Privacy

As owners of the emerit trademark and brand, the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council, operating as Tourism HR Canada, is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information of its registered users, volunteers and other stakeholders. We value the trust of those we deal with, and of the public, and recognize that maintaining this trust requires that we be transparent and accountable in how we treat the information that you choose to share with us.

Safeguarding personal privacy is a vital concern for Tourism HR Canada and its partners. Tourism HR Canada/emerit works with a network of provincial and territorial partners and suppliers to deliver training products and programs across Canada.

Tourism HR Canada/emerit may, from time to time, gather and use personal information from registered users, volunteers and other stakeholders in its work. Anyone from whom we collect such information should expect that it will be carefully protected and that any use of, or other dealing with, this information is subject to consent.

Defining Personal Information

Personal information is any information that can be used to distinguish, identify or contact a specific individual. This information can include an individual's opinions or beliefs, as well as facts about, or related to, the individual. Exceptions: business contact information and certain publicly available information, such as names, addresses and telephone numbers as published in telephone directories, are not considered personal information.

Information in the public domain is not subject to privacy legislation and as such is not included in this policy.

Where emerit/Tourism HR Canada registered users and other stakeholders use their home contact information as business contact information, the Tourism HR Canada/emerit considers that the contact information provided is business contact information, and is not therefore subject to protection as personal information.

By using or accessing web sites/storefront, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

Consent

An individual's consent is required regarding the collection and proposed use of personal information when information is collected. Consent can be either express or implied and can be provided directly by the individual or by an authorized representative. Express consent can be given orally, electronically or in writing. Implied consent is consent that can reasonably be inferred from an individual's action or inaction. An individual's consent is required before confidential information is released to outside parties.

Limited Collection

The collection of personal information is limited to that which is relevant and necessary to our programs and research. Tourism HR Canada/emerit attributes all data that it collects.

Limited use, disclosure and retention

Personal information shall not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law. Personal information shall be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.

Accuracy

Personal information shall be as complete, accurate and up-to-date as possible. Registered users are encouraged to review, correct and update personal information.

Openness

Upon request, individuals shall be given access to the information in their registered user profile or any forms containing said data.

Further information on privacy and your rights in regard to your personal information may be found on the website of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at www.privcom.gc.ca.

Security

Tourism HR Canada/emerit takes appropriate precautions to protect our users' information. Your account information is located on a secured server. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number or your password), we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). (To learn more about SSL, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer). Because email and instant messaging are not recognized as secure communications, we request that you not send private information to us by email or instant messaging services. If you have any questions about the security of any web sites/storefront, please contact us at info@tourismhr.ca.

Personal information gathered by Tourism HR Canada/emerit shall be kept in confidence. Tourism HR Canada staff shall be authorized to access personal information based only on their need to deal with the information for the reason(s) for which it was obtained. Appropriate physical and electronic measures shall be used to ensure personal information is secure.

Cookies

When you enter Tourism HR Canada/emerit web sites or storefronts, we collect your browser type and IP address. This information is gathered for all emerit.ca visitors. In addition, we store certain information from your browser using "cookies." A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. We use session ID cookies to confirm that users are logged in. These cookies terminate once the user closes the browser. By default, we use a persistent cookie that stores your login ID (but not your password) to make it easier for you to login when you come back to emerit.ca. You can remove or block this cookie using the settings in your browser if you want to disable this convenience feature.

Use of Information Obtained by Tourism HR Canada/emerit

As an industry professional, Tourism HR Canada/emerit may contact you from time to time to let you know about related products, programs and events that you may be interested in, as well as opportunities to participate in projects as an industry expert. You may elect not to receive such information at any time.

When using third parties to conduct market research, surveys, product/program development, etc., Tourism HR Canada/emerit will provide only information necessary for project outcomes. All information released to third parties is confidential and protected by legal agreement outlining its use for each project.

Personal information, email addresses or other data will not be sold, rented, exchanged or passed on to third parties, other than outlined in our privacy policy or unless expressly indicated otherwise.

Links

Tourism HR Canada/emerit websites and storefront/LMS may contain links to other websites. We are of course not responsible for the privacy practices of other web sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by Tourism HR Canada/emerit.

Changing or Removing Information

Access and control over most personal information on Tourism HR Canada/emerit web sites and storefront/LMS is readily available through the profile editing tools. Tourism HR Canada users may modify or delete any of their profile information at any time by logging into their account. Information will be updated immediately. Individuals who wish to deactivate their account may do so by sending an email to info@emerit.ca. All reasonable attempts will be made to respond to requests within 2 business days.

emerit

emerit is the training and certification brand of Tourism HR Canada. Safeguarding personal privacy and transaction security is a vital concern for Tourism HR Canada and its emerit retailers across Canada. Our storefront uses leading-edge technology to protect your personal information and make your transactions secure. Although it would be impossible for us to eliminate risk altogether, we can guarantee that purchasing training resources or registering for one of our programs through emerit.ca is just as safe as doing it over the phone or in person.

We do not use emerit.ca to gather personal information other than that which you affirmatively agree to supply to us. emerit customers can view and/or update any information in their personal profile at any time.

We use the services of a payment gateway to ensure that all storefront online purchases paid with a credit card are processed safely. At no time will your credit card information be stored on our server.

When using third parties to conduct market research, surveys, product/program development, etc., emerit will provide only information necessary for projects completion. All information released to third parties is confidential and protected by legal agreement outlining its use for each project.

emerit Certification

The emerit certification credential is awarded to candidates based solely on their achievement of successful pass results on the certification examinations and on them having met the specified experience requirements. The certification examinations are built directly from occupational standards following generally accepted testing principles. Occupational standards have been built with industry input and are designed to indicate the level of performance required for recognition. The emeritguidelines for certification are focused solely on recognizing achievements, and on applied knowledge and skills, rather than on, for example, predicting future job performance. Any use of certification results for other than recognition, or to measure skills or knowledge not explicitly described in the occupational standards, is not considered valid. emerit certification is voluntary. Any use of the emerit certification credential for licensure, selection, promotions, or other non-voluntary or employment-restricting purpose is also not considered valid.

Examination Security Policy

Protecting the security and integrity of its certification programs is of the utmost importance to emerit. To prevent cheating or theft of exam content, emerit trains proctors to detect suspicious behaviour during exams, and periodically runs data analyses to assess candidates’ response patterns and identify potential fraudulent behaviour.

Examples of breaches in examination security could include, but is not limited to:

• Bringing answers or information into the assessment session, in any form (including on electronic devices).
• Copying, filming or photographing examination material.
• Accessing answers in a fraudulent manner or sharing answers with others.

Candidates who are caught cheating or stealing exam content will receive an automatic fail on their assessment (examination or performance assessment), will not be allowed to re-write for a minimum of 2 years, and may face prosecution.

For Additional Privacy Policy Information

Email: privacy@cthrc.ca

You can also check what information we hold on you. However, to protect your privacy, we are not allowed to transmit the information to you by telephone or email. Please, therefore, send your request in writing to:

Jennifer Havers, CFO
Tourism HR Canada
901 - 275 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario  K1P 5H9