Pollara Strategic Insights (“Pollara”, “we”, “us”, “our”) understands the importance of privacy and the protection of personal information. We maintain a rigorous privacy and data security program.
This privacy policy governs the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by Pollara Strategic Insights.
For the most part, Pollara’s research activities require us to collect attitudinal, behavioural, and demographic information, which we only analyse and share or publicize in aggregate form, without revealing the individual personal identities or contact information of research participants. However, in some cases, we collect, use, and disclose personal information for research purposes and for reasons that are consistent with the purposes described in this policy, or as otherwise permitted or mandated by law. Personal information is kept securely by us and our service providers and retained only as long as necessary.
When you provide personal information, you agree that we may collect, use, and disclose your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy. In almost all cases, Pollara will provide our research respondents and participants with strict assurances that their identities, participation, and individual responses will be kept anonymous and confidential. If this is not the case, the need or intent to share personal information will be clearly explained as part of our invitation to participate in our research activities, so that respondents can determine if they are comfortable with participating in the research activity under these circumstances.
We will, from time to time, review and revise our privacy practices and this privacy policy. Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date of the revised privacy policy as well as to existing information held by us at the time of the amendment. Updates to this privacy policy will be published on our website. Should you have any questions or concerns, you are invited to contact our Chief Privacy Officer.
Pollara adheres strictly to the codes of ethics outlined by our industry association – the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC). As a founding, accredited Gold Seal member of CRIC, and are in full compliance with the CRIC Canadian Code of Market, Opinion, and Social Research and Data Analytics, the CRIC Public Opinion Research Standards and Disclosure Requirements, the CRIC Pledge to Canadians, and ISO 20252:2019. As a member of CRIC, Pollara’s research and business practices are regularly audited.
It should also be noted that Pollara adheres strictly to all privacy legislation, including PIPEDA (the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Law), and FIPPA (The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act). Complying with privacy laws has several implications for research suppliers and research buyers, such as:
Personal information is any information, whether recorded or not, about an identifiable individual, or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from the information. Examples of personal information include age, name, ID numbers, income, opinions, evaluations, comments, or disciplinary actions.
We may share this de-identified and aggregated information with third parties. We consistently assess our collection, use and disclosure practices to protect personal information, even if the personal information has been de-identified or aggregated.
We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected or as otherwise permitted by law. Once this purpose has been fulfilled, subject to any legal exceptions, we destroy the information in a secure manner that protects the privacy of the individual to whom the information relates. Our retention and destruction policy is reviewed and updated regularly.
We endeavour to maintain adequate physical, administrative, and technical security safeguards with respect to our offices and information storage capabilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of personal information. This commitment also applies to the disposal or destruction of personal information.
As part of these precautions, we restrict access to personal information to those employees and, under appropriate contractual arrangements, third party service providers we determine need to know that information in order that we may provide our services. We treat employee misuse of personal information as a serious offence for which disciplinary action may be taken and law enforcement authorities may be informed, if required by law. We are also prepared to take all appropriate steps to enforce the provisions of confidentiality agreements with external parties.
We may rely on external service providers who are located outside of Canada. Some personal information collected by us may therefore be retained in countries other than Canada where privacy laws may offer different levels of protection, and personal information may be subject to access by and disclosure to law enforcement agencies in those jurisdictions.
At Pollara, we pride ourselves on not just meeting but exceeding industry privacy standards. To this end:
The purpose of this statement about our commitment to protecting your privacy is to inform you about Pollara’s practices and procedures when handling Personal Information and to inform you about the Personal Information we collect about you (for example, if you participate in one of our surveys) – and to do so as clearly as possible, with particular reference to the most frequently-asked questions we receive. This statement explains how we use and disclose that information, the choices you have regarding such use and disclosure, and how you may correct that information.
Overall, we are committed to your privacy, and complying with the laws and regulations under applicable privacy laws in Canada. We will treat Personal Information in a manner consistent with applicable laws and any of our own privacy policies which go above an beyond the letter of these laws. This privacy statement applies to any information we collect or receive about you, from any source.
This section of our Privacy Policy speaks specifically to our practices related to the privacy and security of the personal information we may obtain from visitors to our websites, including www.pollara.com.
Individuals visiting pollara.com may be asked for identifiable information including name and email address. These requests are typically made only if visitors are using contact forms to send messages to Pollara, or downloading files, subscription forms, or reports. By providing such information, individuals are consenting to Pollara Strategic Insights in the manner described. Consent may be withdrawn by emailing information@pollara.com.
Pollara uses web analytics services, including Google Analytics, to help analyse the use of the website. These tools use cookies to collect and generate information about visits to pollara.com that is transmitted to their servers in an anonymous form for processing. Pollara studies patterns of website activity to improve the experience of visitors to pollara.com
The use of these tools does not allow Pollara Strategic Insights or any analytics service providers to identify individuals.
Individuals can opt-out of analytics activity by setting their browser to notify them when a cookie is sent and block analytics cookies if desired. Please consult the browser’s Help Menu for instructions. Visiting pollara.com with analytics cookies disabled will have no significant impact on the browsing experience.
If an individual elects to share ideas, information, postings, or reports from Pollara’s website to social media sites, their email contacts, or their own personal computers or devices via sharing icons or tools, such as ShareThis, the sharing application, the application’s parent company, and/or the applicable social media application’s privacy policy will govern the use and disclosure of your personal information. For greater certainty, Pollara Strategic Insights does not control and is not responsible for the privacy or data gathering practices for sharing applications and tools, such as ShareThis, or other social media application services. Individuals are subject to such application’s applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, when they use these services. Individuals should be aware that such third party applications may use technologies to track their online activity.
If you would like to contact us about your Personal Information, our Privacy Policy, or our related practices, please contact our Privacy Officer at information@pollara.com or in writing at the mailing address listed on our website.
403-1075 Bay Street
Toronto, ON, M5S 2B1
610-999 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC, V6C 2W2
Copyright ©2022 Pollara Strategic Insights. All instruments, reports, and data are the property of Pollara.