Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 01/15/2026

Policy Statement

Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association (“ARJAA”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. ARJAA collects personal information for the sole purpose of delivering quality programs and services. Personal information will be treated as highly confidential and privileged in a manner that complies with the British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FOIPPA”) as it pertains to specific referral agencies. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal information.

Personal Information Definition

“Personal information” means information that can identify an individual (for example, name, address, and phone number) and information about an identifiable individual (for example, physical description, or educational qualifications). Personal information includes employee information but does not include business contact information or work product information. Any information that does not identify a person, such as statistical information about groups of people, is not considered to be personal information.

Information Collection

ARJAA collects personal information that is necessary to deliver quality programs and services, and for the purpose of evaluating the program.

When ARJAA collects personal information, it must:

  • Identify the purpose(s) for collecting the personal information, and for referrals from public bodies must specify that the agreement with those agencies authorizes the collection of said information;

  • Obtain the individual’s informed consent;

  • On request, provide the position name or title and the contact information of the privacy officer to answer the individual’s questions about the collection of information;

ARJAA collects, uses and discloses personal information for the following purposes:

  • Administering requests for client services from public bodies and other sources;

  • Establishing and maintaining communications with clients and volunteers;

  • For research purposes and evaluating the programs(s).

Consent

By providing your personal information to us, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as outlined in this Privacy Policy. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting the Privacy Officer, subject to legal or contractual restrictions. In some cases, refusing to provide certain personal information or withdrawing consent for ARJAA to collect, use or disclose their personal information could mean that ARJAA cannot provide the service.

Disclosure of Your Information

We will not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. However, we may disclose your personal information in the following situations:

  • The person has authorized ARJAA to share the information;

  • To comply with legal obligations, such as responding to a subpoena, warrant or order issued or made by a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of personal information;

  • There are reasonable grounds to believe that compelling circumstances exist that affect the safety of an individual or the public;

  • Sharing the information is necessary to render a service, or accept the service of a volunteer;

  • The disclosure is between ARJAA and another organization or public body, and is for the purposes for which the information was collected.

Data Security

ARJAA takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, copying, and destruction. We retain digital personal information on a secure server located in Canada and use industry-standard security measures, including encryption and secure servers, to safeguard your data. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the event of an incident which may jeopardize the security of an individual’s personal information, the individual and any related public body will be notified. 

Access to Your Information

Volunteers and clients (except for referrals from public bodies governed by FOIPPA) may request access to review and/or request a correction to any of their information that ARJAA holds. If a request for correction is made and it is reasonable to do so, ARJAA will correct the information as soon as reasonably possible, and send the corrected information to each organization to which the personal information was disclosed by the organization during the year before the date the correction was made.  

Where a party involved in an ARJAA program requests access to their personal information in writing pursuant to PIPA, ARJAA will respond within 30 days where possible. ARJAA reserves the right to deny such requests in the following instances:

  • Where the document requested relates to a prosecution which is ongoing;

  • Where the request amounts to a breach of privilege;

  • When the disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to threaten the safety or physical or mental health of another individual or of the individual who made the request;

  • When the disclosure would reveal personal information about another individual;

  • When the disclosure would reveal the identity of the person who provided you with the applicant’s personal information, and that person does not consent to the disclosure of his or her identity;

  • Clients, (referred by an agency governed by FOIPPA) making an access request related to documents created by a public body must be directed to the public body which created the documents.

In such circumstances, the relevant information must be removed before the rest of the information is given to the applicant.

Retention of Personal Information

As per the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and under the direction of the Privacy Officer, ARJAA will keep all file information in locked secure cabinets during the period of retention. All notes and paper records involved in the case will be shredded using approved secure methods upon completion of the restorative justice processes and input to the ARJAA case management records software (CRM).

Police and other referring agencies documentation will be returned or destroyed upon completion of the restorative justice process.

ARJAA will retain digital file information stored in our records management system (CRM) relating to youth and adult clients in our processes for a period of 1 year.  After the one year period, client information will be anonymized so that ARJAA retains information for statistical and/or research purposes only devoid of all personal information. Case emails are deleted once the case is closed.

The process of file information disposal will be conducted every year in January under the direction of the Privacy Officer.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. Any changes will be posted on this page, and the effective date will be updated accordingly.

Contact Us

Should you have any questions about the collection, use, or disclosure of information, or if you would like to exercise any of your rights regarding your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer at:

Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association
34194 Marshall Rd #105. Abbotsford, BC. V2S 5E4
ed@arjaa.org
604-864-4355