1.00 Preamble

The Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d’orientation du Québec (hereinafter the “Order” or “we/us/our”) recognizes the importance of protecting the personal information it collects on its website or through any other technological means. The Order therefore assumes responsibility for protecting the personal information it retains or entrusts, when applicable, to a third party.

“Personal information” refers to any information concerning a physical person that can be used directly or indirectly to identify that individual. Generally speaking, personal information does not include professional information such as one’s name, job title, workplace and email addresses, and work telephone number.

This Privacy Policy applies to anyone who visits the Order’s website, or the Espace parents or Espace compétence sites, and uses any of the various services found on those sites or interacts with us using those sites or any other technological means.

The Policy outlines how the Order protects your personal information in accordance with the provisions of applicable law in Québec, specifically the:

  • Professional Code (CQLR, c C-26)
  • Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information (CQLR, c A-2.1) with regard to documents held for the purpose of supervising the practice of the profession
  • Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (CQLR, c P-39.1) when personal information is retained in the context of its other functions and activities.

2.00 Collection of personal information

In the context of our interactions with you, the Order needs to collect some of your personal information. The information we collect is required to provide the services you request. This information varies depending on the person concerned:

  • Candidates to the profession: Name, home address, personal email address, telephone number, date of birth, driver’s licence or health insurance card or passport, academic transcripts and degrees, internship contracts and evaluation reports, employment records and certificates of employment, résumé, reference letters, information about continuing education, credit card number to process fees for opening and studying the candidate’s file as well as registration on the Order’s Roll, and judicial file.
  • Members registered on the Order’s Roll: Membership number, home address, personal and professional email addresses, telephone number, place of employment, information about continuing education, credit card number to process payment of annual membership fees, and judicial or disciplinary file.
  • Applicants for a job with the Order: Name, contact information, résumé and cover letter.
  • Employers and advertisers: Name, business address, email address, telephone number, Québec business number, and credit card number to process payment.
  • Visitors to the Order’s website or the Espace parents site: Name, contact information, information required to process your request, web browser, IP address, pages visited and requests, and the date and time of the connection.

To the extent that the Order collects your personal information using cookies to identify you, geolocate you or create a profile, the information will only be collected if you consent to the activation of those technological tools.

In addition to such optional cookies, the Order also uses cookies deemed to be “necessary” or “strictly necessary” to the operation of our website that can therefore not de deactivated.

3.00 Purposes of collecting personal information and the purpose for which it is used

The Order collects personal information for the following purposes:

  • To supervise the exercise of the profession:
    • Managing the ongoing admission of candidates to the profession, including the payment of admission fees
    • Conducting disciplinary inquiries, acting as a mediator, arbitrating fee disputes and holding hearings
    • Assessing members’ professional skills (overseeing professional practices through regular inspections)
    • Ensuring compliance by the membership with continuing education standards
    • Offering advisory services to members in the area of ethics and the code of conduct
    • Evaluating members’ skills and implementing practice standards (individual assessments of skills)
  • To respond to requests or provide goods and services:
    • Evaluating and responding to requests to issue licences to practice and for registration (or reintegration) on the Order’s Roll, including the evaluation of degrees and education for the purpose of recognizing equivalency
    • Receiving, managing and processing requests for information or access, as well as complaints
  • To produce statistics or conduct studies and research in collaboration with researchers and professional publications.
  • To manage, maintain, improve and offer website functions; provide services and information required by users; respond to comments and questions; and provide support for website users.
  • To analyze and understand website usage trends and user preferences, subject to user consent.
  • To communicate with users, especially for regulatory purposes, in accordance with applicable laws.

4.00 Means of collecting personal information

The Order collects the personal information of users on the website, by email, through “necessary” cookies, on PDF forms, and via the membership management platform known as “Espace compétence.”

5.00 Consent

When you visit our websites or provide personal information (by email, by completing an online form, over the telephone or on our social networks), the Order deems that you have consented to the collection of that information, as well as to its use and communication for the above-mentioned purposes.

At any time, you can withdraw your consent to the use and communication of personal information previously collected by the Order. You can exercise that right either by accessing your membership file or by communicating with us at ordre@orientation.qc.ca. Withdrawing your consent may, however, prevent us from providing or continuing to provide certain services.

Furthermore, when the Order uses or communicates sensitive personal information, we will ask you to provide your express consent.

6.00 Use and communication

Under no circumstances will the Order either use or communicate your personal information without your consent. In certain circumstances, however, the Order may be obliged to communicate your personal information, without your consent, to authorities who have the right to request it in order to comply with a court order or if we believe that sharing the information is necessary because of an emergency situation putting at risk the life, health or safety of the person concerned, or to prevent an act of violence, including suicide.

In addition, we will share personal information about our members when required for communication purposes with our partners so that the Order is able to provide benefits or services connected with their practice or for the purpose of research or statistics after first having obtained express consent for this on the membership renewal form. Such consent can be withdrawn at any time in the members’ area (“Espace compétence” under communication preferences). In this case, the Order ensures through contractual agreements that third parties respect the confidentiality of the personal information they receive, that they do not use it for any purpose other than that for which it has been provided, and that they manage that information in compliance with the applicable legal framework.

7.00 Retention of personal information

The Order retains your personal information only for the time required to achieve the purposes for which it was collected, except where the law provides for a different retention period to meet legal or accounting requirements, or to fulfill the obligation to provide notice to relevant government authorities.

In general, your personal information is processed and hosted in Québec. However, should a case arise in which it were to be communicated or hosted elsewhere, the Order will ensure that it is adequately protected and that the transfer is governed by an agreement.

8.00 Security measures

The Order protects your personal information through security measures (physical, technological or administrative) that are appropriate to the nature of the information in order to prevent anyone from accessing it, using it, or communicating it to an unauthorized third party, as well as to prevent loss or any other breach in the protection of the information.

We have taken measures to ensure that only members of our staff who require access to your personal information as part of their duties are authorized to access it. We also ensure that any third party to whom we communicate your personal information takes measures to protect the confidential nature of the information we provide and that it is used only for the purposes stipulated in the agreement with that party.

9.00 Access to and correction of personal information

It is important that the personal information we have about you be kept up to date. Please inform us of changes to that information.

Furthermore, you are entitled to request:

  • Access to your personal information
  • Corrections to your personal information
  • The withdrawal of your consent to the use or communication of your personal information
  • A stop to the dissemination of your personal information and a deindexation of it
  • The portability of your information (as of September 22, 2024)

by sending an email to that effect to Martine Lacharité, Executive Director and Secretary, Officer in charge of the protection of personal information, at direction@orientation.qc.ca.

10.00 Filing a complaint

We recognize the importance of protecting your personal information. Should you wish to file a complaint concerning the Order’s protection of your personal information it has on record, you can do so by contacting our Officer in charge of the protection of personal information by email at direction@orientation.qc.ca.

11.00 Contact us

You can contact us about this Privacy Policy, submit comments, exercise your rights or file a complaint by communicating with Martine Lacharité, Executive Director and Secretary, Officer in charge of the protection of personal information.

Policy version: This policy was adopted by the Board of Directors on November 25th, 2023.