Privacy Policy

Last Updated: February 23, 2024.

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Introduction

Your privacy is important to International Genealogical Search Inc., DBA HeirSearch (“HeirSearch”, “we”, “us” or “our”). This Privacy Policy explains how HeirSearch collects, uses, discloses and retains personal information in connection with our business activities in Canada, including through our website https://heirsearch.com/, our forensic genealogical and related services, marketing activities, and other communications.
We refer to our activities described above collectively as the “service”.

Table of Contents

1. Application
2. Your Consent
3. Personal Information
4. How HeirSearch Collects Personal Information
5. How HeirSearch Uses Personal Information
6. How HeirSearch Discloses Personal Information
7. Your Right to Withdraw Consent
8. Location of Personal Information
9. Retention of Personal Information
10. Protection of Personal Information
11. Accuracy and Access to Personal Information
12. Non-Personal Information
13. Other Websites and Businesses
14. Social Media
15. Children and Personal Information
16. Other Matters
17. Contacting HeirSearch

1. Application

This Privacy Policy applies if you are a client who uses our services, a user who visits our website, a job applicant who applies for a career opportunity with us, or an individual who otherwise interacts with us.
In some cases, at the time of collection of your personal information, we may provide you with additional information regarding the processing of your personal information.

2. Your Consent

By providing HeirSearch with personal information, you consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of that information by HeirSearch in accordance with this Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted by applicable law.
You may withdraw your consent to HeirSearch’s data processing activities at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and on reasonable notice to HeirSearch, but then you might not be able to proceed with your intended interactions or transactions with HeirSearch or otherwise receive the full benefit of HeirSearch’s services. Please refer to Your Right To Withdraw Consent section of this Privacy Policy to learn about your options for withdrawing your consent.

3. Personal Information

In this Privacy Policy, “ personal information ” means information about an identifiable individual (a natural person), but does not include business contact information that enables an individual to be contacted at a place of business, and other kinds of information that are not subject to regulation by Canadian personal information protection or privacy laws.

4. How HeirSearch Collects Personal Information

(a) Information You Provide
You may be asked to voluntarily give your personal information to HeirSearch when you interact with HeirSearch, including when you subscribe to receive marketing communications or request information from us.
For example, HeirSearch may collect:

• contact information, communications preferences and correspondence between us;
• contact information, employment information (such as education and employment history) and government-issued identification (such as driver’s license information) when you apply for an employment opportunity with HeirSearch; and
• optional information you provide when you make an inquiry or contact us.

In those circumstances, you can choose not to provide certain requested personal information, but then you may not be able to receive the full benefit of HeirSearch’s services.
If you give HeirSearch the personal information of another individual (such as, date of birth and picture of an individual in connection with a case), then you confirm that you have the right (for example, as the executor of an estate, legal or trust professional fulfilling your legal responsibilities) or valid consent (if applicable) to do so in compliance with applicable laws, including your collection and disclosure of the personal information to HeirSearch and to HeirSearch’s use, disclosure and retention of the personal information.

(b) Automated Collection
HeirSearch may use technologies to automatically collect certain information regarding your use of the HeirSearch website, such as the dates and times that you access a HeirSearch website, general geographic location, the browsers, operating systems, software, devices and networks that you use to access the website and details of your use of the website.
HeirSearch’s website, email messages, and advertisements may also use technologies (e.g. cookies, web beacons, tokens, pixels or tags) to automatically collect information that assists HeirSearch to improve its services, customer communications and advertising, and to prevent fraud.
Some of the information automatically collected by technological means is non-personal information (because the information does not identify you directly or indirectly), and HeirSearch will deal with that non- personal information as explained below in this Privacy Policy unless applicable law requires otherwise.

(c) Information from Other Sources
HeirSearch may collect personal information from various third party sources (including, providers that perform background checks on job applicants with your express consent) and from publicly available sources (including criminal and educational history, and database service providers).

5. How HeirSearch Uses Personal Information

(a) General
HeirSearch may use personal information for various purposes in connection with its relationship and transactions with you and as otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy or permitted by applicable law, including:

• to provide services to you, including to identify, locate, and find subjects and provide case research and reports to you;
• to contact and correspond with you regarding your transactions and your use of HeirSearch’s website, services and to provide you with customer care;
• to facilitate your interactions and transactions with HeirSearch;
• to process and respond to your inquiries, requests and other communications (including to process your job application);
• to provide you with information (including by email) regarding HeirSearch and its services;
• to maintain, protect and improve HeirSearch’s website and services and to develop new websites, and services;
• to develop, deliver and improve HeirSearch’s advertising and marketing; and
• to protect and enforce HeirSearch’s legal rights, interests and remedies and to protect the business, operations and customers of HeirSearch or other persons.

HeirSearch may transfer your personal information to its service providers to assist HeirSearch in the provision of website and services to you, to provide services to HeirSearch, to assist HeirSearch to use your personal information (e.g. document retrieval or search assistance, analytic services, email delivery, payment processing and data hosting) as set out in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise permitted by applicable law.
HeirSearch may combine your personal information collected by HeirSearch through various sources and to the extent necessary to achieve the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
HeirSearch may use your personal information to create non-personal information, and HeirSearch may then use, disclose, transfer and retain the non-personal information as set out below in this Privacy Policy.

(b) Information Collected by Technological Means
HeirSearch may use information collected by technological means to recognize you as a user of HeirSearch’s website, to facilitate and improve your use of HeirSearch’s website, to confirm that messages have been delivered to and opened by you and to provide you with targeted advertisements. HeirSearch may use web beacons, pixels or gif tags and action tags to confirm that email messages have been delivered and opened. You may opt out of receiving emails or other commercial electronic messages by following the instructions provided in the Your Right to Withdraw Consent section of this Privacy Policy.
Information provided by cookies may be collected and processed by HeirSearch or by its third party service providers, including Google.
You may choose to decline or disable cookies if your web browser or device permits, but doing so may affect your ability to access or use certain features of a website. Information about how Google uses cookies and how you can limit or disable certain kinds of cookies on your personal computer or mobile device is available here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ and https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/.

(c) Interest-Based Advertising
HeirSearch may use interest-based advertising services (sometimes called “remarketing” or “retargeting”) provided by third party vendors (such as Google) to display advertisements on third party websites and social media sites visited by users of HeirSearch’s website. Advertising vendors (such as Google) use cookies, pixels or tokens – unique identifiers of a web browser on a specific computer that are installed on the computer when it accesses HeirSearch’s website – to display ads based on the computer’s past access to HeirSearch’s website. You can manage Google’s use of cookies as indicated in section 5(b) of this Privacy Policy and a remarketing vendor’s use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative’s consumer opt-out page (https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1).

(d) Do Not Track
HeirSearch does not respond to do not track signals in Canada.

6. How HeirSearch Discloses Personal Information

(a) General
HeirSearch discloses your personal information for purposes relating to or arising from your relationship and transactions with HeirSearch and as otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy or permitted by applicable law.

(b) Specific Consents
HeirSearch may disclose your personal information in accordance with express or implied consents that you give during your interactions and transactions with HeirSearch.

(c) Business Partners and Other Third Parties
In some circumstances, HeirSearch may share your personal information with other third parties. HeirSearch will only disclose your personal information to such third party, if HeirSearch has your consent to do so, if you have provided your consent to the third party, or if HeirSearch is legally required or permitted to do so. HeirSearch will not sell your personal information.

(d) Law Enforcement/Legal Disclosures
HeirSearch may disclose your personal information as required or authorized by applicable law, including to comply with a subpoena, warrant or court or arbitral order or litigation disclosure obligation. HeirSearch may disclose your personal information to law enforcement agencies or other independent organizations if HeirSearch reasonably believes the disclosure is necessary or appropriate in connection with national security, law enforcement or other issues of public importance, or if HeirSearch reasonably believes the disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect and enforce HeirSearch’s legal rights, interests and remedies or to protect the rights, interests, business, operations or customers of HeirSearch or other persons (including to detect and prevent fraud and other illegal activities, to enforce any of the terms of use, terms and conditions, or other agreements that govern access to or use of any of HeirSearch’s websites and services). The use, disclosure and retention of the disclosed information by those agencies, independent organizations or other persons is not subject to this Privacy Policy.

(e) Business Transactions
HeirSearch may disclose your personal information in connection with a proposed or actual business transaction in which HeirSearch is involved (e.g. a corporate amalgamation, reorganization, merger or acquisition, or the sale or transfer of some or all of HeirSearch’s business or assets), but HeirSearch will require the information recipient to agree to protect the privacy of your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy and applicable law.
HeirSearch has no control over, or responsibility or liability for, the use, disclosure or retention of your personal information by the persons and organizations to whom HeirSearch discloses your personal information as set out above.

7. Your Right to Withdraw Consent

You may withdraw your consent to HeirSearch’s collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. To withdraw your consent, you may contact us at the contact information set out at the end of this Privacy Policy.
If you withdraw your consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information for purposes that are integral to the provision of HeirSearch’s website and services, then you might not be able to proceed with your intended interactions or transactions with HeirSearch or otherwise receive the full benefit of HeirSearch’s website and services.
If you withdraw your consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information for additional purposes that are not integral to the provision of HeirSearch’s products and services (e.g., to send advertising and marketing messages to you) then withdrawing your consent for those purposes will not affect the provision of HeirSearch’s website and services to you.

8. Location of Personal Information

HeirSearch and its service providers may process, store and use your personal information at facilities in outside of Quebec and Canada, including in the United States and other countries. The personal information protection laws of those other countries might be different from the laws of the jurisdiction in which you reside, and might permit courts, government, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies and security authorities to access your personal information without notice. By providing your personal information to HeirSearch, you consent to the transfer of the personal information to facilities located in other countries and the processing and storage of the personal information at those facilities.

9. Retention of Personal Information

HeirSearch will retain your personal information for the period reasonably necessary for the purposes set out or referenced in this Privacy Policy and to comply with HeirSearch’s legal obligations or enforce or protect HeirSearch’s legal rights, or a longer period required or permitted by applicable law. HeirSearch will delete or dispose of your personal information, or anonymize the information, when HeirSearch is no longer reasonably required to retain the information for the purposes set out or referenced in this Privacy Policy.

10. Protection of Personal Information

HeirSearch uses reasonable safeguards – including administrative, physical and technical security and safeguarding measures – appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in HeirSearch’s possession or under HeirSearch’s control to help protect the information from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, deletion or similar risks. Nevertheless, security risks cannot be eliminated and HeirSearch cannot guarantee that your personal information will not be accessed, used, disclosed or deleted in ways not otherwise described in this Privacy Policy. HeirSearch implements a combination of measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Internal policies and procedures that define the roles and responsibilities of our employees throughout the information life cycle and limits their access to such information on a “need-to-know” basis;
• If information is collected or stored in electronic format, technical safeguards such as encryption, firewalls, passwords, antivirus software and similar measures;
• A designated Privacy Officer to monitor HeirSearch’s compliance with applicable privacy laws;
• Employee privacy and data security training;
• Procedures for receiving, investigating and responding to complaints or inquiries regarding HeirSearch’s information handling practices; and
• Framework governing the retention and destruction of personal information.

11. Accuracy and Access to Personal Information

HeirSearch will rely on you to ensure that the personal information you provide to HeirSearch is as accurate, complete and up to date as necessary for the purposes for which HeirSearch uses the personal information. You will promptly notify HeirSearch of any changes to the personal information you provide to HeirSearch using the procedures made available for that purpose by HeirSearch or by contacting HeirSearch’s Privacy Officer using the contact information noted below.
You may reasonably request access to your personal information collected by HeirSearch and information about HeirSearch’s use, disclosure and retention of the personal information by submitting a written request to HeirSearch’s Privacy Officer using the contact information noted below. Subject to applicable exceptions and limitations prescribed by applicable law, you will be given reasonable access to your personal information and you will be entitled to verify the accuracy and completeness of your personal information and have the information corrected as appropriate. You may be required to pay a reasonable fee for access to your personal information. HeirSearch may decline to process an access request that is unreasonably repetitive, frivolous, vexatious or impracticable, or if HeirSearch reasonably believes that the requested access would infringe or jeopardize the privacy of other persons, or violate any applicable law or legal requirement, or for other reasons permitted by applicable law.
Depending on the jurisdiction where you reside, you may also be entitled to request the rectification of your personal information if our collection, disclosure or retention of such information is not authorized by law.

12. Non-Personal Information

HeirSearch may use your personal information to create and collect non-personal information (information that is not about an identifiable individual), including personal information that has been aggregated or otherwise anonymized so that the information no longer relates to an identifiable individual. If non-personal information is combined with personal information, then HeirSearch will treat the combined non-personal information as personal information for the purposes of this Privacy Policy for as long as the non-personal information is combined with the personal information.

13. Other Websites and Businesses

The HeirSearch website and correspondence (including emails and messages) may include advertisements for products and services offered by independent businesses or links to websites operated by independent businesses. HeirSearch has no responsibility or liability for, or control over, those other independent businesses, their websites, products or services, or their collection, use, disclosure or retention of your personal information. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information by independent businesses or through independent websites or online services. If you have questions about how those independent businesses or their websites or online services collect, use, disclose or retain personal information, please contact the owner or operator of the independent businesses, websites and services.

14. Social Media

When you use certain aspects of the HeirSearch website or other services to post information to social media sites the personal information that you post or share in connection with the social media sites is visible to other persons and can be read, collected, used and disclosed by other persons, including to send unsolicited messages. Any information provided to a social media sites and other sites is governed by their own privacy policies. You are solely responsible for the personal information that you choose to post or share in those situations. HeirSearch has no control over, or responsibility or liability for, the use, disclosure, and retention of the personal information that you disclose in those situations, and the use, disclosure, and retention of the disclosed information is not subject to this Privacy Policy.

15. Children and Personal Information

HeirSearch does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 14 years of age without the consent of a legal guardian. If HeirSearch learns that HeirSearch has collected or received personal information from a child where parental or guardian consent was required, HeirSearch will delete that information unless the parent or guardian provide the required consent. If you believe HeirSearch might have any information from or about a child where parental or guardian consent was required, please contact HeirSearch’s Privacy Officer using the contact information set out at the end of this Privacy Policy.

16. Other Matters

(a) Disclaimers, Liability Exclusions/Limitations and Disputes: The agreements (including any website terms of use, terms and conditions or other agreements) that you accept when you apply or use HeirSearch’s website, and services contain important provisions, including provisions disclaiming, limiting or excluding the liability of HeirSearch and other persons (including service providers) and provisions determining the applicable law and jurisdiction for the resolution of disputes. To the extent permitted by applicable law, each of those provisions applies to any dispute that may arise in relation to this Privacy Policy or HeirSearch’s collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information, and are of the same force and effect as if they were reproduced directly in this Privacy Policy. Nothing in this Privacy Policy amends any of those other agreements.

(b) Changes to this Privacy Policy: HeirSearch may change this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting a new version of this Privacy Policy on the HeirSearch website and by sometimes communicating with you directly to inform you of the changes made. HeirSearch’s collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information will be governed by the version of this Privacy Policy in effect at that time. Your continued dealings with HeirSearch after any change to this Privacy Policy will signify your consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of your personal information by HeirSearch as set out in the

changed Privacy Policy. Accordingly, you should check the “Last Updated” date of this Privacy Policy (at the top of this Privacy Policy) and review any changes since the last version.

(c) Notices to You: You consent to HeirSearch sending you emails (to the email addresses you provide to HeirSearch) regarding this Privacy Policy and related matters and as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

17. Contacting HeirSearch

If you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Policy or how HeirSearch handles your personal information, please contact HeirSearch’s Privacy Officer by phone, mail or email at:

Toll Free: 1-800-663-2255
Email: privacy@heirsearch.com
Mail: