CMHA National Privacy Policy

Last Updated: December 13, 2021

Who We Are

This is the Privacy Policy of the Canadian Mental Health Association, National (CMHA National). This Privacy Policy details how we collect, use, share and protect personal information in connection with the services we offer through our websites (referred to as the “Sites”) and through your dealings with us (referred to as the “Programs”).

This Privacy Policy governs our National body only. It does not cover individual branches, regions, or divisions of CMHA, which are also committed to the protection and security of your personal information.

What is Personal Information?

Personal Information is information or an opinion that can be used to reasonably identify an individual. Personal Information includes information that you provide to us voluntarily, information we automatically collect when you visit our Sites, and information collected when you register for our Programs.

Certain information is excluded from this definition, such as specific business contact information, or information that has been made anonymous or has been permanently de-identified, which means that we cannot identify you.

Applicability of This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to a number of Programs and Sites operated by CMHA National. These Programs and Sites are as follows:

• CMHA National
• Peer Support Canada
• Mental Health Week
• CMHA Conference
• Recovery Colleges

This Privacy Policy does not apply to several of our specialized Programs, which have their own policies. These Programs are:

• BounceBack
• Not Myself Today
• Ride Don’t Hide

The privacy policies of these Programs are accessible by clicking their names above. Please note that this will redirect you to their respective Sites.

What We Collect and How We Collect It?

In administering the Programs and Sites, we may collect certain information from you. You may voluntarily provide us with information, or we may automatically collect certain information via our Sites. Although most of the automatically collected information is anonymized and consists of aggregated usage data (such as how many individuals visited our Sites, peak hours of visits, and which page(s) were viewed), we may also collect your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address. We collect this information through the use of cookies, analytics, and similar technologies (See Cookies & Tracking).

General Information

In general, we collect contact information that you voluntarily provide to us such as your email address, first name, and last name, in order to provide you with information about our Programs. We gather and use this information to keep you informed about our activities and work within CMHA National, Mental Health Week, and our Conferences. This information is also collected when you sign up to receive newsletters, promotions of our advocacy work, and updates from us via our mailing lists.

 Conferences

If you choose to register for one of our conferences, we collect additional information in support of your registration. This may be collected to offer you a more personalized experience at our events, as well as for trend analysis. The information collected may include (but is not limited to) your language preference, personal pronoun, your opinions, and payment information.

When you create a profile in our conference platform, you may volunteer additional information to us. This information may be necessary for you to participate in promotions, contests, event streams, and additional event activities.

In instances where information may be shared with exhibitors, sponsors, or other delegates, we will request your express consent before doing so.

 Peer Support Canada

If you choose to register with our Peer Support Canada program, we collect additional information in support of your certification and involvement in the program.

In order to apply to this program, we will ask you to confirm whether you have “lived experience” in terms of mental health challenges or substance use and feel that you are on a path of recovery and wellness. We do not ask for specific details of such experience.

We will also ask you for your experience in the delivery of peer support in the past. This information is used to validate your application against the eligibility criteria at the start of the Program.

The information provided in your application will be kept confidential within the Peer Support Canada Program and your assigned Peer Support Canada Mentor.

 Donors

We collect and use Personal Information as necessary to process donations and payments, issue tax receipts, acknowledge donations, confirm renewal of ongoing donations, to keep you informed, and to maintain a donation history.

Further to this, certain information will be processed to comply with federal and provincial legislation and reporting requirements.

Donations made to CMHA National will be used for the area of greatest need. To direct your donation to a specific CMHA branch, region, or division, please contact them directly.

 Advocacy Work

In cases of advocacy work, we only work with aggregated, de-identified, or anonymous information.

 Recovery Colleges

We believe that education is empowerment, which is why we support individual CMHA branches, regions, or divisions across the country to provide education programs and offer grants. We receive de-identified data from branches, regions, or divisions, such as the number of students registered, their demographics, number of staff, and number of courses offered. We receive this information to understand if our support of these education programs is effective.

 Satisfaction Surveys

We may collect feedback about our Programs and resources on our Sites by means of surveys. Although we may collect your demographic information, such as your title and your location, we do not request your name or contact details. These surveys are optional and anonymous.

 Cookies and Tracking

Our Sites, like most other websites, use cookies, which are small text files installed on your computer when you visit our Sites. Cookies collect non-identifiable information about you and help us understand how visitors use our Sites so we can improve their design, layout, content and function.

We may use first-party, analytics, and third-party cookies on our Sites. First-party and analytics cookies are set and maintained by us, while third-party cookies are maintained by external companies.

Our first-party cookies are used to store your preferences so that you don’t have to enter them every time you visit our Sites. They also make our Sites more functional. 

Analytics cookies may be used internally for our research and are not shared with any third-parties. Their purpose is to aid in improving our Sites and services to you. These cookies assess how you interact with our Sites. The information we collect is de-identified.

We may engage third-parties to monitor and analyze the use of our Sites. For example, we use Google Analytics to track, monitor and report on traffic to our Sites. Google may track information such as your IP address, the type of web browser being used, and pages visited on our Sites. Any such third-party cookies are governed by the respective terms of service and privacy policies of those providers. For more information on how Google Analytics collects and processes information, please visit Google’s site “How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps” located at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

You can delete all cookies that are already on your device by clearing your browser history. You can also disable cookies being stored on your device; however, this may affect the functionality of our Sites and other sites you have visited. These settings are found in the “settings” section of your browser.

Be aware that clearing your browser history will clear all of the cookies for all the sites you have visited, even those where you have opted in. You may also lose saved login information and preferences for other websites.

Why Are We Processing Your Personal Information?

We use your Personal Information to provide you with our Programs and operate our Sites. For example, we may use your information to:

• Deliver services and features on our Sites and through our Programs;
• Facilitate and process donations you choose to make;
• Measure and understand the effectiveness of content on our Sites and our Programs so that we can understand where we can have greater impact on the community;
• Offer content and/or opportunities that we think will be of interest to you such as causes to support, events to attend, and Programs to participate in;
• Respond to your inquiries or requests;
• Keep our Sites and Programs secure and safe; and
• Comply with our legal or regulatory obligations.

We will only use your Personal Information for purposes described in this Privacy Policy or for purposes that we informed you of at the time of collecting your information. If we intend to use or disclose your Personal Information for a new purpose, we will ask you for your consent first, unless we are otherwise permitted by law or court order.

We may use de-identified and aggregated information for research and advocacy purposes. This information, whether used alone or in combination with other information, cannot identify you.

Who Do We Share Your Personal Information With?

We limit who we share your Personal Information with and how much information we disclose.

We may disclose your Personal Information under certain circumstances. These circumstances include:

• Service Providers in order to deliver the Programs and Sites to you. These providers offer solutions for hosting, marketing, payment processing, and other business critical operations. They are contractually required to comply with our privacy requirements and standards, ensuring that your Personal Information is protected and remains confidential.
• CMHA branches, regions, or divisions, if we administer your information on their behalf, or where we share information with them to administer a Program.
• Donation Recognition is shared when you opt to have your name recognized. We may also share your information in order to administer your donation with a secure third-party payment processor. We do not retain your credit card information outside of our payment processors.
• Third Parties to administer our Programs such as the Peer Support Canada program, where we may share your Personal Information with a mentor. This may also include third parties that you request we share your Personal Information with and provide us with your consent to do so.
• Public Policy Work we perform by means of research. Although our research results and polls do not disclose Personal Information, in the event the disclosure of Personal Information would be relevant, we will always seek your explicit consent to disclose such information to certain institutions and we will provide you with information about these institutions before you participate in the polls.
• Authorities such as law enforcement or competent courts, when it is necessary, or we are compelled to do so. This may include instances where there is a serious risk of harm to you or others, and/or where we have to take legal action to protect our or third-party rights.

We will not sell or rent your Personal Information. Furthermore, our contracts with service providers dictate that they may not use your information for their own benefit or for any services other than those requested by us.

Where Is Your Personal Information Processed?

In some cases, your information may be stored and processed outside of the country or region where it was originally collected. Some of these countries may offer fewer rights regarding your Personal Information than you have in your country of residence.

Your agreement to the terms of this Privacy Policy, followed by your submission of information in connection with our services, represents your agreement to this cross-border transfer of Personal Information.

How Is Your Personal Information Protected?

We have technical, organizational, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of your Personal Information. These include safeguards such as ensuring our staff sign confidentiality agreements, limiting access to our facilities, and granting access to information based on a need-to-know basis. We review and update our safeguards regularly to ensure your Personal Information is protected.

It is important to note that no computer system or online communication is perfectly secure.  We encourage you to take appropriate steps to protect your information, including not sharing with us more information than is necessary. 

What Are Your Rights?

You have the right to access and correct the Personal Information you provide to us. Simply send us a written request to [email protected]. Before granting you access to your Personal Information, we may need to authenticate you. Please note there may be exceptional circumstances, in accordance with law, that we will be unable to grant you access or correct your information. If this is the case, we will inform you and provide you with a reason why we cannot fulfill your request.

While you may update your information, it is your duty to ensure you provide us with accurate and up-to-date information so that we can correctly provide you with Programs and content.

At any time, you may also withdraw your consent to have your Personal Information processed. In order to withdraw your consent, you can send us a written request to [email protected]. If you wish to stop receiving marketing or promotional emails from us, including newsletters, you can opt-out of these communications by unsubscribing directly in the email or by contacting us. Please note, you cannot unsubscribe from some emails such as those related to the provision of our Programs or services in which you are registered.

Changes To The Policy

This Privacy Policy is current as of the date, which appears at the top. We recommend that you read this Privacy Policy carefully on a periodic basis as we may revise it from time to time. When you share your Personal Information with us, you consent to the collection and processing of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy. 

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or

Canadian Mental Health Association, National
250 Dundas St. West, Suite 401
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 2Z5

(416) 646-5557