Privacy Policy

Customer Privacy Statement as per the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. (PIPEDA) CUSTOMER PRIVACY STATEMENT

At Goth & Company Inc. 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.

This Privacy Statement provides you with all the details regarding how and why we collect personal informational steps taken to ensure your information is secure. If you have any questions or concerns about our policies or practices feel free to contact our privacy commissioner at the address below. We encourage you to review our Customer Privacy Statement to be sure that you understand how information that you provide will be used.

What is Personal Information?

According to PIPEDA, Personal information is defined as information that would allow a specific individual to be identified or information that can be directly associated with an individual (e.g. age, marital and family circumstance, gender, income, debt, address or phone number, health information, or their activities and views).

Who We Are

Goth & Company Inc. are Trustees in Bankruptcy, licensed by the Canadian government to provide a wide variety of insolvency services, including but not limited to Bankruptcy, Consumer Proposals and Credit Counselling.

Why we collect Personal Information

In any insolvency engagement we are required to collect a certain amount of personal information. The information we collect is strictly necessary for us to advice the debtor as to the various options they face and what the consequences of these options may be. 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. Upon instruction from the debtor this information is 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. 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.

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.

As part of this you must realized that 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 behavior 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.

Protecting Personal Information

We understand personal nature of the information collected and are committed to ensuring the safety and security of this information. As such, we have taken the following steps:

• Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.
• 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.
• 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

Personal information is retained only for so long as is necessary for us to accomplish the requirements of the insolvency engagement. When no longer required, we will destroy, erase, or de-personalize the personal information. By law we are required to retain personal information for some time. We keep our insolvency and restructuring case files for a minimum of 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, Barton Goth, can be reached at:

Barton Goth, Goth & Company Inc. - Trustees in Bankruptcy
815, 5241 Calgary Trail
Edmonton, Alberta, T6H 5G8
Phone: (780) 435-5110
Fax: (780) 43503880
E-mail: privacy@debt-relief.ca

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.

Privacy Commission of Canada
Toll Free: 1-800-282-1376
Website: www.privcom.gc.ca