Skip to Content

Privacy Policy

Our Commitment

We are committed to respecting and protecting the privacy and confidentiality of any Personal Information you entrust to us. It is important for you to understand what Personal Information we will collect, how we will use it and who may see it.

Our policy was developed considering the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and Canada’s Anti-Spam Law and good industry practices.

For online privacy issues, see the section at the end entitled Website Privacy.

Definitions

Personal Information: We use the term “personal information” to describe most types of information that can be linked to an identifiable individual. Examples include your name, home address and telephone number, email address and any financial information we hold about you. Information on your business card (such as your job title, business address, business email, telephone and fax numbers), is not typically considered personal information. However, in cases where our records include both personal and business contact information and we are unable to separate them, we will handle such records as personal information.

Marketing:  This refers to our communication with you such as mail, telemarketing or email, using the contact information you have provided, to inform you about products and services that we think may be of interest and value to you. This does not include communications regarding products or services that you currently have, including improved ways to use the products or additional features of the products as well as transactional information.

Scope

This Privacy Policy applies regardless of how you choose to do business with us – in our office, online or by telephone.  It incorporates 10 key privacy principles:

  1. Accountability
  2. Identifying Purpose
  3. Consent and Your Choices
  4. Limited Collection
  5. Limited Use and Disclosure
  6. Retention
  7. Accuracy
  8. Safeguards
  9. Individual Access
  10. Openness

1. Accountability

We have policies and procedures governing our dealings with your Personal Information. Our employees are responsible for respecting and protecting the Personal Information to which they have access.

Our Privacy Officer is responsible for policy, disputes, education and communications activities on privacy matters. See Contact Us for information on how to reach our Privacy Officer.

2. Identifying Purpose

When we collect Personal Information, we may use or disclose it to:

  • verify and complete transactions and activate software
  • provide notification to licensees about updates to software, data and services
  • help provide technical and product support
  • register for training courses or events
  • communicate regarding products or services
  • respond to questions
  • provide and manage products and services you have requested
  • better manage our relationship with you
  • communicate about products and services that may be of interest
  • understand our customers and to develop our products and services
  • administering and maintaining an up-to-date database
  • provide surveys and publications
  • comply with legal or regulatory requirements or as otherwise permitted by law

We will identify any new purpose for using your Personal Information that arises.

3. Consent and Your Choices

When you interact with us, we obtain your consent to collect, use or disclose your Personal Information for the purposes set out in Principle 2, Identifying Purpose.  For example, we may collect Personal Information when you order and register software, data or services; sign up for newsletters; register for training or events; or make requests that require a direct response.

When you voluntarily provide personal information, such as your name, title, phone number or email address (business or personal), we assume you are starting a business relationship with us and this is your implied consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personally identifiable information as described in this privacy policy. We will not use personal information for any purpose outside of the implied business relationship.

When we invite you to submit Personal Information, we also ask for your express consent to contact you or send you marketing information about products and services that we think may be of interest. If you have given your consent, we may also use your name, address and email to send you newsletters, information on upcoming promotions, user conference or other event information, survey requests or training reminders.  Our purpose is to provide visitors with useful information and offers that will likely interest them.  If you prefer not to receive our marketing communications, you can opt out of receiving marketing communications.

You can Opt Out/Unsubscribe: Anyone who opts out from receiving email or other corporate communications will be unsubscribed upon request.  You may unsubscribe at any time by visiting https://esri.ca/unsubscribe.  Note that if you have been designated as the ‘Update Contact’ for your organization, you will continue to receive operational and product update notices, even if you have opted out of communications from us. If you wish to change the Update Contact for your organization, please contact your local Esri Canada office.

Withdrawing your consent in certain situations may also mean that we may not be able to provide you with the products or services you request.

4. Limited Collection

We only collect the Personal Information that we determine we need for the purposes set out in Principle 2, Identifying Purpose.

We may monitor or record our incoming or outgoing service-related telephone calls with you to ensure accuracy, security, service quality, for training purposes and to establish a record. If you do not wish to have your call recorded, you may conduct business with us such as at one of our offices, online or by contacting us in writing.

5. Limited Use and Disclosure

We will only use or disclose your Personal Information for the purpose it was collected and as otherwise identified in this Privacy Policy. Personal Information may be released to third parties including legal or regulatory authorities in cases of suspected criminal activity or contravention of law, for the detection and prevention of fraud or when required to satisfy the legal or regulatory requirements of governments or regulatory authorities.

We do not sell the names or other Personal Information of our customers. We do not disclose the names or other Personal Information of our customers to other companies without consent unless required or permitted by law or as explained in the following paragraph.

We may use other companies to provide services on our behalf such as data processing, account administration, analytics and marketing. Such service providers will be given only the Personal Information needed to perform those services and they are prohibited from using or disclosing Personal Information for their own purposes. We have contracts in place holding these companies to the same standards of confidentiality by which we are governed.  In some cases, these other companies may be located outside of Canada (such as in the United States) and may be required to disclose information to courts, government authorities, regulators or law enforcement in accordance with applicable law in that country.

6. Retention

We have policies in place that govern the retention of your Personal Information so it will be kept only if necessary to fulfill its intended purpose or to satisfy legal requirements.

7. Accuracy

The accuracy of your Personal Information and ensuring that it is complete and up to date is important to us. Please notify us if you discover inaccuracies in our records or your Personal Information changes in a way we should be aware of.  

8. Safeguards

We use physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect against unauthorized use, access, modification, destruction, disclosure, loss or theft of your Personal Information in our custody or control.  Safeguards vary depending on the sensitivity of the data. These safeguards are designed to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification to your information. Your records are accessible only to staff who have been given the authority to access them and only as is necessary to provide products and services to you.

We have agreements and controls in place with third-party service providers requiring that any information we provide to them must be safeguarded and used only for providing the service we have requested the company to perform.

9. Contact Us and Individual Access

Contact Us: We are accountable for Personal Information under its control. Our Chief Financial Officer is designated as responsible for this privacy policy and can be reached at privacy@esri.ca or by mail to 12 Concorde Place, Suite 900, Toronto ON M3C 3R8.  Please direct questions about our handling of Personal Information to our Chief Financial Officer.

You can Review: At your written and signed request, you may view or edit your Personal Information we have collected. We will inform you of what Personal Information we have, what it is being used for, and, in cases where it has been disclosed, to whom it has been disclosed. There may be exceptional circumstances under which we may not be able to give you access to the Personal Information. In this case, we will explain the reason for this lack of access.

To make a request, please send a signed letter to our Privacy Officer at the address above. In your request, please include the following information: name, contact details, the nature of your request, including whether you wish to view and/or edit information or inquire regarding the use and/or disclosure. We will require acceptable proof of your identification before providing a response.

We will reply to your request in no later than 30 days after receipt of the request. If we are not able to respond within this time, we will send you a notice of extension. If we are not able to disclose all the Personal Information we hold on you, we will give you a reason for our inability to do so, unless prohibited by law.

If you have any concerns about the application of these principles, or if you have a question about the policy, please contact us at privacy@esri.ca and we will act promptly to investigate, correct as appropriate and advise you of the results. Please identify the issue as a Privacy Policy concern in your communication to us.

10. Openness

From time to time, we may make changes to this Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy on our website will also always be the most recent version.

Please see Contact Us to answer any questions you may have about our Privacy Policy.

Website Privacy

When you simply browse our site, no Personal Information is being collected by Esri Canada.

Our site only collects Personal Information that is submitted voluntarily (e.g. your name or user name, contact details such as address, telephone number or email address).

We must also maintain website security, which includes the investigation of unauthorized attempts to access, alter or delete data, the spreading of viruses and other illegal intrusions. This could result in disclosures to law enforcement agencies.

Software Use

The installation process for certain software we supply at your request, may require information to be placed on your hard drive. This is done to enable the proper functioning of the software and ensure it is used only when properly licensed. Certain software products available from us may, for software installation purposes or other supplier related purposes, require registration to gain access to special services, license keys or other features. This information will be used to provide support and deliver specialized services.

Use of Web Tools

We use or may use various web tools, including Cookies, Web Beacons and Tagging on our site.

  • Cookies are a string of data sent between a server and a web browser to, for example, help facilitate the use of a website and to help understand how a website is being used.

    Session Cookies enable the site to keep track of page-to-page movement so you are not asked for the same information repeatedly.  They allow you to visit pages of a site easily without having to authenticate or reprocess each new area. They are not written to your hard drive and are deleted once you log out or close your browser. They do not gather information for marketing or track where you have been online.

    Persistent Cookies help a site remember your information and settings on return visits and help us provide you with a more personalized experience by analyzing which products and services you have used. If we ever require you to log in, we associate you with a unique internal identifier. It allows us to know who you are, but it does not contain information, such as your name or address, that would identify you to a third party. This unique identifier enables us to monitor your browsing habits on our site so that we can better understand your needs and communicate with you regarding products and services that may be of interest to you. Persistent Cookies are stored on your computer.

    Flash Cookies are used to improve your website experience by identifying online behaviours and customizing the ads you view to reflect your browsing experience. We do not currently use Flash Cookies.

    Cookies are commonly used and many browsers automatically accept Cookies. If you decide to accept Cookies, your browser’s online help will have instructions on setting Cookie preferences. If you do not accept Cookies, you may continue to browse our site, but certain features may not function properly without Cookies.

  • Tagging is when we place customized code on our site to monitor user activity. Tagging software tracks user activity and passes it on to a third party for analysis so that we might better understand and enhance the user experience and provide additional security controls.

  • Web Beacons are small and transparent images embedded in web pages that, when combined with Cookies, help provide a website operator with information about the use and effectiveness of a website.

  • Content Management Solutions are tools that enable us to present appropriate content to visitors based on previous interests as indicated by websites they have visited or other content viewed. These tools track if you have clicked on content and identify your activity using Cookies and Web Beacons. These tools do not identify you personally, but are associated with the device, such as the computer being used.

Safeguards

We use security controls to protect against unauthorized use, access, modification, destruction, disclosure, loss or theft of your Personal Information in our custody or control.

Third-Party Links

Our site may contain links to other websites that we do not own or operate. We will not provide any Personal Information to these third parties without your consent. Such links are provided as a convenience and are not intended as an endorsement of the linked sites. The linked sites should have separate and independent privacy statements terms of use. We do not have any control over such sites and have no responsibility for the way the organizations that operate the linked sites may collect, use or disclose, secure and otherwise handle Personal Information.