Privacy Policy
West Coast Environmental Law Website Privacy Policy
Your privacy is important to us. West Coast Environmental Law is committed to maintaining the confidentiality, security and accuracy of your personal information.
This Website Privacy Policy (“Website Privacy Policy”) describes the information that West Coast collects in the normal course of use of its website, how we use that information and to whom West Coast may disclose that personal information.
Application of Website Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to West Coast Environmental Law Association, West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation and West Coast Environmental Law Dispute Resolution Fund (collectively “West Coast Environmental Law”). References in this Website Privacy Policy to West Coast Environmental Law, “we” “us”, “our”, and similar terms should be interpreted accordingly. The Website Privacy Policy applies to personal information which is collected through the use of West Coast Environmental Law’s website.
Applicable laws and other regulatory requirements
West Coast Environmental Law is subject to the provisions of the British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act and the provisions of this Website Privacy Policy should be interpreted and construed in accordance with that Act.
West Coast lawyers are also subject to regulatory requirements governing the legal profession and Professional Conduct Handbook: www.lawsociety.bc.ca.
What is personal information?
For the purposes of this Website Privacy Policy, “personal information” means information about an identifiable individual, but does not include your workplace contact information (i.e., does not include the name, title, business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization where the name, title, address or telephone number is used for a business purpose).
Consent to collect, use and disclose personal information
When you visit this site and access information, you are anonymous. We do not require you to provide personal information to view it. However, if you provide personal information to us you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Website Privacy Policy. If for any reason you do not agree to the collection, use, disclosure or management of your personal information in accordance with this Website Privacy Policy, you should NOT provide your personal information through this website.
You may give your express consent orally, electronically or in writing. You provide implied consent when that consent can reasonably be inferred by your conduct. For example, if you provide us with personal information on this website, we imply your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of that personal information for the purposes for which you provided that information or any other purposes identified to you at the relevant time, including those set out in this policy.
We reserve the right to use or disclose your personal information without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required to do so by applicable law, regulation or by applicable rules of professional conduct governing the legal profession.
At any time you may advise us that you no longer consent to the use or disclosure of the personal information that you have provided for any or all of the identified purposes and, subject to our right to do so without your knowledge or consent or contractual obligations, we shall no longer do so. Please contact our Privacy Officer (see below) in this regard.
No Lawyer /Client Relationship
No Lawyer/Client, advisory or fiduciary of relationship is created by this Website Privacy Policy or by your use of the website or by your communicating with West Coast Environmental Law or a West Coast Environmental Law employee by email or through this website.
This website may not be used to request legal advice or to transmit any confidential information relating to the provision of legal advice. You should consult your lawyer in order to obtain legal advice. West Coast Environmental Law is not responsible for loss and/or damage that you suffer arising from your taking, or refraining from taking, any action in reliance on information contained on this website.
Any information that you transmit to West Coast Environmental Law through this website may not be secure, may not be treated as confidential and is not protected by Lawyer/Client privilege.
Collection and Use of Personal Information
We will collect your name, address, telephone number, email address and any additional details you choose to provide to us if you complete the forms/boxes on our website in order to:
- Receive our newsletters or other material, and/or
- Donate money to us.
We will use this personal information solely for the purposes of including your information in our database and in our mailing list in order to:
- Provide you with the requested information;
- Update you regarding West Coast’s work and opportunities to become involved (e.g., newsletters, action alerts, petitions, new publications)
- Invite you to upcoming events that may be of interest to you;
- Respond to any specific request that you have made; and
- Seek your financial support and provide tax receipts for donations.
If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, please email us at
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Cookies
When an individual visitor accesses the West Coast Environmental Law website, we may use a browser feature called a ‘cookie’ to collect information such as the type of internet browser and operating system the visitor uses, the domain name of the website from which the visitor came, date and duration of the visit, the number of visits, the average time spent on our website, pages viewed and number of cookies accumulated. A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that identifies the visitor’s browser, but not necessarily the visitor, to our computers each time our website is visited. Unless a visitor specifically informs us (e.g. by registering for an event, donating money, or sending us correspondence from the website), we will not know who the individual visitors are. In addition to the identified purposes described in our Website Privacy Policy, we may use this website information and share it with other organizations with whom we have a relationship to measure the use of our website, to improve the functionality and content of the website and to facilitate usage by a visitor. Visitors can reset their browsers either to notify them when they have received a cookie or refuse to accept cookies. However, if a visitor refuses to accept cookies, he or she may not be able to use some of the features available on our website.
We also collect your personal information if you send an e-mail to West Coast Environmental Law. We will use this information only for the specific purpose for which you submit the information.
Other Use of Your Information
Except as set out in this Website Privacy Policy, we do not make any other use of the personal information which you provide to us unless you have consented to its use for any other purpose, or if we are allowed or required to do so by law.
We do not sell or disclose your personal information to anyone, except as required by law, to protect our rights and property or in order to fulfill the identified purposes for which we collected the personal information.
Email addresses
West Coast Environmental Law does not sell or trade email addresses. We use email addresses only to provide you with specific information relevant to us here at West Coast. If you have received email from us and would like to be removed from our mailing list, please email us at
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Donation information
West Coast Environmental Law does not sell or trade any donor information for fundraising purposes. If you have any questions regarding how we use information you have provided to us as a function of a donation you have made, please contact Anna Beard at 604-601-2511, or by email at
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Security of personal information
We use physical, administrative and electronic procedures to attempt to keep the personal information that we collect about you through our website secure. These means of protecting and maintaining the security of your personal information help to prevent unauthorized access, maintain data security and ensure the appropriate use of your information once we have received it.
While West Coast Environmental Law takes appropriate safeguards with this website, no website or electronic transmission can be completely secure. Therefore you should not send confidential or sensitive information by the internet of by email unless you take appropriate precautions such as encryption.
How can I access my personal information?
Subject to the exceptions set out in applicable law, including where required by Lawyer/Client privilege, we will provide you with access to any of your personal information that we have collected, used or disclosed upon written request. We will also advise you to whom that personal information has been disclosed, except where we are permitted or required not to do so by applicable law.
We will attempt to make that information available to you in a comprehensible form. Written requests should be sent to the Privacy Officer whose contact information is set out in this Policy.
You may contact our office and ask to speak to our Privacy Officer.
In addition,to email our privacy officer, click here.
or by mail at:
Privacy Officer
West Coast Environmental Law
#200 – 2006 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C. V6J 2B3
Updates and changes to Website Privacy Policy
West Coast Environmental Law reserves the right to make changes to this Website Privacy Policy at its sole discretion at any time without notice to you. Each time you use this website, you should check the Website Privacy Policy as it exists at the time.