Protection of personal information and access to information

The Chambre is committed to complying with all requirements respecting the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and destruction of personal information under the Acts, the Notaries Act (c. N-3), and any other laws governing the conduct of its affairs.

The Chambre also has reasonable safeguards in place to mitigate privacy risks such as non-authorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, alteration or destruction of any personal information in its custody and under its control. To learn more about those safeguards, please refer to the “Data Security” section below.

The Chambre’s Privacy Officers and Access to Information and Privacy Committee are responsible for ensuring that the Chambre has implemented appropriate policies and practices to protect the personal information in its custody and under its control. They are also responsible for ensuring that those policies and procedures comply with the Acts and other applicable laws.

To adequately meet its privacy protection responsibilities, the Chambre has established a governance framework and created an Access to Information and Privacy Committee (“AIPC”) to help ensure compliance with the Acts. The Chambre’s two Access to Information and Privacy Officers are both on the AIPC.

The Chambre has an in-house privacy awareness program, which includes various interactive employee training sessions on privacy protection and cybersecurity.

To the extent provided by law, before conducting any survey that involves collecting personal information, the Chambre will assess privacy factors to identify the risks to personal information and implement appropriate safeguards. The assessment will also help determine if the survey is necessary and will address ethical considerations, given the sensitive nature of the collected information and its intended purpose.

At the Chambre, we collect different types of personal information in the course of our activities. However, we collect only the personal information we need for our purposes depending on your status with the Chambre, as indicated below:

• If you are applying for the Professional Training Program, we will ask for your name, contact information, student code, academic transcripts, and credit card number for the payment of application fees. We will also ask for a photo of yourself, your signature, date of birth, and medical information for accommodation requests, and other information that may impact your eligibility for the Professional Training Program.
• If you are applying or reapplying to become a member of the Ordre, we will ask for your name, contact information, and credit card number (or other banking information) for the payment of your application fees and other professional dues, if applicable. We will also ask for a photo of yourself, your signature, gender, diplomas, date of birth, official handwritten signature, and medical information for accommodation requests, prior learning information, and other information that may impact your eligibility for admission or readmission to the Ordre.
• If you are a notary and you are registered with the Ordre, we will ask for your name, address, place of employment, and refresher training assessment reports, information about your professional development and your practice (such as the procedure used for executing deeds en minute, the technology used in your practice, and your document storage locations), your credit card number or banking information for the payment of membership fees or professional dues, your insurance policy number, signature, date of birth, family information for declarations of interest, résumé information if you are invited to sit on any of the Chambre’s committees, your academic and career background, and other information that we may obtain from third parties and that may impact your status with the Ordre.
• If you are a member of the public, we will ask for your name, gender, résumé information if you are invited to sit on any of the Chambre’s committees, date of birth, social insurance number, marital status, financial information so we can debit your account for services provided by the Chambre, signature, contact information so we can reach you, and any other information we need to process your request. We may also have to collect information on members of the public that is contained in records kept by notaries in accordance with sections 122 and 192 of the Professional Code (c. C-26).
• If you are applying for a position at the Chambre, we will ask for your name and email address, and all the information contained in your résumé.

At the Chambre, we collect, use, disclose, and retain personal information relating to candidates to the profession, notaries, members of the public, and other third parties in order to conduct our affairs.

The Chambre’s scope of activities includes:

• Training and assessing candidates to the profession.
• Making and, in some cases, reviewing decisions on diploma and training equivalence recognition and on member applications (licensing, admission and readmission to the roll of the Ordre).
• Assessing the expertise of notaries, and issuing, imposing, granting and managing special conditions for professional practice, training courses, accreditations, authorizations, titles, and official handwritten and digital signatures.
• Giving, granting, and providing exemptions, and monitoring the continuing education of notaries.
• Inspecting and making recommendations on the records, books, registers, and equipment used by notaries.
• Receiving and examining reports involving its members and conducting investigations.
• Assisting notifying authorities with searches authorized by warrant or court order.
• Expressing opinions on the Syndic’s decision not to file a complaint against a notary.
• Conducting investigations and taking legal action following reports of individuals practising the profession illegally and other criminal offences under the Professional Code.
• Engaging in presidential mediation, conciliation, and fee arbitration.
• Receiving and processing Compensation Fund claims.
• Providing professional liability insurance for notaries and processing related claims.
• Appointing temporary custodians of registries, records, and funds and assets held in trust.
• Overseeing a member mentoring program.
• Coordinating the activities of the Chambre’s committees.
• Informing candidates, notaries, and the public of the above, and confirming the status of members and former members.
• Generating reports and statistics in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and for the purpose of analysis, research, and improvement.
• Billing, collecting, and recovering annual and additional dues (if applicable), fines, penalties, administrative and training fees, and professional liability insurance premiums.
• Maintaining the Register of Testamentary Dispositions, the Register of Protection Mandates, and the Consent Registry for Organ and Tissue Donations, and issuing search certificates.
• Issuing quality and authenticity certificates.
• Providing training.
• Receiving and responding to privacy and access to information requests.
• Informing notaries and the public of the above services, and billing and collecting applicable fees.
• Funding research projects and activities sponsored by law and justice organizations.
• Awarding titles, prizes, honours, distinctions, and graduate scholarships.
• Producing various publications and running advertising campaigns.

The Chambre will collect, use, and disclose your personal information only with your consent or as permitted by law.

Giving your consent

 Consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information can be express or implied and can be given orally, electronically, in writing or by an authorized representative. By providing your personal information when using the Chambre’s websites (as they are referred to collectively in the Terms and Conditions of Use) and by communicating with the Chambre via technology, by telephone or in person, you consent to the terms and conditions of this Policy. In some instances, the Chambre will ask for your express consent to the use or disclosure of your personal information, where that is required under the Acts.

In the particular instance of disclosing a notary’s personal information to a third party, the notary must complete the form in The Notary’s Space to provide or withhold consent in situations where consent is required under the Acts.

Withdrawing your consent

 You can withdraw your consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information at any time. To do so, please contact the Chambre using the details in the “Contact Information” section below.

Notaries wishing to withdraw their consent to the disclosure of their personal information to a third party, must email a written request to consentements@cnq.org

Withdrawal requests may be declined by the Chambre due to legal or contractual restrictions and are subject to reasonable notice. You will be informed of the consequences of withdrawing consent, which may include our inability to process your request or provide certain services.

The Chambre may disclose your personal information to comply with any court orders, laws or legal procedures. For example, we may disclose personal information when responding to any government or regulatory requests in accordance with applicable laws, when enforcing our Terms of Use and other agreements and making sure they are adhered to, or when we believe that disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of the Chambre or others.

That includes sharing information with other businesses and organizations for fraud protection purposes. The Chambre also shares information gathered during investigations with the Disciplinary Council.

The Chambre may share the personal information it collects as per this Policy with agents, providers, and other third parties whose services it uses to conduct its affairs, including its information technology and accounting service providers, auditors, and external legal advisors. Those third parties are contractually obligated to keep personal information confidential, use it only for the purposes for which the Chambre has disclosed it, and handle it in accordance with the standards set out in this Policy and in compliance with the law.

Your personal information may be transferred outside of your jurisdiction and, where appropriate, may be accessed by foreign authorities under the applicable laws of that jurisdiction. If the Chambre needs to transfer your personal information outside of Quebec in the course of its operations, it will do so only after making sure the information will be adequately protected, taking into account the sensitive nature and intended use of the information, the safeguards in place, and the applicable legal regime in the state or province where the information will potentially be disclosed. The transfer will also be subject to appropriate contractual agreements to ensure adequate protection.

To withdraw your consent to the disclosure of your personal information to a third party, please refer to the “Your Consent” section of this Policy.

The security of your personal information is very important to us. We have appropriate and reasonable physical, organizational, contractual, and technical measures and policies in place to secure your personal information from loss or theft and from unauthorized access, copying, use, alteration or disclosure. We have also taken steps to restrict access to your personal information to those Chambre employees and, where appropriate, directors, committee members, agents, and service providers who absolutely need it to perform their duties. Chambre employees, including officers, managers and temporary or permanent employees, directors, and committee members, are bound by a code of ethics to safeguard the information held by the Chambre, and have signed a pledge to that effect.

Third parties that have access to the information in the Chambre’s custody or under its control have been informed of this Policy and other applicable policies and procedures for safeguarding and protecting personal information. All third parties must agree to follow those policies and procedures before they begin providing services or working with the Chambre.

However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure and error-free, so the Chambre cannot guarantee absolute security. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with the Chambre is no longer secure (e.g., if you fear that your personal information has been compromised), please contact us immediately using the details in the “Contact Information” section below. If we learn of a security incident involving your personal information, we will notify you and report the incident to the appropriate authorities in accordance with applicable law.

Unless otherwise authorized or required by the Acts or applicable regulations, the Chambre will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected, including meeting legal, accounting, and reporting obligations to relevant government and regulatory authorities.

In some circumstances, the Chambre may anonymize your personal information so that it can no longer be used to identify you, either directly or indirectly. The Chambre then reserves the right to use the anonymous data for legitimate purposes without providing further notice or asking for your consent, in accordance with the Acts and regulations.

It is important that the personal information we have on record for you is accurate and up-to-date. Please contact the Chambre if your personal information has changed. Under the Acts, you have the right to request access to the personal information we have on record for you and the right to make updates.

If you would like to review, check or correct the personal information in our records, be sure to contact us in writing using the details in the “Contact Information” section below. Please provide enough details so we can process your request.

We may ask for specific information to confirm your identity and your right of access, provide the personal information we have on record for you or make the requested changes. In some instances, applicable laws may authorize or require the Chambre to deny your request to access all or some of the personal information we have on record for you. If we are unable to give you access to your personal information, we will advise you of the reasons for the refusal, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

If you are not satisfied with the way the Chambre has handled your personal information, you can file a complaint using the details provided in the “Contact Information” section below. The appropriate Privacy Officer will investigate your complaint and determine whether your personal information has been handled in compliance with the Chambre’s policies, protocols, and practices and in accordance with applicable laws. We will provide you with any progress updates or reports of investigation findings within 30 days of filing.

You can contact the Chambre if you have any questions or comments about this Policy and our privacy practices. We will also welcome and answer any enquiries regarding the processing of your personal information and our compliance with this Policy and the Acts.

If you have questions, comments or requests related to personal information typically held by the Chambre, please write to:

• Responsable de la protection des renseignements personnels général (Chief Privacy Officer) – servicesjuridiques@cnq.org

If you have questions, comments or requests related to personal information held by the Chambre’s Investigations and Litigation Department (Office of the Syndic), please write to:

• Responsable de la protection des renseignements personnels du bureau du Syndic (Privacy Officer – Office of the Syndic) – syndic@cnq.org

The Chambre’s Privacy Officers can also be reached at the following mailing address:

Chambre des notaires du Québec
101–2045 Stanley Street
Montreal, QC  H3A 2V4

This version of the Chamber’s Privacy Policy is version 1, effective September 22, 2023.

It replaces the previous version dated N/A and which was the subject of the notice of change dated N/A.

You are responsible for periodically visiting the Chamber’s Web sites and this policy to verify any changes that may have been made.

We invite you to send any written request for access to such documents or information, other than those available on this Web site (the Ordre’s annual reports, the schedule of disciplinary council hearings, disciplinary decisions, accessible free of charge on the SOQUIJ site, and the procedures for conducting a search for a will or mandate of protection), by mail or e-mail, to :

Responsable de l’accès à l’information et de la protection des renseignements personnels général
101-2045 Stanley Street
Montréal QC H3A 2V4
servicesjuridiques@cnq.org

We invite you to send any request for access to such documents or information in writing, by mail or e-mail, to :

Access to Information and Privacy Officer, Trustee’s Office
101-2045 Stanley Street
Montreal QC H3A 2V4
syndic@cnq.org.

All written requests for access to a document or information are acknowledged and answered in writing within 20 days of receipt. In certain circumstances, this period may be extended by 10 days.

Access to a document is free of charge. However, fees corresponding to the cost of its transcription, reproduction or transmission may be charged. These fees are set out in the Regulation respecting fees payable for the transcription, reproduction and transmission of documents and personal information. You will be informed in advance of the approximate cost, if any.

If you do not agree with a decision rendered in response to a written request, you may, within 30 days of receiving the decision, apply to the Commission d’accès à l’information to submit an application for review or a request to examine a disagreement. Only decisions rendered in response to requests made in writing may be the subject of an appeal for review.

The Comité d’accès à l’information et à la protection des renseignements personnels (CAIPRP) was established at the Chambre des notaires du Québec (the Order) on September 22, 2022, under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIP).

The CAIPRP was created to support the person responsible for access to information and the protection of personal information in the performance of his or her duties and obligations.

The main mandate of this committee is to approve the rules governing the governance that the Ordre must adopt with regard to the personal information it holds.

The committee is made up of 5 permanent members: the General Manager to whom the committee reports, the Chief Information and Administration Officer, the Chief Information Technology Officer, the Access to Information and Privacy Officer, and the Syndic of the Chamber.