Temple Har Zion recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. We keep this information confidential and take measures to protect it. We have developed this Privacy Policy in order to instill confidence in our members and potential members that the personal information they entrust to us is safe.

Why Does Temple Har Zion Collect Personal Information From You?

Temple Har Zion collects this information so that we can provide our members and our community with a range of services and activities, including:

• Yahrzeit reminders and aliyot;
• Bulletin, notices, mailings and other communication with our members, their spouses and family members;
• program, activity and general announcements, including life cycle events, illness and death of family members;
• determination and collection of dues and membership status;
• membership privileges;
• fundraising;
• program, activity and general announcements relating to affiliate organizations (including Brotherhood, Sisterhood and Mharzy);

Temple Har Zion collects this information

• to understand and assess the needs and requirements of our members and potential members and to offer services, programming and events to meet those needs;
• to provide services to students in the Temple Religious and Hebrew School.

Membership in a religious community brings with it certain “understandings”, one of which is that certain information or news about members and their life cycle events will be shared with the community.

How Do We Collect Your Personal Information

We collect information only by proper means. We may collect personal information directly from you when you become a member of Temple Har Zion, or during the term of your membership. We may on occasion obtain information about you from other sources, such as other family members or members of Temple Har Zion.

Consent

Consent for the collection, use and/or disclosure of personal information may be obtained verbally or in writing and may be expressly given or implied. We may also from time to time ask you to give your written consent to the use and disclosure of specific personal information. In determining how we obtain your consent, we will take into account the sensitivity of your personal information that we are collecting, using and/or disclosing. We will use and disclose your personal information only in accordance with this policy.

If You Don't Consent

The decision to provide us with personal information is always up to you. However, your decision to withhold partic¬ular details will limit our ability to provide our services to you. This measure is necessary to protect the integrity of the services offered by Temple Har Zion.

Disclosure of Your Personal Information

Under certain circumstances Temple Har Zion may disclose your personal information:

• when we in good faith believe the law requires or authorizes us to do so, including reporting to Canada Revenue Agency respecting donations;
• when the services we are providing require us to give your information to third parties (for example, to a funeral parlour, educator, or clergy) your consent will be implied unless you tell us otherwise;
• where it is necessary to establish or collect dues or contributions;
• third party service providers, with which we have contractual arrangements, to which we may disclose personal information will have comparable levels of protection for personal information;
• when we engage in joint activities or programs with other organizations of a religious or communal nature, including the Union of Reform Judaism and the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism;
• if we are involved in negotiations with another congregation and in the opinion of the Executive Committee such disclosure is necessary;
• if the information is already publicly known.

We never make our membership list available to third parties in any form, except as set out in this section or unless you consent.

Is Your Personal Information Secure?

Temple Har Zion takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information, depending on its type and sensitivity, are:

• premises security;
• restricted access to personal information;
• preventing unauthorized computer access including internal password and security policies;
• when necessary or appropriate, by requiring third parties to sign a confidentiality agreement.

We will use require a third party processing information on Temple Har Zion's behalf to provide a comparable level of protection of personal information.

Updating Your Information

Since we use your personal information to provide services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. If any of the information changes, or if you should become aware that the personal information which we have is incorrect, please inform us so that we can make the necessary changes.

Access to Your Personal Information

You may request access to any of your personal information we hold. Summary information is available on written request. More detailed requests that require archive, retrieval or copying costs may be subject to reasonable reimbursement for our actual costs.

Can I Be Denied Access to My Personal Information?

Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access when:

• denial of access is required or authorized by law or the rules of a formal dispute resolution process, such as a Bet Din;
• information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings against you;
• granting you access would have an unreasonable impact on other people's privacy;
• to protect Temple Har Zion's rights and property;
• the request is frivolous or vexatious.
  

If we deny your request for access, or refuse a request to correct information, we will explain why.

How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information?

We retain your personal information as long as you are a member and afterwards as long as is reasonably necessary for us to complete our dealings with you, or as may be required by law or for purpose of compliance with our religious obligations. Synagogue records are often a valuable source of information which may be required for halachic or genealogical purposes. We may retain selected items of personal information indefinitely for those purposes or to contact you to inform you of important news or events.

Website

Our website (www.templeharzion.com) contains links to other sites which are not governed by this privacy policy. While no specific personal information is retained with respect to any visitor to our website, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information to optimize our web service. In the continuing development of our website we may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not contain any identifiable personal information.

Communicating with Us

Email is not a secure medium and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This policy is effective January 1, 2004. Since Temple Har Zion regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time. Please refer to our website for revisions and updates.

Requests for Access

If you have any questions, wish to review your personal information, comment on this policy or to make a complaint, please contact our privacy officer at:

Privacy Officer
Temple Har Zion
7360 Bayview Avenue
Thornhill, Ontario L3T 2R7
email: privacy@templeharzion.com

By signing the Annual Contribution Worksheet or by making alternative arrangements for payment of annual dues, you are consenting on your behalf and on behalf of all other members of your family group, to the collection, use and disclosure by Temple Har Zion of your and their personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.