Statement of the Issue
St. John Ambulance is a charitable organization whose mission is to enable Canadians to improve their health, safety and quality of life by providing training and community service.  St. John Ambulance is the leader in first aid and CPR training.  More than 550,000 people every year learn how to save lives by taking a St. John Ambulance course.  In addition, our volunteers provide 2 million hours of first aid and medical first response service per year.  Our courses, product and community service programs are delivered through our provincial and territorial councils, which are provincially incorporated charities, across Canada.  St. John Ambulance refers to the National Office and its provincial and territorial councils and their respective operating centres (branches). 
In many cases, to deliver these services, our personnel and volunteers must have access to personal information, and in some cases, intimate patient information. In order to receive appropriate care, patients must feel free to reveal personal information. In return, St. John Ambulance must offer our patients and our clients protection of their personal information.  We value the trust of our clients, members and the communities we serve.
St. John Ambulance personnel and volunteers must follow the applicable privacy laws governing the protection of personal information.

Policy Position
St. John Ambulance respects your privacy.  We are committed to protect the accuracy, confidentiality and privacy of information and adhere to all legislative requirements respecting your privacy.  St. John Ambulance believes that all personnel, instructors and volunteers have a moral and legal obligation to protect the personal information of our clients, volunteers and patient records.  We do not rent, sell or trade our mailing lists.  As part of this commitment, and in fulfilling our responsibilities, St. John Ambulance personnel and volunteers shall comply with the following 10 principles:

Accountability
St. John Ambulance is responsible for the protection of all personal information under its control. 

Identifying Purposes
St. John Ambulance must document why it is collecting the information before it is collected and advise an individual of new and/or additional purpose for collecting personal information and seek consent unless otherwise required or permitted by law. 

Consent
The individual must consent to the collection, use or disclosure of the information except where required or permitted by applicable law.

Limiting Collection
The information collected on the individual must be limited to information for the purpose identified by St. John Ambulance.

Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention
Personal information can only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which it was collected unless the individual has consented or as required or permitted by law.

Accuracy
Personal information must be maintained as accurate and complete as is necessary for the purpose for which it was to be used.

Safeguards
St. John Ambulance must protect personal information against loss, theft and safeguard information from unauthorized access by implementing security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information regardless of the format in which it is held.

Openness
St. John Ambulance has an obligation to make public its personal information protection policies and practices.

Individual Access
St. John Ambulance has an obligation to grant an individual access to the personal information that has been collected about them.

Challenging Compliance
Individuals may direct questions and inquiries with respect to the ten principles outlined above or about our practices by contacting the respective Council within their jurisdiction or the Privacy Officer at National Office of St. John Ambulance.  Contact information is available on the St. John Ambulance Website (www.sja.ca).

Application
The above policy statement and its principles are to be applied to all personal information that is within the control of St. John Ambulance.  This includes personal information that is collected, used or disclosed by St. John Ambulance at all levels of the organization; National, Council, Branch, Division and Unit levels.  It includes personal information provided by members (Members of the Order, volunteers, instructors, staff) and clients.  It includes all personal information that has been collected regardless of how the information has been collected. 

Implementation
St. John Ambulance National Management Team shall develop and implement organizational policies and regulations to meet the above principles.