Privacy Notice

Updated July 2021

Introduction

This Privacy Notice describes Alberta Pension Services Corporation's privacy policies and practices regarding its collection, use and disclosure of your personal data and sets forth your privacy rights. We recognize that information privacy is an ongoing responsibility, and so we will from time to time update this Privacy Notice as we undertake new personal data practices or adopt new privacy policies.

Accountability

Alberta Pensions Services Corporation (APS) is the designated benefit service provider for multiple pension plans and administers the pensions of their respective members. We are committed to respecting the personal privacy of pension plan members by protecting the personal and financial information entrusted by their pension plan to us by providing responsive and focused member services including maintenance of this website. APS’ Privacy Advocate Office is responsible for overall privacy governance and all employees are trained about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your personal information. That commitment is fundamental to the way we do business.

Personal Information Collection Notice

If you have any questions regarding the collection of this information, contact the Member Services Centre at 1-800-358-0840 or write to: 5103 Windermere Blvd. SW, Edmonton, AB T6W 0S9.

What Information We Collect

APS collects information provided by you, your pension plan, and your employer. In general, we collect and use information about you for pension administration purposes, to deliver member and pensioner (hereafter called “member”) benefits, and to keep you informed about your specific pension (e.g. member annual statements).

This website also collects information about the device you use to access our website, such as operating system, screen resolution, internet browser type and version, the webpage address from which you arrived, the date and time you accessed this website and the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your device. Information about your device does not identify you but helps us improve the website's functionality, meet our members' needs, measure the effectiveness of our services, enhance security measures and protect your data.

Does this website use cookies?

Like many other websites, we collect information about our users' utilization and navigation of our website. This website uses simple text files, called 'cookies', to identify visitors who access this website and tracks their use. This information helps us to design our website to better suit our users' needs. When you access this website, cookies are created and temporarily placed on your computer. The cookie stores basic information about you and your use of this website. PSPP Corporation retains some of the information stored by the cookie, but only for the purposes of tracking website usage.

APS does not retain any information from the cookie that can be used to identify you in any way, other than an IP address and aggregate level data.

The cookies help gather statistical data such as the average time spent on a specific webpage. This kind of information provides us with insight on how to improve the design, content and navigation of our website.

APS may use cookies as part of the functionality and security of a particular service. These cookies may include an encrypted persistent cookie installed on your device that contains information to help us verify you as our client and to help block unauthorized attempts to access your information through this website.

This information is necessary to assist APS in resolving any access problems that may arise. It is also necessary to monitor website usage and identify any unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. No attempt will be made to link such information to any individual unless it is necessary to do so, and any such information collected by APS is only used for those purposes.

What do we use the IP Address for?

We may also use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our website, analyze trends, track visitor movements around the website, and gather broad demographic information that assists us in identifying visitor preferences.

Does APS collect information about physical location?

APS automatically collects information about your device's approximate physical location for the purpose of tracking website use by general geographic region.

Your Pension Profile member registration and log-in

In order to register for access to your pension profile located within your plan website you will be asked to provide personal identifying information, which may include: your name, e-mail address, Member Identifier number, date of birth, telephone number, employer name, pension payment amount and the last four digits of your Social Insurance Number. You will create a login name and password and you will be asked to choose the method you wish to use for authentication (e.g. email or phone call/text).

In order to log in to this secure website, you will be asked to provide personal identifying information. It is up to you whether you wish to provide such personal information for these purposes. If you do not, you will not be able to register or login for access to this website and you will have to contact us by telephone, fax, in-person or through regular mail.

How We Use Your Information

We use your personal and financial information for the purposes consistent with managing your pension, for example including but not limited to:

• Verifying your identity;
• Provide you with requested services;
• Provide information to you about your benefit, and any other information about your pension;
• Respond to any special needs or inquiries you may have;
• For internal quality assurance purposes, voluntary focus groups and member engagement;
• Manage our risks and operations;
• Meet regulatory and legal requirements; and
• Use your Social Insurance Number (SIN) for income tax-related purposes as required by the Canada Revenue Agency, and for identification purposes related to your pension administration.

How long does APS retain personal information about Plan members?

APS retains personal information relating directly to the administration of a member's pension and benefits for as long as is needed to administer the pension and benefits. The length of time may be considerable, due to the long-term nature of pensions.

Sharing Your Information

Our employees

APS is subject to the legislative requirements under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Access to your information is restricted to employees who have a legitimate business purpose for accessing it.

Unauthorized access to and/or disclosure of member and pensioner information by an employee of APS is strictly prohibited. All employees are required to maintain the confidentiality of member information at all times and failing to do so will result in appropriate disciplinary measures, which may include dismissal.

Outside service suppliers

We may use service providers to perform specialized services on our behalf. For example, the Ministry of Service Alberta is responsible for our automated mail distribution. Our service providers may at times be responsible for processing or handling personal information. They are provided only the information necessary to perform these services. In addition, they are contractually obligated to protect the information in a manner that is consistent with Alberta privacy legislation, our privacy policies and security practices.

Where possible, APS keeps all member data in Canada. There may be some cases where personal information is stored outside of Canada. To obtain specifics, please contact privacy@apsc.ca.

Other third parties

We are committed to keeping your personal information confidential. We do not sell or rent your personal information and will only share it as permitted or required by law, to comply with laws, regulations, subpoena(s) or court order(s).

How We Protect You

Safeguarding your information

To help protect the privacy of data and personally identifiable information you transmit through this website, we maintain physical, technical and administrative safeguards. We update and test our security technology on an ongoing basis. We restrict access to your personally identifiable information to those employees who need to know that information to provide benefits or services to you. In addition, we train our employees about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your information. We commit to taking appropriate disciplinary measures to enforce our employees' privacy responsibilities.

Keeping Your Information Accurate

You have the right to ask us to correct information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. You can challenge the accuracy

We do the utmost to ensure that the information we have about you is accurate and complete. As we make decisions based on the information that we have, we encourage you to help us keep your information current. If you can update the incorrect information yourself (e.g. address, beneficiaries, bank account etc.), you should do so. If you require additional assistance, please inform us that you are challenging the accuracy of your data and want it corrected. You should:

• state clearly what you believe is inaccurate or incomplete,
• explain how it should be corrected, and
• where available, provide evidence of the inaccuracies.

Your Right to Access Your Personal Information

In the normal course of business, you receive periodic access to information in the form of annual statements. This information is routinely available to you through mailings and/or your plan website.

You may request a copy of your pension file at any time by making your request in writing to the Privacy Advocate Office. Depending on the information you seek, there may be costs associated with your request. To avoid delays in obtaining your information, please provide sufficient detail to permit us to identify you and the specific information that you are requesting.

Please note that there may be instances where access may be restricted as permitted or required by privacy legislation. Examples may include information that is subject to legal privilege, information containing confidential commercial information, and information relating to a third party. If applicable, we will advise you of the reasons for restricting access subject to any legal or regulatory limitations.

Limitation of Liability

Although extensive precautions have been taken to provide a secure internet environment, APS cannot guarantee the privacy or security of information that is sent or received using this website. The Administration will not be liable for any damages, losses, costs or expenses, including, without limitation, direct, special, incidental, punitive or consequential damages, incurred by any person as a result of, or in any way connected with, any person's use of this website.

Inapplicability of Privacy Notices/Statements of Any Linked Websites or Other Third Parties

This Privacy Notice only addresses APS’ use and disclosure of your personally identifiable information. As this website may contain links to other websites, please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites, and we are not liable for their misuse of personally identifiable information. We encourage you to be aware that when you go to another website you should carefully read its privacy statement.

Privacy Contact Information

For more information about any of the policies described above, please contact us:

By mail:	Privacy Advocate Office Alberta Pensions Services Corporation 5103 Windermere Blvd SW, Edmonton, AB T6W0S9
By e-mail:	privacy@apsc.ca
By telephone:	1-780-391-3799
By fax:	1-780-422-0325