receiving marketing communications from us and from our third parties, as well as your communication preferences. This also includes the fact that we may take note of conversations we have had with you in person and/or communications you have sent to BIOQuébec. This helps us manage our relationship with you and ensure that you only receive communications that are relevant and tailored to your preferences;
• Technical data includes Internet Protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technologies on the devices you use to access our website or social media;
• Usage data includes information about how you use our websites and services;
• Job and internship applicant data includes all data you have submitted to us through a job or internship application at BIOQuébec.
• Any other personal information that we have not requested (such as personal information you voluntarily provide to us in an email or by sharing your comments through our website or on our social media, or included in a registration form for an activity, use of a service, or a donation campaign.)

When you use our services, register for or participate in an activity or event, interact with BIOQuébec by email, through social media, by telephone or in person, we store the personal information you provide to us, such as your name, your email address, your postal address, your telephone number or other necessary information. We also keep a record of your purchases and your communications with us.

When you interact with our website or our social media, we may automatically collect technical data about your equipment, your actions and browsing patterns. We collect this personal data using cookies and other similar technologies. We use a consent platform that complies with Canadian consent standards on our website.

Our website contains hyperlinks to other sites. When you leave our website by using one of these links to access other sites, you will be subject to the security and privacy policies of those sites regarding your personal information.

We occasionally receive information about you from third parties, as indicated below:

• Analytics providers such as Google Analytics;
• Advertising networks such as Facebook and Google AdWords;
• Search information providers such as Google;
• Publicly accessible information about you.

The servers of these providers hosting data may be located outside Quebec or outside Canada.

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to achieve the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with our legal obligations.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we take into account the quantity, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm resulting from the unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and the possibility of achieving these purposes by other means, as well as the applicable legal requirements.

Your personal information will be retained for a minimum period of 5 years following the last activity, i.e., the last purchase or service rendered by our organization, as prescribed by our legal obligations.

We have implemented appropriate protective measures (both in terms of our procedures and the technology we use) to ensure that your personal information is as secure as possible.

We will ensure that all third parties we engage to process your personal information do the same and that they only process your personal information according to our instructions. Third parties will also be subject to a duty of confidentiality. BIOQuébec does not exchange, rent or sell personal information to third parties for commercial purposes.

BIOQuébec staff are authorized to access this personal information only when they need it and for the purposes for which it was collected. All employees must sign a charter attesting that maintaining confidentiality is a prerequisite for retaining their employment status at BIOQuébec. Employees are aware of the importance of preserving the confidentiality of personal information, and particular care is given to the disposal and destruction of such information to prevent any unauthorized party from accessing it.

BIOQuébec commits to taking the following actions when a privacy breach occurs:

• Record the incident in the register of incidents related to personal information to keep an accurate record of what happened;
• Inform the CAI (Commission d’accès à l’information) in the event of an incident involving personal information;
• Communicate information about the incident to the affected individuals within a reasonable timeframe, based on the risk and sensitivity of the personal information involved;
• Continuously review and improve the protective measures in place to ensure that your personal information is as secure as possible.

BIOQuébec offers you the opportunity to request access to your personal information, to request the correction of your personal information and to request the deletion of your personal information (right to be forgotten). Please note that we may not always be able to respond positively to your deletion request if there are specific legal reasons, which will be provided to you in response to your request. To exercise any of the rights listed above, please use the contact information at the end of this policy.

BIOQuébec offers you the option to limit or cancel the communications you receive from BIOQuébec. To modify or withdraw your consent, please use the contact information at the end of this policy.

Requests for access to personal information are processed within 30 business days following receipt of the formal request. Requests are free of charge

Please check this section of our website regularly to stay informed of changes made to our privacy policy.

From time to time, we may use the personal information collected for emerging or additional purposes and, if applicable, we will modify this privacy policy to include these emerging or additional purposes and obtain your consent through your continued use of our services.

Please contact us if you have any questions about any aspect of this privacy policy, and in particular if you wish to object to any processing of your personal information that we carry out for our legitimate organizational interests.

Please also contact us if you have any questions about the personal information we hold about you, or to change your contact preferences with us