Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 1, 2025

At DefenseMD, we understand the importance of privacy and the protection of personal information. We place the highest value on ensuring the privacy and confidentiality of personal information entrusted to us. To provide you with a privacy policy that is easy to follow, clear, and comprehensive, we have divided the policy into sections. Each section also has a summary or short explanation in plain English (starts with ‘In short...’). The summaries make our policy easy to understand, but they are not legally binding.

Overview

This privacy policy governs DefenseMD’s collection, use, and disclosure of personal information and personal health information (together, “personal information”). DefenseMD collects, uses, and discloses personal information for reasons that are consistent with the purposes described in this policy (see section below, entitled “Why does DefenseMD collect Personal Information?), or as otherwise permitted or mandated by law. There may be circumstances where you have provided personal information for one purpose, and we later need to use that information for a different purpose. In such circumstances, we will seek your consent to use the information for the new purpose unless the law permits or requires us to use the information for that new purpose.

Personal information is kept securely by DefenseMD and its service providers. It is retained only as long as necessary to fulfil the stated purposes. Except in limited circumstances, you have the right to access the information collected about you, within a reasonable time frame, in accordance with existing legislation.

DefenseMD will regularly revise its 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 DefenseMD at the time of the amendment. Updates to this privacy policy will be published on our website. Members will be reminded of our privacy policy and any updates with their annual billing reminder. Should you have any questions or concerns, you are invited to contact DefenseMD at info@defensemd.com

When you provide personal information, you agree that DefenseMD may collect, use, and disclose your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy. DefenseMD does not sell, trade, barter, exchange, or disclose for consideration any personal information. You are free to withdraw your consent at any time. However, if you choose not to provide us with consent to collect, use, or disclose personal information, we may not be able to offer some of the services requested.

What personal information does DefenseMD collect?

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. DefenseMD collects the following personal information. Described below are the categories of personal information collected, the specific types of personal information collected, as well as the source of collection. DefenseMD aims to be as complete and transparent about its collection practices as possible. It may be, however, that certain types of personal information are collected, but not listed here.

Profile Data: First name, Last Name, date of birth, username and password for member portal, and any other information contained in DefenseMD membership application. Source of Information: You.

Contact Data: Personal address including city, province and postal code, telephone number, and email address We may also collect professional contact information including work address and phone number. Source of Information: You.

Professional Data: Medical Identification Number of Canada, registration with local college of physicians and surgeons and medical specialty. Source of Information: You

Financial Data: Payment information to process membership fees. Source of Information: You

Survey Data: If you choose to participate in one of our surveys or research initiatives, we collect your answers and use the information and survey results to help us understand our members and tailor our service offerings. Source of Information: You

Browsing Data: Webpages you visited, internet browser, access dates and times, which features you used, duration of visit, crashes and other system activity, and third-party sites you were interacting with before visiting our site. Source of Information: Third party sources

Technical Data: Your Internet Protocol (IP) address, Device ID or MAC address, information about the manufacturer, model, settings, and operating system of your mobile device, and application version. Source of Information: Third party sources

Legal Data: Services to DefenseMD members include support with legal matters. As part of this service, DefenseMD’ third-party vendors collects personal information that forms part of legal or regulatory proceedings. To provide support for legal matters, third-party vendors may also collect DefenseMD member name, nature of inquiry/complaint, nature of practice, advice/request member is seeking. Source of Information: You & Third party sources

Communications: We collect your consent to receive communications from DefenseMD, and opinions and comments about DefenseMD, its services, solutions, and events. We also collect your communication preferences. Source of Information: You

De-identified or Anonymized Data

Personal information does not include information that is anonymized such that it cannot directly or indirectly identify an individual. We may use de-identified and/or anonymized data for purposes including to safeguard it, improve our services, test our systems, develop new services, and conduct research or data analysis. We may share this de-identified or anonymized information with third parties. By using our services, you agree that DefenseMD may de-identify or anonymize your personal information and use and share your de-identified personal information or anonymized information for purposes consistent with this policy.

DefenseMD conducts a number of member surveys for various purposes related to service design and delivery. We take steps to mitigate risks associated with the re-identification of personal information due to small sample sizes, included in such surveys. DefenseMD is consistently assessing its collection, use, and disclosure practices to protect personal information, even if the personal information has been de-identified or aggregated.

In short, any information collected by DefenseMD that is about an identifiable individual is detailed above and treated in compliance with applicable Canadian privacy laws. In addition to identifying the types of personal information we collect, we’ve also indicated the source of the information. “You” is used as a generic term to indicate the reader (which may include DefenseMD members or other individuals). Third party means that we’ve collected the information from someone other than you.

Why does DefenseMD collect personal information?

DefenseMD collects personal information to fulfill its mandate. This includes:

processing applications and confirming eligibility for DefenseMD membership;
responding to requests for assistance from members;
delivering assistance to members or conducting service-related surveys, including assistance with legal matters;
registering members for educational events;
communicating with members, including for direct marketing purposes;
providing marketing and other information about the services offered by DefenseMD, as well as other service providers;
responding to inquiries received from individuals who are not members of DefenseMD; and
meeting legal or regulatory requirements.

DefenseMD’s collection, use, and disclosure of personal information is limited to these purposes or is consistent with them, as permitted by law. DefenseMD generally collects personal information directly from the individual, but may also collect information indirectly on behalf of DefenseMD members with consent, or where otherwise permitted or required by law.

In short, DefenseMD collects your personal information to fulfill its mandate. For example, we may collect personal information to manage your membership, enable our third-party vendors to provide you with legal advice, or meet legal or regulatory requirements, among others. We only collect personal information for one of the reasons listed in this policy, for purposes consistent with them or as otherwise permitted by law.

With whom does DefenseMD share personal information and where is your information stored?

Unless otherwise permitted or required by law, DefenseMD shares your personal information only for a purpose consistent with this policy and with third parties discussed below.

Your personal information may be stored and processed in Canada or in the United States or other countries where we engage service providers. These transfers may be outside your province or territory of residence. You consent to the transfer of your personal information accordingly. Where such information is shared outside Canada, it is subject to the laws of the country in which it is held, and may be subject to disclosure to the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of such other country, pursuant to the laws of that country.

Professional Entities

DefenseMD may disclose personal information to confirm or support your membership with third parties, including:

Our Legal Assistance vendors;
The underwriters of our insurance coverage;
Our Educational Resources vendors.

When DefenseMD confirms or supports membership with third parties, no legal information or demographic information will be released beyond what is necessary for membership enrollment.

Service Providers to DefenseMD

DefenseMD may employ third party service providers (e.g. for data analysis and management, data security monitoring and assessment, member support and management services, marketing analytics and assistance, surveys, among other purposes.) in Canada, and other locations around the world, such as the United States. These service providers may be retained to facilitate or provide certain services on our behalf, such as to assist us in analyzing how our services are used, and how best to communicate with and support our members.

Your personal information will be kept on our servers, or on the servers of our service providers. Our employees and those of our service providers who require your information to fulfil their duties will have access to your information only when and as required. Access to your personal information is only granted to perform specific tasks on our behalf and is restricted using contractual arrangements that bind service providers from disclosing or using your information for any other purpose.

Disclosing Information without Consent

There are some circumstances where DefenseMD may disclose personal information without consent. Such circumstances include where DefenseMD:

is permitted or required by law, including by order of a court or tribunal;
believes, on reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the safety of an identifiable person or group;
believes it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
believes it necessary to permit us to provide approved services, pursue or investigate available remedies (including legal remedies through a civil or criminal court process), or limit any damages that we may have or are likely to sustain;
believes the information is public; and
as otherwise permitted by law.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, DefenseMD will not disclose more information than is required. DefenseMD retains the right to use de-identified or aggregated information in any way that it determines appropriate.

In short, DefenseMD may share your personal information to confirm or support your membership with third parties. When we do, we’ll make sure to put in place a contract with the service provider that restricts their use of the information only as instructed by us and to delete or return information once the provider’s work for DefenseMD is complete.

Sometimes DefenseMD will disclose your information without your consent. We will only do so when permitted by law or for specific reasons, such as when we reasonably believe the information is necessary to protect the safety of a person or group.

How long is personal information retained by DefenseMD?

DefenseMD retains personal information as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected or as otherwise permitted by law. Once this purpose has been fulfilled, subject to any legal exceptions, DefenseMD anonymizes or destroys the information in a secure manner that protects the privacy of the individual to whom the information relates.

In short, DefenseMD will hold onto your personal information to satisfy the purpose for which it was collected, in accordance with our retention and disposition policy, as permitted by law, or to comply with our legal requirements.

How is personal information safeguarded by DefenseMD?

DefenseMD endeavours 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 DefenseMD may provide its services.

As noted, DefenseMD may rely on external service providers who are located in the United States and other countries. Some personal information collected by DefenseMD may therefore be retained in countries other than Canada where personal information may be subject to access by, and disclosure to, law enforcement agencies in those jurisdictions. We take reasonable steps to confirm service providers adhere to accepted standards of information privacy and security.

Your Responsibilities

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or you have chosen) a password to access certain parts of our website, you are responsible for choosing a unique password and for keeping this password confidential.

While we take the security of your personal information seriously, and we maintain a rigorous privacy program, we cannot guarantee the security of your information, and you provide us your information at your own risk. There are certain precautions you should take to maximize the security of your information. For example, you should regularly apply available security and application/system updates to your browser and operating system software, and protect your computers with up-to-date anti-virus and firewall software.

How can I access or correct my personal information held by DefenseMD?

Where applicable, certain categories of personal information can be accessed and corrected by you through your DefenseMD account. DefenseMD strives to provide access to personal information in keeping with all applicable legislation. DefenseMD may decline to provide access to personal information in accordance with existing legislation. We will provide information from our records in a form that is easy to understand. DefenseMD reserves the right to decline to provide access to personal information where the information requested:

would disclose personal information about a third party;
would reveal confidential commercial information;
could reasonably result in serious harm to an individual;
may harm or interfere with law enforcement activities, and other investigative or regulatory functions of a body authorized by law to perform such functions;
was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process;
is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege, or a professional privilege or obligation;
is not readily retrievable and the burden or cost of providing would be disproportionate to the nature or value of the information;
does not exist, is not held, or cannot be found by DefenseMD; or
as otherwise permitted by law.

Where information will not or cannot be disclosed, the individual making the request will be provided with the reason for non-disclosure. DefenseMD will not respond to repetitive or vexatious requests for access and, in doing so, will consider such factors as the frequency with which information is updated, the purpose for which the information is used, and the nature of the information. To guard against fraudulent requests for access, DefenseMD may require sufficient information to allow it to confirm the identity of the person making the request before granting access or making corrections.

In short, there are several ways you can access the personal information we hold on you. For example, if you have an online account with DefenseMD, you can access your account and make changes to your profile and contact data. Alternatively, you can write us at info@defensemd.com and we will help you. If we decline to give you access to your personal information, we will let you know our reason for declining.

Cookies and similar technologies

DefenseMD website uses cookies on our website to ensure our site runs properly, to collect browsing data, and to enhance your online experience. A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your browser. You can delete or block cookies from your browser. You can also adjust your preferences on any browsing device, at any time and choose to opt-in or out of each cookie category. DefenseMD uses the following types of cookies:

Necessary cookies: these cookies are essential for the proper functioning of the website. Without these cookies, the website would not work properly.
Performance and Analytics cookies: these cookies allow the website to remember the choices you have made in the past and measure traffic to analyze and improve our website’s performance.
Personalized Experience Cookies: these cookies allow the website to present you with additional content relevant to you and dependent on your browsing behaviour.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes to this policy, we will notify you by email and/or by means of a notice on the Website. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

DefenseMD consistently aims to address all privacy issues to your satisfaction. If you have questions about the collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information by DefenseMD, or if you would like to correct or access your information, please visit our website or contact us:

Phone:  1-800-913-1463
Email : info@defensemd.com
Address:  1155 Metcalfe Street Suite 1500, Montreal, QC , H3B 2V6