1. Introduction
Access Rescue Canada, Inc. ("Access Rescue," "ARC," "we," "us" or "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and safeguard personal information when you visit accessrescuecanada.org and our related sites, register for a course or e-learning program, purchase equipment, book standby rescue services, or otherwise contact us.
We handle personal information in accordance with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and other applicable laws. This policy forms part of the legal notices and conditions of use described in our General Policy & Law, and should be read together with our Cancelation Policy and Liability & Participation terms.
By using our website or services, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this policy.
2. Information we collect
We collect only the personal information we need to deliver our training and services. Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:
Contact and identity: Name, email address, phone number, mailing address
Employer or organization: Fire service, municipality or company name; job title; billing contact; purchase order numbers
Course registration: Course selected, dates, prerequisites, signed liability waivers and participation agreements
Training records: Attendance, quiz and exam results, skills evaluations, certificate numbers, certification and expiry dates
Health and accommodation (voluntary): Information you choose to share about a medical condition, injury or accommodation need that may affect your safe participation
Purchase and payment: Items or courses purchased, order history, billing and shipping details. Payment card details are processed by Stripe, our payment processor; we do not see or store full card numbers
Communications: Emails, enquiries, feedback and correspondence with our staff and instructors
Website and e-learning use: IP address, browser and device type, pages visited, login activity and course progress on our e-learning platform
Photos and video: Images or recordings taken during training for instructional, evaluation or promotional purposes (see section 3)
We collect most information directly from you. We may also receive it from your employer or organization when they register or pay for you, and from accrediting bodies when needed to confirm your certification.
3. How we use your information
We use personal information to:
- Register you for courses, process payments and send confirmations, welcome letters, pre-course materials and waivers
- Deliver in-person and e-learning training, track your progress and evaluate your performance
- Issue certificates, maintain your training history and remind you when a certification is due to expire
- Verify your training or certification when you, your employer or an accrediting body asks us to
- Keep participants safe during training and respond to incidents or emergencies
- Process and ship equipment orders and provide customer service
- Invoice employers and organizations that register or pay on your behalf
- Respond to your questions and requests
- Send course announcements and news, where you have agreed to receive them
- Maintain, secure and improve our website, e-learning platform and services
- Meet our legal, insurance, health and safety and accounting obligations
Photos and video. We photograph and record training sessions for instruction, skills evaluation and quality assurance. We also share training photos and video on our website and social media channels, including Facebook and Instagram, to show our programs in action. We ask for your consent to appear in this content when you register. You can decline at registration, or later by telling your instructor or emailing us. If you ask us to remove an image of you that we have already posted, we will take it down from our own channels within a reasonable time. We cannot control copies that others have already shared.
We will not use your personal information for any new purpose without first asking for your consent, unless the law permits or requires it.
4. Consent
We obtain your consent when you provide personal information to register, purchase, or contact us. Consent may be express (for example, ticking a box or signing a waiver) or implied by your actions (for example, attending a course your employer booked for you).
If an employer or organization registers you, they are responsible for telling you that your information is being shared with us and for having the authority to do so.
We send promotional emails only in accordance with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. You will still receive transactional messages about courses you are registered in, orders you have placed and certifications we hold for you.
You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice (see section 10). Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide certain services, such as issuing or verifying a certificate.
5. Sharing your information
We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. We share it only as described below.
- Your employer or sponsoring organization. If your employer or organization registered or paid for your training, we may share your attendance, results, certificate details and expiry dates with them.
- Accrediting and regulatory bodies. Where you are eligible for accreditation (for example, IFSAC accreditation through the Ontario Fire Marshal for Ontario fire services), we share the information needed to process it.
- Service providers. We use trusted third parties to run our business, including Zoho (website, online store, customer records, e-learning, email and electronic signatures), Stripe (payment processing), shipping carriers, and email and analytics tools. They may use your information only to provide services to us and must protect it.
- Instructors and contractors. Instructors and subcontractors delivering your course receive the participant information they need to train and supervise you safely.
- Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information where required or permitted by law, to respond to a court order or lawful request, to protect someone's health or safety in an emergency, or in connection with an insurance claim or legal proceeding.
- Business transfers. If Access Rescue is sold or reorganized, personal information may be transferred to the new owner, who must continue to protect it under this policy.
Where your information is stored. Our core business systems, including our website, online store, customer records and e-learning platform, are hosted by Zoho in its Canadian data centre, so the personal information they hold is stored in Canada. A few other service providers may process limited information outside Canada. For example, Stripe processes payment information in the United States and other countries, and shipping carriers or analytics tools may do the same. When that happens, the information is subject to the laws of that country and may be accessible to its courts, law enforcement and national security authorities. We take contractual and other steps to ensure it receives a comparable level of protection..
6. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law.
- Training records and certificates are kept for at least seven years after your last course, so we can verify your training, support recertification and meet health and safety, insurance and legal obligations.
- Signed waivers and incident reports are kept for at least seven years, or longer if a claim is pending.
- Financial and order records are kept for at least six years, as required by Canadian tax law.
- Marketing contacts are kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you.
When information is no longer needed, we securely delete, destroy or anonymize it.
7. How we protect your information
We use reasonable physical, organizational and technical safeguards to protect personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized access, use or disclosure. These include:
- Restricting access to staff, instructors and contractors who need it for their work
- Password-protected accounts and permission controls on our business systems
- Encrypted (HTTPS) connections on our website, store and e-learning platform
- Payment processing through Stripe, a PCI DSS Level 1 certified provider, so card details never reach our systems
- Secure storage and disposal of paper records, such as sign-in sheets and evaluation forms
No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a breach of security safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by law.
8. Cookies and analytics
Our website, online store and e-learning platform use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your cart, understand how visitors use our site and improve it. We use analytics tools that collect information such as your IP address, browser type, pages viewed and time spent on the site.
You can set your browser to refuse or delete cookies. Some features, such as the shopping cart and e-learning login, may not work properly without them.
Our website links to third-party sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Yelp. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, and we encourage you to read their policies.
8. Cookies and analytics
Our website, online store and e-learning platform use cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your cart, understand how visitors use our site and improve it. Analytics tools may collect information such as your IP address, browser type, pages viewed and time spent on the site.
You can set your browser to refuse or delete cookies. Some features, such as the shopping cart and e-learning login, may not work properly without them.
Our website links to third-party sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Yelp. We are not responsible for their privacy practices, and we encourage you to read their policies.
9. Age of participants
As set out in our Liability & Participation terms, all course participants must be of the age of majority. Our services are not directed to minors, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If we learn that we have collected information from a minor, we will delete it.
10. Your rights
You have the right to:
- Access the personal information we hold about you, and learn how it has been used and to whom it has been disclosed
- Correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
- Withdraw consent to our use of your information, subject to legal or contractual restrictions
- Unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time
- Complain about how we handle your personal information
To make a request, email us at the address in section 11. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within 30 days, and will tell you if we need more time or cannot fulfil a request, and why (for example, where the law requires us to keep certain training or financial records).
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
11. Changes to this policy and contact us
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The updated version will be posted on this page with a new "Last updated" date. Please review it each time you visit our site.
If you have questions about this policy, or wish to access, correct or withdraw consent for your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer:
Privacy Officer
Access Rescue Canada, Inc.
3317-C Mainway Drive
Burlington, ON L7M 1A6
Email: training@accessrescuecanada.org
Last updated: October 19, 2026