QQuorus Consulting Group Inc. (“Quorus”) is committed to maintaining the security and privacy of the information we collect from the public or that we receive from our clients in the context of any survey (telephone-based, Web-based, mail, or face-to-face), focus group, interview, or other type of study in which we are involved.

Our staff is trained to respect the rules of data integrity and confidentiality, and to abide by the terms of the federal Privacy Act, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), as outlined on their website at: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-8.6/.

Quorus is an accredited member of the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), an organization that sets market research industry standards to which member companies must adhere, and which also protects your privacy.

We take privacy seriously.

When you participate in a Quorus study, your anonymity is assured. Any personal information we may have used to contact you, such as a phone number or an email address, is never included in the client deliverables, a client is never in a position to identify the respondent or connect responses to a specific individual. No individual information will ever be released, to protect anonymity, unless the following criteria are met:

• Information that would allow the client sponsor to specifically identify the respondent can only be shared if express consent has been obtained by said respondent. In obtaining the consent, the respondent will have been clearly explained which information will be shared and how that information would be used. When personal information that has been collected is to be used or disclosed for a purpose not previously identified, the new purpose shall be identified prior to use. Unless the new purpose is permitted or required by law, the consent of the respondent will be acquired before the information will be used or disclosed for the new purpose
• The only other circumstance under which personal information may be given to a third party is when the firm is obligated under the law to provide such information (e.g. court summons).

We will not, under any circumstances, share, sell, trade, or otherwise transfer any individual information collected by us to any third party, without a respondent’s express permission. Quorus is responsible for personal information in its possession or control and shall use contractual or other means to provide a comparable level of protection while information is being processed or used by a third party.

Quorus will limit the gathering of confidential information to that which is necessary to meet study objectives.

Quorus will never use email addresses provided to us by a client or from the respondent to send 'spam', or unsolicited commercial emails. We will NOT use any personal identifying information (name, telephone, email, address or postal code) to advertise, promote, or market goods or services directly to you.

From time to time, Quorus conducts web-based surveys using a third-party platform. If any cookies are used by a specific Quorus web-based survey, respondents will be notified in the invitation to participate.

Security Safeguards

Quorus shall maintain reasonable and systematic controls, schedules and practices for information, recording (audio and/ or video) and records retention and destruction which apply to personal information that is no longer necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or required by law to be retained. Such information shall be destroyed, erased or made anonymous.

Quorus shall protect personal information by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

Quorus shall protect personal information against such risks as loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, modification or destruction, through appropriate security measures, regardless of the format in which it is held.

All of Quorus’ employees with access to personal information shall be required to respect the confidentiality of that information.

All data that Quorus receives, collects and/ or stores are preserved on servers located in Canada. If a specific project requires the use of third party located in or outside Canada, we will provide information on the physical location of their data servers on an as-requested basis. That information is typically available in that specific third party’s privacy policy.

• We work with other companies for the purposes of data processing or market research product development purposes. They are contractually required to keep that information confidential and are not permitted to use this information for any other purpose except to carry out the services that they are performing for us.
• Quorus shall protect personal information disclosed to third parties by contractual agreements stipulating the confidentiality of the information and the purposes for which it is to be used.

Our Website

There are certain types of information about visitors to the Quorus website that are kept by user-logs on the web server. This information includes the pages visited, the IP address of visitors, time spent on the site, etc. This information is used by Quorus to improve our website and manage site traffic. No individual identifying information is collected.

Quorus will never use the email addresses of individuals or companies who contacted us through our website to send 'spam', or unsolicited commercial emails.

Complaints and Contact Information

Quorus shall investigate all complaints concerning compliance with its Privacy Policy. If a complaint is found to be justified, Quorus shall take appropriate measures to resolve the complaint including, if necessary, amending its policies and procedures. The respondent shall be informed of the outcome of the investigation regarding his or her complaint.

If you have any concerns about how your privacy is protected at Quorus, please contact our Privacy Officer by mail at 1937 Portobello Blvd., PO Box 17053, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Additional information regarding your privacy and our company’s legal obligations can also be found at the following websites:

• Privacy Commissioner of Canada's website at www.privcom.gc.ca.
• The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) website at http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-8.6/

Quorus will continue to review its Privacy Policy to make sure that it is relevant and remains current with changing industry standards, technologies and laws.

Last updated March 2, 2015