Welcome to the Representative for Children and Youth (RCYBC) Chat and Text Line. We are committed to the privacy and confidentiality of personal information.
The Privacy Notice below describes how RCYBC collects and uses personal information in connection with the chat and text program, and the circumstances under which we may share this information. If you have any questions at any time, contact us at rcy@rcybc.ca.
This Privacy Notice applies only to the RCYBC Chat and Text Line. To learn more about RCYBC’s privacy practices for other services, please visit the privacy policy on our website. The RCYBC is authorized to collect personal information via chat and text under section 26(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), for the purpose of delivering advocacy services.
Collection and Use of Personal Information
Text:
- When you text us for advocacy services, we collect your telephone number and any other personal information that you include in your text messages. We use this information to communicate with you via text message and to provide you with advocacy services. We may retain this information to provide advocacy services and enforce our texting terms, including to manage excessive and inappropriate use of the texting services. This information is kept confidential by our support team.
- Our advocacy staff are given access only to the information they need to perform their designated functions and are not authorized to use or disclose personal information for their own purposes.
Chat:
- When you contact us via chat for advocacy services, we collect your name and any other personal information that you include in your chat messages. We use this information to communicate with you via chat and to provide you with advocacy services. We may retain this information to provide advocacy services and enforce our chat terms, including to manage excessive and inappropriate use of the chat services. This information is kept confidential by our support team.
- Our advocacy staff are given access only to the information they need to perform their designated functions and are not authorized to use or disclose personal information for their own purposes.
Surveys:
- We may use your telephone number to send you a text message or email with a link to a survey regarding the text or chat services. If you click on the link, standard data rates apply. The survey is optional, and you are not required to complete the survey in order to use the chat or text services. If you choose to complete the survey, we collect your survey responses which may include demographic information about yourself as well as information about your experience using the chat and text services. We use survey responses for quality assurance and training purposes and to improve our services. If you do not want to receive this survey by text, you can text STOP at any time, which prevents any and all future messages from being sent
Research:
- We may de-identify personal information and use this de-identified and aggregated data for research purposes, such as understanding the use of our texting service and its impact.
Sharing of Personal Information
We do not share your personal information with third parties, except in limited circumstances as described below.
Duty to Report / Active Rescue
We may be required to disclose your telephone number and other personal information to an external agency, if we think that you or others may be in danger. This is called the “duty to report.”
We have a duty to report in the following cases:
- If you tell us that someone is hurting you, has hurt you, or is likely to hurt you in the future; or
- If you tell us you are planning to hurt yourself or someone else, or if you have committed a crime.
Safeguarding and Retention of Personal Information
We have implemented reasonable administrative, technical and physical measures to safeguard the personal information in our custody and control against theft, loss and unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure. We restrict access to your personal information on a need-to-know basis to employees.
We have personal information retention processes designed to retain personal information for no longer than necessary for the purposes stated above or to otherwise meet legal requirements.
Updating and Correcting Personal Information
You have the right to update and correct inaccuracies in your personal information in our custody and control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by the laws of B.C. You may request updating and corrections of inaccuracies in the personal information we have in our custody or control by emailing or writing to us at the contact information set out below. We may request certain personal information for the purposes of verifying the identity of the individual seeking access to their personal information records.
Updates to the Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes to our privacy practices. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.
Contact Us
RCYBC welcomes your comments and questions regarding this Privacy Notice and our personal information practices. If you have questions or concerns, you can contact the Chief Information Officer toll free 1-800-476-3933. You can also email us at rcy@rcybc.ca or write to us at:
Chief Information Officer
Office of the Representative for Children and Youth
Suite 400, 1019 Wharf Street
Victoria, BC V8W 2Y9