Data protection isn’t just good practice, it’s the law!
Data protection and sensitivity is covered under law in Canada. PIPEDA is a Canada-wide (excluding provinces with their own law) privacy act for all businesses (including healthcare) which stands for Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. PHIPA refers to Public-Healthcare Information Privacy and is only applicable to Ontario. Nova Scotia and British Columbia require all therapists to handle their data on Canadian servers.
Most regulatory boards require therapists to hold records for at least 10 years, so it is very important these records remain secure!
All of our web hosting data is handled in Canada, through Websavers. As for our encrypted email service (admin@canadiancounselling.ca), this is handled by Google Workspace, and is held on servers in the United States. If a therapist in our network is in NS or BC, they will be required to use an email address of their own that is both a) encrypted and b) handling data on Canadian soil.
A Guide to the Personal Health Information Protection Act can be found here: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/04p03
PIPEDA Fair Information Principles
Principle 1 – Accountability An organization is responsible for personal information under its control. It must appoint someone to be accountable for its compliance with these fair information principles.
Principle 2 – Identifying Purposes The purposes for which the personal information is being collected must be identified by the organization before or at the time of collection.
Principle 3 – Consent The knowledge and consent of the individual are required for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information, except where inappropriate.
Principle 4 – Limiting Collection The collection of personal information must be limited to that which is needed for the purposes identified by the organization. Information must be collected by fair and lawful means.
Principle 5 – Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention: Unless the individual consents otherwise or it is required by law, personal information can only be used or disclosed for the purposes for which it was collected. Personal information must only be kept as long as required to serve those purposes.
Principle 6 – Accuracy: Personal information must be as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as possible in order to properly satisfy the purposes for which it is to be used.
Principle 7 – Safeguards : Personal information must be protected by appropriate security relative to the sensitivity of the information.
Principle 8 – Openness : An organization must make detailed information about its policies and practices relating to the management of personal information publicly and readily available.
Principle 9 – Individual Access: Upon request, an individual must be informed of the existence, use, and disclosure of their personal information and be given access to that information. An individual shall be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have it amended as appropriate.
Principle 10 – Challenging Compliance : An individual shall be able to challenge an organization’s compliance with the above principles. Their challenge should be addressed to the person accountable for the organization’s compliance with PIPEDA, usually their Chief Privacy Officer.
Your data will only be accessed by: your clinician, your clinician’s supervisor, and the administrative staff (billing/data storage).
If you have a data concern please reach out to admin@canadiancounselling.ca with your inquiry.