Internet Privacy Policy

Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Herpers Chagani Gowling Inc. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. We also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle personal information. This document describes our Internet privacy policy.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. Personal information includes information that relates to their personal characteristics (e.g. gender, age, marital and family circumstance, income, debt, home address or phone number, cause of financial difficulties), their health (e.g. disabilities, health conditions resulting in loss of income) or their activities and views (e.g., opinions expressed by an individual or our opinion about the causes of personal bankruptcy). Personal information is to be contrasted with business information (e.g. an individual’s business address and telephone number), which is not protected by privacy legislation.

Who We Are

Herpers Chagani Gowling Inc. are Trustees in Bankruptcy performing Insolvency Services including Bankruptcy, Consumer Proposals and Credit Counselling.

We Collect Personal Information: Primary Purposes

About Debtors

Like all Insolvency and restructuring professionals we assume a number of roles. For example, we can act as a trustee in bankruptcy, an administrator of a consumer proposal, a receiver, a manager and an agent of a secured creditor. Depending on our precise role (and the role can change over time) the type of personal information we collect, use and disclose about a debtor can vary.

However, in general terms, we typically collect personal information about debtors in order to understand their assets and liabilities, their income and expenses, their family circumstances, the reasons for their financial difficulties and what contributions they might reasonably make towards their debts. This information is typically then used and disclosed to file the appropriate forms with the government (e.g., Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, Canada Revenue Agency), the Court, if applicable, and to advise the creditors as required under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

While we collect most of this information from the debtor, we may also collect some of this information from the creditors, family members of the debtor, those involved in financial transactions with the debtor, public records and others with relevant information in order to ensure that we have all of the information as accurately as possible. This is part of our obligation under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

Debtors are usually asked to consent to this collection, use and disclosure of their personal information. However, sometimes we may collect, use and disclose information without consent, for example, in the following circumstances:

where we are acting as an agent of the creditor for the purpose of collecting a debt;
where we are required to do so by law;
where the information is publicly available in a prescribed record; or
in emergency situations.

Consent may be written, verbal or implied.

About Members of the General Public

For members of the general public, our primary purpose for collecting personal information is usually to gather and review information that is relevant to an issue affecting our own debtor files. Thus, the personal information is usually incidental to our managing a debtor file. Often this collection, use and disclosure is done without the individual's consent because we are reviewing an apparent breach of agreement or the law and obtaining consent would compromise the investigation, or because we are required by law to make the inquiries.

Another primary purpose for collecting personal information about members of the general public is to make them aware of insolvency and restructuring services in general or our firm in particular. For example, while we try to collect work contact information where possible, we might collect home addresses, fax numbers and e-mail addresses. We try to obtain consent before collecting any such personal information (unless it is available in a prescribed public record), but where this is not, for any reason, possible, we will upon request immediately remove any personal information from our distribution list.

On our website, we only collect, with the exception of cookies (electronic markers identifying computers that have previously visited our website), the personal information you provide and only use that information for the purpose you gave it to us (e.g., to respond to your e-mail message, to register for a course, to subscribe to our newsletters). Cookies are only used to help you navigate our website and are not used to monitor you.

We Collect Personal Information: Related and Secondary Purposes

Like most organizations, we also collect, use and disclose information for purposes related to, or secondary to, our primary purposes. The most common examples of our related and secondary purposes are as follows:

To invoice for our services or to collect unpaid accounts.
To advise the public, including referral sources of our newsletters, courses we provide and our services.
Insolvency and restructuring professionals are regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, provincial regulators for accountants, the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals and others who may inspect our records and interview our staff as a part of their regulatory activities in the public interest. In addition, as professionals, we will report serious misconduct, incompetence or incapacity of other professionals, whether they belong to other organizations or our own. Also, our firm believes that it should report information suggesting serious illegal behaviour to the authorities. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations. These reports could include personal information about debtors, creditors, or other individuals, to support the concern (e.g., improper services), although we try to keep this disclosure to a minimum. Also, like all organizations, various government agencies (e.g., Canada Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, etc.) have the authority to review our files and interview our staff as a part of their mandates. In these circumstances, we may consult with professionals (e.g., lawyers, accountants) who will investigate the matter and report back to us.
Debtors, creditors or other individuals we deal with may have questions about the services we have provided or how we have handled personal information about them. We also provide ongoing services for some individuals over a period of months or years for which previous records are helpful. We retain our insolvency and restructuring information for a minimum of four years after the date of discharge to enable us to respond to those questions and provide these services. Corporate records kept for a minimum of 7 years following the submission of the last tax return.

Protecting Personal Information

We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:

Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area.
Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, passwords are used on computers. All of our cell phones are digital, which signals are more difficult to intercept (however, we still are careful on cell phones because sometimes they switch over to an analog service).
Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.
Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct line or is anonymized or encrypted.
Staff are trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy.
External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must provide us with appropriate privacy assurances.

Retention and Destruction of Personal Information

We need to retain personal information for some time to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about the services provided or how we handled personal information about you and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. However, we do not want to keep personal information too long in order to protect your privacy.

We keep our insolvency and restructuring case files for about four years after discharge. Our contact directories are much more difficult to systematically destroy, so we remove such information when we can if it does not appear that we will be contacting you again. However, if you ask, we will remove such contact information right away. We keep any personal information relating to our general correspondence, newsletters, seminars and marketing activities for about two years after the contact or event is over.

We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed or reformatted.

You Can Look at Your Information

With some exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. Often all you have to do is ask. We can help you identify what records we might have about you. We will also try to help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). We will need to confirm your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with this access. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such requests.

If there is a problem, we may ask you to put your request in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you within 30 days if at all possible and tell you the reason, as best we can, as to why we cannot give you access.

If you believe there is a mistake in the information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that we made a mistake, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we sent this information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we will still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.

Do You Have a Question?

Our Privacy Officer, Ross MacLeod, can be reached at:

Ross MacLeod
Herpers Chagani Gowling Inc.
Trustees in Bankruptcy
4 Hughson St. S.
Suite 300
Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z1
Phone: (905) 529-3328
Fax: (905) 529-3980
E-mail: rmacleod@310debt.com

He will attempt to answer any questions or concerns you might have.

If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you may make it in writing to our Privacy Officer. He will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly and that you are provided with a formal decision and reasons in writing.

This policy is made under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. It is a complex Act and provides some additional exceptions to the privacy principles that are too detailed to set out here. There are some rare exceptions to the commitments set out above.

For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada oversees the administration of the privacy legislation in the private sector. The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman for privacy disputes.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner can be reached at:

112 Kent Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H3
Phone: (613) 995-8210
Toll-free: 1-800-282-1376
Fax: (613) 947-6850
TTY: (613) 992-9190
www.privcom.gc.ca