Privacy Policy
What we collect, why we collect it, who sees it, and how to get it back.
Reviewed by counsel before launch.
These pages describe how the firm actually handles information and what this website is and is not. They are written to meet the disclosure a British Columbia financial consulting firm owes under PIPEDA and BC PIPA. Have your lawyer and your dealer or MGA compliance department read them before the site goes live — that review is a condition of publishing, not a formality.
What we collect
Contact details you give us — name, email, phone. Financial documents you send so we can do the work: tax slips, prior returns, investment and bank statements, insurance policies, business records. Where a filing legally requires it, your Social Insurance Number. If you book a consultation, the date you chose, how you want to meet, and anything you type into the notes field.
What this website collects on its own
Very little. There is no analytics, no advertising tag and no third-party script of any kind — every font, stylesheet and image is served from this domain. The site sets one cookie when you send a form, which exists only to stop other websites submitting forms on your behalf, and stores your light-or-dark preference in your own browser where we cannot read it. Your web host keeps ordinary server logs, as every host does.
Why we collect it
To do the work you asked for, and for nothing else. A tax return cannot be prepared without the slips; an insurance application cannot be submitted without the medical and financial detail the insurer requires. We do not collect information because it might be useful later, and we do not use your information for marketing.
Consent
Sending us your documents is your consent to use them for the work in question. For anything beyond that — submitting an application to an insurer, moving an account between institutions, filing on your behalf — we ask first, in writing or on a recorded instruction. You can withdraw consent at any time by telling us, subject to what we are legally required to keep or to file.
Who else sees it
Insurers and the managing general agency we place coverage through, when you apply for a policy. The investment dealer we are registered with, for anything involving your investment accounts. The Canada Revenue Agency, on filings. A subcontracted bookkeeper where one is used on your file. Nobody else. We do not sell information and we do not share it for anyone else’s marketing.
Where it is kept, and how
Documents are held in access-controlled cloud storage and shared with you through secure links rather than email attachments. Paper we receive is scanned and the original returned or shredded. Only the people working on your file have access. If a breach ever occurred that created a real risk of significant harm, we would tell you and report it, as the law requires.
How long we keep it
Tax and accounting records are kept for at least six years after the end of the tax year they relate to, which is the retention period the CRA requires. Insurance and investment files are kept for the period our dealer and MGA agreements specify. Contact-form messages and booking records are kept while they are useful and then deleted. When a retention period ends, records are destroyed rather than archived indefinitely.
Seeing your own information, or correcting it
Write to info@phoenixwest.ca and ask. We will confirm who you are, then tell you what we hold, what it has been used for, and who it has been disclosed to. There is no charge for a reasonable request, and we answer within thirty days. If something is wrong, tell us and we will correct it and pass the correction to anyone we have already sent it to.
Complaints
Raise it with us first at info@phoenixwest.ca — most things are a misunderstanding and are fixed in a phone call. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, or to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.