OAGS Website Privacy Policy
The Ontario Association of General Surgeons (OAGS) is a voluntary, not-for-profit professional organization that represents general surgeons in Ontario, Canada. The OAGS is committed to keeping the personal information of our members, customers (general public and non-members) and industry partners (exhibitors and sponsors) information accurate, confidential and secure. OAGS complies with provincial and federal privacy laws when it collects, uses or discloses personal information. This privacy policy describes the personal information that the OAGS collects, how it is managed and the circumstances under which it may be disclosed.
What is personal information?
Personal information describes most types of information that can be linked to an identifiable individual, such as; name, home address, telephone number and e-mail address, and any financial information including credit card information. Personal information may not include certain types of “business information” that is publicly available in a telephone-book listing or appears on a business card such as; job title, business address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers.
Collection, use and disclosure of personal information (including e-commerce)
The OAGS collects personal information about members, customers and industry partners that is relevant to your relationship with the OAGS for the purpose of providing communications, program delivery, events, joblistings, as well as to establish, maintain and manage our relationship with you.
For our members:
The primary purpose for which we collect and maintain personal information is to ensure that our members qualify for membership within the association, and once established as a member in good standing, to provide members with membership services and exclusive benefits. Personal information is also collected and used for the payment of annual dues and registration fees for programs, job posting services and/or events throughout the year.
For our members, visitors and industry partners (Cookies/Advertising):
The OAGS relies on implied consent to collect, use and disclose your personal information and may be used to complete the following transactions:
- advertising on our Joblimsting section of our site
- to provide payment for registration fees for a program and/or event
- to contact the OAGS through our web site and enable a response to be provided
- to analyze, measure and better understand how visitors engage with our site and how to improve their experience in the future
The OAGS does not rent, sell, barter, trade or distribute our Membership List. Industry partners will typically be provided with a list of attendees’ minimal business information (name,city,hospital) after an event for follow-up, provide presentation material, etc.
The OAGS shall not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law. Personal information shall only be kept as long as it remains necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or as required by law.
Under certain exceptional circumstances, OAGS may have a legal duty or right to disclose personal information without the individual’s knowledge or consent. Various government agencies such as Canada Revenue Agency, Human Rights Commission, Ontario Ministry of Finance, Ontario Ministry of Labour, etc. and law enforcement, have the authority to review our files and interview our staff when deemed necessary. These agencies have their own strict privacy obligations.
OAGS may also collect information about website viewers’ online activities and their computer or other electronic device. We may also use trusted third party services that track this information on our behalf. This information may include the Internet Protocol (IP) address, domain name, browser type, date and time of the viewers request and information provided by tracking technologies, such as cookies. This information does not identify any individual. This collection of information is a standard function of most software/websites that many of us access on a daily basis.
Third Party Links
The OAGS may offer the User, for their convenience, links to third-party websites or parts of websites. It is also possible that other sites contain links to the Site. Links to these sites or the fact that the Site is linked to in other sites does not mean that the OAGS approves the organizations referred to by these links, the information, material, services or products that they offer, or that it gives any guarantee in this regard. The OAGS does not exercise or assume any control or responsibility over the content displayed (including the right to display it), links, products, goods, services or any other material available on these sites, as well as their operation, security or confidentiality practices.
The User accesses these sites entirely at his or her own risk. Consequently, it is the User’s responsibility to review the third party terms/ privacy policies and exercise discernment when using these sites, particularly when relying on the appropriateness, usefulness or completeness of their content. The OAGS cannot under any circumstances be held liable for any direct or indirect damage or loss in connection with their use or the inability to use them. Links to sites offering downloadable files/software are provided solely for the convenience of the User and the OAGS cannot be held liable for any difficulty associated with downloading such documents/software.
Accuracy of Your Information
The OAGS relies heavily on our members in order to maintain accurate, current and complete personal information in active files. Members will be able to access the system and make changes themselves, or changes can be phoned or e-mailed to the office and we will make them for you. Changes that have been made by members are reviewed at the office and corrections will be made if necessary, however, we will not take responsibility for member postings. Information contained in closed files is not updated.
Right to Information
Upon written request, OAGS members and former members will have the right to see what personal information is held on file. Before your file will be opened, your identity will need to be confirmed.
If it is found that there is an error or the personal information is incomplete, OAGS will promptly correct or complete the information. Any unresolved differences shall be noted in the individual’s file. Where necessary, OAGS may communicate with third parties that have access to the personal information and may provide the amended information or the existence of any unresolved differences.
If at any point you no longer wish to participate as an OAGS member, your practice information will be deleted for the OAGS public website and OAGS member’s portal database, but may be stored offline in a secure archive for the legally required time, should you wish to access it or use it to rejoin as a member.
Safeguards
OAGS uses the appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect personal information against the risk of loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, modification or destruction. All online transactions and information on the site are secured using 256-bit encryption with the WHC RapidSSL® TLS RSA Certificate.
OAGS shall protect personal information disclosed to third parties by contractual agreements in order to maintain the confidentiality of the information and restricting the purposes for which it is to be used.
All OAGS staff with access to personal information shall be required to respect the confidentiality of the information.
Changes to the policy
OAGS reserves the right to make changes to the on-line Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will not alter OAGS’ commitment to keep safe your personal information, or the manner in which it is used. Any changes will be posted on this website.
Contact OAGS
If you would like to contact us for any reason regarding our privacy practices, please contact the OAGS using the contact form on our website.
Effective January, 2025.
