Privacy Notice

This notice describes how St. Lawrence College collects, uses, and discloses personal information. We adhere to applicable privacy laws, including the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Collection of Personal Information

St. Lawrence College collects personal information of students, alumni, and other parties, including but not limited to faculty, staff, donors, and private citizens as part of the services our college provides. Personal information collected by St. Lawrence College includes certain identifying information, including, but not limited to, names, addresses, dates of birth and certain financial information.

Consent

Where required, St. Lawrence College obtains the consent of individuals before or when it collects, uses, or discloses personal information. St. Lawrence College may collect, use, or disclose personal information without the knowledge or consent of individuals but only as specified and permitted by law. St. Lawrence College will use reasonable efforts to ensure that an individual is advised of the identified purposes for which personal information will be used or disclosed. Purposes will be stated in a manner that can be reasonably understood by the individual. If St. Lawrence College proposes to use or disclose personal information for a purpose not previously identified, the new purpose will be identified and documented prior to the new use, and where necessary, an individual’s consent will be obtained.

St. Lawrence College will require individuals to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information as a condition of the supply of information or services to the individual only if such collection, use, or disclosure is necessary to provide the information or services. In determining the appropriate form of consent, St. Lawrence College will consider the sensitivity of the personal information and the reasonable expectations of individuals in relation to the purposes for use or disclosure of the information by St. Lawrence College.

Manner of Collection of Personal Information

St. Lawrence College collects personal information either directly, indirectly or via website technology.

We collect personal information when individuals communicate with us, apply directly to us, or fill out our forms. We also create records of our dealings with individuals that include personal information. For example, we create and maintain a student record for every St. Lawrence College student.

St. Lawrence College may also collect personal information from other relevant sources including, without limitation, the Ontario Colleges Application Service, secondary schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions previously attended, including third-party services and test score providers where the items collected form a part of the application or admission process to a college program.

Like many organizations, we collect information about our visitors to our website. Please refer to our section on “Website Privacy” below.

Use of Personal Information

Personal information is collected under the legal authority of The Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Act, 2002, S.O. 2002. This information is used for the academic, administrative, employment-related, financial, statistical, and other appropriate purposes of St. Lawrence College.

Student information collected by St. Lawrence College may be used, among other things, to communicate with, admit, register, and graduate students, record academic achievement, issue identity cards and, where applicable, facilitate local transit passes, to provide access to information technology systems and to operate academic, financial, athletic, recreational, residence, alumni, and other St. Lawrence College programs.

St. Lawrence College may use secure and online platforms to facilitate learning, online assessment and evaluations. Students will be notified if their webcam, microphone, and computer screen are being monitored and/or viewed by authorized St. Lawrence College employees to ensure the integrity of the learning experience, online assessment, or evaluations. Students will be informed if they are being recorded, the purpose of the recording and who will have access to the recordings.

Most of the college’s personal information processing happens in Canada, however, if St. Lawrence College has a contract with a third-party service provider that is based in another country, or if a student is participating in a student exchange program, St. Lawrence College may be required to transfer personal data to another country or international organization. In transferring personal data, St. Lawrence College will employ suitable safeguards to protect the privacy and security of the personal information so that it is only used in a manner consistent with the individual’s relationship with St. Lawrence College and this Notice.

Disclosure of Personal Information

(a) Legitimate Purposes Related to College Functions

Information on admissions, registration and academic achievement may also be disclosed as part of day-to-day operations of St. Lawrence College, used and/or disclosed for statistical and research purposes by St. Lawrence College, where it is necessary and proper in the discharge of St. Lawrence College 's functions, or as required or permitted under law. Information may be shared with other colleges and universities to facilitate a student’s enrolment and participation in a collaborative program in which St. Lawrence College has entered into a partnership agreement.

Information is shared with third parties where processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by St. Lawrence College (e.g. health insurance plan provider, residence management). To demonstrate that a student has not opted out of a specific student service or program, information confirming their payment of optional term fees may be shared with that respective service provider to ensure the student has unimpeded access to the service or program they have supported.

(b) Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

St. Lawrence College is required to disclose personal information such as Ontario Education Numbers, student characteristics and educational outcomes to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities under s. 15 of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter M.19, as amended.

The ministry collects this data for purposes such as planning, allocating and administering public funding to colleges, universities, and other postsecondary educational and training institutions and to conduct research and analysis, including longitudinal studies, and statistical activities conducted by or on behalf of the ministry for purposes that relate to postsecondary education and training. Further information on how the Ministry of Colleges and Universities uses this personal information is available on the ministry’s website.

Further information on the collection and use of student-level enrolment-related data can be obtained from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities website.

(c) Quality Assurance Agencies

Samples of student work will be made available to subject matter experts periodically in accordance with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities requirements for quality assurance purposes. All names and other identifying information will be removed from the work.

(d) Statistics Canada

Under the authority of section 13 of the Statistics Act (Canada), Statistics Canada requires Ontario colleges and universities to report student-level data to Statistics Canada’s Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) to meet policy and planning needs in the field of postsecondary education. The information collected may be used by Statistics Canada for statistical and research purposes, and the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act prevent the information from being released in any way that would identify a student. Further information is available on the Statistics Canada’s Postsecondary Student Information System.

(e) St. Lawrence College Student Email Addresses:

St. Lawrence College acknowledges that student assigned email addresses may be visible to other students when participating in St. Lawrence College’s collaboration platforms (such as Office 365). Since students participate with other students via course level collaboration platforms (such as Blackboard or MS Teams) to fulfill course requirements, students should expect to share this limited information as part of their participation in educational activities.

Students can opt-out of participation in optional collaboration platforms (such as URSLC).

St. Lawrence College publishes student assigned email addresses in the college global address list to facilitate communication.

Access and Correction

Individuals have the right to ask for their own personal information and to request a correction of records containing their own personal information. For more information, please visit the Freedom of Information webpage.

Storage and Retention of Personal Information

St. Lawrence College takes reasonable steps to protect personal information against loss or theft as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification, regardless of the format in which the information is held, using appropriate administrative and security safeguards. In working with service providers who handle personal information on its behalf, St. Lawrence College takes reasonable steps to choose service providers that can protect personal information as per St. Lawrence College security and privacy standards. Service provider privacy and security obligations are documented in contractual agreements.

Record retention is dependent on the type of record. Records are retained as per department/program retention practices, and/or as required by legislated statute.

department/program retention practices, and/or as required by legislated statute.

Website Privacy

St. Lawrence College respects your online privacy. Personal information is collected and used online in certain circumstances. For instance, we collect and use information you submit while using the online chat “help form” to appropriately respond to your inquiries.

(a) Cookies, Beacons and Pixels

A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from our web server and stored on your web browser. Beacons and Pixels are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users. Tracking pixels are embedded invisibly on Web pages. At St. Lawrence College, we use the following types of cookies:

Essential cookies

These are used to authenticate you, prevent fraud, and provide you with the services that you have requested.

Functional cookies

These are used to remember you and recall your settings or preferences (such as language) when you return to our website. These cookies are not used to track you when you visit other websites.

Performance cookies

These are used to measure the performance of our website and online services. We use the information gathered from these cookies to improve our sites, as well as the products and services we offer.

(Targeted) Advertising cookies

These are used to record the websites you have visited to deliver customized ads to you.

You have choices with respect to cookies. By modifying your browser preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. Please refer to your browser's help function for further information about your options for controlling or monitoring cookies.

(b) Google Analytics

To ensure that the content from the St. Lawrence College website remains up to date, user-oriented and comprehensive, our website employs Google Analytics, a web-analysis tool from Google Inc. (Google) that enables us to optimize your experience.

Google Analytics uses cookies that track your preferences during your visit to our website. This allows us to simplify navigation, for example, thereby helping us to make the site more user friendly. The information that is generated in this process (including the IP address) is anonymized, making personal identification impossible. If you do not want to be tracked by Google Analytics cookies you can opt-out by installing a browser add-on.

Please refer to Google’s terms of use and privacy options for more information.

(c) Privacy Notice of Other Websites

St. Lawrence College may provide links to other websites outside of St. Lawrence College. St. Lawrence College makes no warranty or endorsement of material contained within such websites, nor does St. Lawrence College assume any responsibility for the linked website or its contents. Our privacy notice only applies to our website. If you click on a link to another website, you should review their privacy notice.

Changes to St. Lawrence College’s Privacy Notice

St. Lawrence College keeps its privacy notice under regular review and places any updates on this web page. This privacy notice was last updated on April 2, 2021.

Accountability

St. Lawrence College is responsible for all personal information under its control, including personal information disclosed to third parties who provide services. The St. Lawrence College Privacy Officer is responsible for supporting St. Lawrence College's compliance with this Notice, even though other individuals within St. Lawrence College may be responsible for the day-to-day collection and processing of personal information.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the collection, use and disclosure of your information, or about St. Lawrence College’s privacy practices, please contact the St. Lawrence College Privacy Office:

St. Lawrence College Privacy Office

100 Portsmouth Ave

Kingston, ON

K7L 5A6

privacyoffice@sl.on.ca

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a privacy law that came into force on May 25, 2018. It is designed to give residents in the EU control over how their data is processed and used. St. Lawrence College collects personal information for the purposes indicated above, to fulfil St. Lawrence College’s legitimate interests, functions, and responsibilities as a public, postsecondary educational institution.

EU residents have certain rights under the GDPR. All requests or inquires pertaining to information subject to GDPR, including access and correction of personal information, requests to withdraw consent for continued processing, data portability, or erasure of personal data, can be directed to St. Lawrence College 's Privacy Office: