Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Vic West Pet Hospital respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect through our website at https://www.vicwestpethospital.com, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It applies to visitors to our website and to people who contact us through it. It does not cover the veterinary records we keep for patients, which are governed separately by British Columbia veterinary practice requirements.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, as a private-sector organization in British Columbia, the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), SBC 2003 c.63.

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at reception.vwph@gmail.com or (778) 265-4500.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

We collect information you choose to give us through forms linked from our website, by email, or by phone. Depending on the form, this can include your name, your pet’s name and details, your phone number, your email address, your postal address, and whatever you write in a message or comments field. Job applicants may also submit a resume or curriculum vitae.

Some of the forms we use are hosted by a third-party form provider and open on that provider’s own website in a new tab rather than on ours. Information you enter into those forms is collected and held by that provider on our behalf, under our instructions, and is used for the purposes described in this policy.

We ask only for what we need in order to respond to you or to arrange care for your pet. You do not have to provide information, but some requests cannot be actioned without it.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our website, certain information is collected automatically by the systems that run it. This can include your IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, the pages you view, how long you spend on them, the website or search that referred you, and general location inferred from your IP address at a city or region level.

This information is collected through cookies and similar technologies. Section 5 explains those in more detail and how to control them.

2.3 Communication Platforms

When you call, text, or message us, our communication systems record the details of that contact. This can include your phone number, the date and time, the content of a message, voicemail audio, and a written transcript of a voicemail. Section 7 explains how automated and AI-assisted tools are used in these systems.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to inquiries, appointment requests, and messages
• Schedule, confirm, and remind you about appointments
• Provide veterinary services and communicate with you about your pet’s care
• Process payments and maintain billing records
• Send service updates and, where you have agreed to receive them, occasional practice news
• Improve our website, understand how visitors use it, and measure the performance of our advertising
• Respond to job applications
• Meet our legal, regulatory, and record-keeping obligations

We collect, use, and disclose personal information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances, and we do so with your consent except where the applicable privacy legislation permits or requires otherwise. We do not sell your personal information. Section 10 explains what is shared and with whom.

4. SMS and Text Message Communications

Vic West Pet Hospital sends text messages to clients who have provided a mobile number. Commercial electronic messages we send are governed by Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).

Text messages fall into two groups, and the consent that applies is different for each. Service messages relate directly to your pet’s care, including appointment confirmations, reminders, and follow-up. Where you have given us your mobile number in the course of arranging care, we rely on your implied consent to send these. Marketing messages contain practice news or offers, and we send those only where you have given express consent, which you provide by opting in and which we record.

Every marketing message we send identifies us, gives our contact details, and carries an unsubscribe mechanism. You can withdraw your consent at any time by replying STOP to any message you receive from us, by using the unsubscribe instruction in the message, or by calling us at (778) 265-4500. We action withdrawals promptly and within the period required by CASL. Withdrawing consent to marketing messages does not stop essential service messages relating to a scheduled appointment, which you can also ask us to stop at any time. Message and data rates may apply depending on your mobile plan, and message frequency varies. We do not control, and are not responsible for, delays or failures in delivery caused by your mobile carrier.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

5.1 Types of Cookies

Our website uses three categories of cookies:

• Essential. Required for the website to function, including page navigation, security, and remembering your cookie choices. These are always active and cannot be switched off.
• Statistics. Help us understand how visitors find and use the website, which pages are read, and where people leave. These are set only with your consent.
• Marketing. Used to measure the performance of our advertising and to show relevant ads to people who have visited our website. These are set only with your consent.

5.2 Cookie Consent

When you first visit our website you are shown a consent banner where you can accept or decline non-essential cookies by category. Your choice is stored and applied on subsequent visits. You can change your choice at any time through the cookie settings link available on the website, and withdrawing consent is as straightforward as giving it. The consent banner and cookie configuration on this website are configured by VSA Vet Media Inc. on our behalf.

5.3 Global Privacy Control and Universal Opt-Out Signals

Our website detects and honours the Global Privacy Control signal and other universal opt-out mechanisms transmitted by your browser or a browser extension. Where such a signal is detected, we treat it as a withdrawal of your consent to analytics and advertising cookies and to the use of your information for targeted advertising, and we apply it without requiring any further action from you.

5.4 Online Advertising and Remarketing

We advertise online within our local service area. We do not run national or international advertising campaigns. Advertising and social media platforms may place cookies or similar identifiers on your device so that we can measure how our ads perform and show relevant ads to people who have previously visited our website. This is commonly called remarketing or retargeting. We do this on the basis of the consent you give through our cookie banner, and you can withdraw that consent at any time.

You can control this in several ways. Decline Marketing cookies in our consent banner, or reopen the banner later through the cookie settings link. Adjust your advertising settings directly at google.com/settings/ads. Opt out of interest-based advertising across participating networks at networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp. You can also use the opt-out controls provided within your social media account settings.

6. Third-Party Services

We work with third-party providers who handle information on our behalf. We describe them by the function they perform rather than by name, because providers change over time. These include:

• Website hosting and content management providers
• Website analytics and measurement platforms
• Advertising and social media platforms
• Communication providers, including telephone, text messaging, and voicemail services
• Online form and appointment booking providers
• Online retail and product fulfilment providers
• Payment processing providers
• Practice management and record-keeping systems

These providers may access personal information only as needed to perform their function for us, and are required to protect it to a standard comparable to our own. We do not permit them to use it for their own independent purposes. Some of these providers, or the servers they use, are located outside British Columbia and outside Canada, which means personal information may be stored or handled in another country and may be accessible to the courts and authorities of that country under its laws. If you would like more information about how we handle information held outside the province, contact us using the details in Section 16.

7. AI-Assisted Tools

We use communication systems that include AI-assisted features. We disclose this openly rather than leaving it implied.

7.1 No Medical Decisions by AI

AI tools are used for communication and administrative support only. They do not assess your pet, do not determine what care your pet receives, and do not make any clinical decision. Every clinical judgement is made by a veterinarian licensed in British Columbia who has examined your animal.

7.2 Call Recording

Telephone calls to and from Vic West Pet Hospital may be recorded and transcribed for quality, training, and record-keeping purposes. Under PIPEDA and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), SBC 2003 c.63, we may record a call only where you know it is happening and consent to it. You will be notified at the start of a call that recording may take place, and continuing with the call is how you give your consent. If you do not wish to be recorded, tell us at the beginning of the call and we will either stop the recording or continue without it, and you will still receive the same service. You may also ask us at any time what a recording was used for and how long we keep it.

7.3 Automated Communications

We use automated systems to send appointment reminders and confirmations, to transcribe voicemail messages into text, to sort incoming calls so that they reach the right person, and to draft suggested replies to messages we receive online. Any suggested reply is read and approved by a member of our team before it is sent or published.

7.4 AI Interaction Disclosure

If you interact with a chatbot on our website or an automated attendant when you telephone us, you are interacting with an automated system rather than a person. You can ask to speak to a member of our team at any point and we will connect you.

7.5 Your Rights Regarding AI-Assisted Tools

You may ask us not to record or transcribe your calls, and you may ask to communicate with a person rather than an automated system. You may also request information about how these tools handle your personal information. Contact us at reception.vwph@gmail.com or (778) 265-4500.

8. Data Protection and Security

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorized access, and unauthorized disclosure. Access is limited to team members and providers who need it in order to do their work. No method of transmission over the internet and no method of electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8.1 Data Breach Notification

If a security incident affects your personal information, we will notify you, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia as required by applicable law.

9. Your Privacy Rights

If you are a resident of British Columbia, you have rights under the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), SBC 2003 c.63. Where your personal information is handled outside the province or across national borders, PIPEDA also applies. Your rights include:

• The right to access the personal information we hold about you, and to be told how it has been used and to whom it has been disclosed
• The right to request correction of personal information that is inaccurate or incomplete
• The right to withdraw your consent to our collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information, subject to legal and record-keeping requirements and on reasonable notice
• The right to ask questions about our handling of your information and to receive an answer
• The right to complain to us, and to escalate a complaint to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at reception.vwph@gmail.com or (778) 265-4500. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. We will respond within the timeframe required by the applicable statute. Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide part of a service, and we will tell you if that is the case before the withdrawal takes effect. You may also authorize another person to make a request on your behalf.

10. Sharing of Information

We share personal information with the categories of third-party providers described in Section 6, so that they can perform their function for us, and where sharing is required or permitted by law, by a court order, or by a regulatory authority. We may also share information where you have asked us to, for example when we refer your pet to another veterinary practice.

Where we use advertising and analytics cookies to measure our marketing and to show relevant ads, the online identifiers, device information, and browsing activity involved are handled by the advertising and analytics platforms described in Section 6. We do this only where you have consented through our cookie banner, and you can withdraw that consent at any time through the banner, through the cookie settings link, or through the universal opt-out signals described in Section 5.3. We do not sell personal information, and we do not knowingly share the personal information of a child with an advertising platform. All of this is done in accordance with PIPEDA and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), SBC 2003 c.63.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our website is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age. If you believe a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, contact us at reception.vwph@gmail.com and we will delete it.

12. Links to External Websites

Our website contains links to third-party websites, including pet health resources, government pages, our online store, and the forms described in Section 2.1. We provide these for convenience. We do not control those websites and are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices. Review the privacy policy of any website you visit through a link from ours.

Where we operate social media profiles, including profiles on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, those profiles are hosted by those companies rather than by us. Anything you post or send through a social media platform is governed by that platform’s own privacy policy and terms, not by this one. We have no control over how those platforms collect or use your information, and we would encourage you to review their settings if that matters to you.

13. Data Retention

We keep personal information for as long as needed for the purpose it was collected, and for as long as we are required to keep it under applicable law, including British Columbia veterinary record-keeping requirements and tax and accounting rules. Where we have used personal information to make a decision that directly affects you, we retain it for at least the minimum period required by the applicable privacy legislation so that you have a reasonable opportunity to access it. When information is no longer needed, we delete it or render it anonymous.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. Where a change is significant, we will make that clear on the website. Continuing to use our website after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.

15. Website Design and Management

This website is designed and managed by VSA Vet Media Inc. on behalf of Vic West Pet Hospital. In providing those services, VSA Vet Media Inc. may handle personal information submitted through the website, including form submissions, and does so only on our instructions and for the purposes described in this policy. VSA Vet Media Inc. is not a veterinary practice and does not provide veterinary advice.

16. Contact Information

For any question about this policy, to exercise a privacy right, or to make a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, contact us:

Vic West Pet Hospital
526 Esquimalt Road, Victoria, BC V9A 3L4
Phone: (778) 265-4500
Email: reception.vwph@gmail.com
Website: https://www.vicwestpethospital.com

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.