Privacy Policy

Soins Vétérinaires Animal Care (“Animal Care”, “we”, “us”) is an independent Quebec veterinary group operating five neighbourhood clinics across Greater Montreal. We are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the personal information entrusted to us by pet owners, their families and visitors to our clinics and websites.

This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) describes how we collect, use, disclose, retain and safeguard personal information when you interact with our clinics, our websites, our mobile applications, our online booking tools, our online shop, our telephone lines and any other service we offer. It also explains the rights you have over your information and how to exercise them.

By visiting one of our clinics, using our websites or any of our online services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy. If you do not agree with it, please refrain from providing personal information and contact us using the channels listed at the end of this document.

The person responsible for the protection of personal information (“the Privacy Officer”) acts on behalf of all legal entities of the Animal Care group. The Privacy Officer ensures compliance with Quebec’s Act respecting Access to Information and the Protection of Personal Information (Law 25), the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Veterinary Medical Act and any other applicable law.

Our practices comply primarily with:

An Act respecting Access to Information and the Protection of Personal Information (CQLR c A-2.1), as modernized by Law 25, which sets the rules for the collection, use, disclosure, retention and destruction of personal information in Quebec.

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the Code of Practice for the Protection of Personal Information (CAN/CSA-Q830:96) for interprovincial and international activities.

The Civil Code of Québec, in particular the provisions relating to the confidentiality of the veterinary record and professional secrecy.

The Veterinary Medical Act and the regulations of the Ordre des médecins vétérinaires du Québec (OMVQ) governing clinical records, prescriptions and the duty of confidentiality.

The Consumer Protection Act (Québec) and the Competition Act (Canada) for marketing and consumer relations.

The Act to establish a legal framework for information technology, including the rules on electronic documents and signatures.

“Personal information” means any information that identifies or could identify an individual, directly or indirectly. Examples: name, address, phone number, email, payment information, IP address, geolocation, but also the name, breed, age and medical history of your animal when associated with you.

“Sensitive personal information” is a sub-category whose disclosure could cause serious prejudice: health information, financial information, social insurance number, information about a minor, etc.

“Professional secrecy” refers to the duty of confidentiality imposed on veterinarians and their staff by the OMVQ; it may override other rules in case of conflict.

“Cookies” and “similar technologies” include HTTP cookies, local storage, pixels, SDKs and any other technology that stores or reads information on a device.

“User”, “you”, “your” refers to any natural person whose personal information we process: a client, a website visitor, a candidate, a supplier, etc.

Identification and contact: full name, postal address, phone numbers, email, language of preference.

Profile of your animal: name, species, breed, sex, date of birth or estimated age, weight, microchip number, photo, behavioural notes, vaccination and medical history.

Health and clinical: reasons for consultation, symptoms, diagnoses, examinations performed, treatments, prescribed medications, laboratory and imaging results, anaesthesia and surgery reports, hospitalization notes.

Financial and transactional: invoicing data, payment method (last 4 digits and type of card only · we never store your full card number on our servers), receipts, insurance and refund information.

Interaction: your messages with our reception and clinical teams, satisfaction surveys, complaints, and any other communication between you and Animal Care.

Technical: IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages consulted, time of visit, referring site, identifiers stored in cookies, with respect to the choices you have expressed in our consent banner.

Recruitment: CV, cover letter, diplomas, references and any other document you submit when applying to Animal Care.

Video surveillance: closed-circuit cameras are installed inside and around our clinics for safety and loss prevention; they are signposted and only record common areas.

Directly from you: during appointments, by phone, via our online forms (booking, prescription refills, contact), in person, or by email.

Automatically when you use our websites and applications: cookies, log files, analytics tools (Google Analytics 4), and security tools (Firebase Hosting / App Check).

From third parties: veterinary specialists to whom we refer your animal, laboratories (Idexx, etc.), your insurer, payment service providers, and · with your consent · your referring veterinarian.

From public sources: only to verify the accuracy of the contact information you have provided (postal address, phone number).

Provide veterinary care to your animal: opening a clinical record, conducting examinations, establishing diagnoses, performing treatments, surgeries and hospitalizations, prescribing medication, monitoring follow-up.

Manage your client file: scheduling and reminders for appointments, recalls for vaccination, prevention or medication renewals.

Process payments, issue receipts and refunds, and meet our tax obligations.

Communicate with you: appointment confirmations, lab results, health advice, follow-up after a visit, response to your messages, satisfaction surveys.

Improve our services: anonymous or pseudonymized statistics, service-quality audits, internal training, complaint handling.

Prevent fraud and ensure the security of our premises, our IT systems and our patients: video surveillance, access logs, fraud detection on payments.

Marketing and commercial communications: newsletters, promotions, invitations to events · only with your express consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

Meet our legal and regulatory obligations: tax declarations, reporting to the authorities when required by law, retention of medical records.

Manage recruitment: evaluation of your application, communication regarding the process, retention of your file for future opportunities if you have agreed.

Express consent: when the information is sensitive (health, financial) or when the use goes beyond the strict provision of the service (marketing, newsletter).

Necessary for the performance of a contract: when the information is required to deliver the care, manage your file, process a payment or respond to a request for service.

Legal or regulatory obligation: tax retention, declarations to authorities, retention of clinical records under the OMVQ.

Vital interest: in an emergency affecting the life of your animal or a person.

Legitimate interest: to ensure the security of our premises and IT systems, to prevent fraud, to improve our services · balanced against your rights and freedoms.

When we rely on your consent, we ask it for a specific, clearly explained purpose. We never consider silence or pre-checked boxes as valid consent.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by writing to the Privacy Officer at confidentialite@animalcare.ca. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before it.

For minors under 14, consent must be given by a parent or legal guardian. From 14 years old, the minor can consent alone to information necessary for the service; consent of the holder of parental authority remains required for sensitive information.

When the consent of a person is impossible to obtain (loss of autonomy, death), we may collect the information strictly necessary from a person who can act on their behalf or from a third party allowed by law.

Essential cookies: required for the operation of the site (session, security, language preference, online booking). They cannot be disabled.

Analytics cookies: Google Analytics 4 (GA4), used to understand how visitors use our site, in order to improve it. Activated only with your consent.

Marketing cookies: Meta Pixel (Facebook / Instagram), used to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns and to display relevant content. Activated only with your consent.

You can change your choices at any time by clicking the “Cookie preferences” link at the bottom of each page, or by deleting the animalcare_cookie_consent cookie in your browser.

• Firebase Hosting, Firestore and Cloud Storage (Google Cloud, region: northamerica-northeast1) · hosting of the website, blog database and prescription form.
• Google Analytics 4 (Google LLC, USA) · anonymized audience measurement, on the basis of your consent.
• Meta Pixel (Meta Platforms, Inc., USA) · advertising measurement, on the basis of your consent.
• Nolia (Quebec) · online appointment booking widget embedded on our sites.
• Ma Vitrine Vétérinaire (Quebec) · secure online shop and home delivery of therapeutic food and products.
• Stripe / Moneris / Square · payment processing (the complete card number is never stored on our servers).
• Idexx, Antech and other veterinary laboratories · analysis of biological samples (under confidentiality agreement).
• Specialized veterinary centres to which we refer cases, with your knowledge.
• Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive) · internal communication and document management, secured by two-factor authentication.
• Cloudflare · DDoS protection and content delivery network.

When a service provider is located outside Quebec (in the United States, in particular), we sign a written agreement that includes the data-protection terms required by Law 25 and PIPEDA, and we require them to apply the same security measures as those in this Policy.

For transfers to the United States, we verify that the recipient organization participates in a recognized framework (e.g. Data Privacy Framework) or is subject to laws that provide adequate protection for the information transferred.

A complete list of sub-processors and their location is available on request from the Privacy Officer.

• Clinical record of your animal: 10 years after the last service, in accordance with the OMVQ.
• Invoicing and accounting documents: 6 years after the last transaction, in accordance with the Quebec and Canadian tax authorities.
• Video surveillance recordings: maximum 30 days, unless an incident is under investigation.
• Recruitment files (unsuccessful applications): 6 months after the end of the process, unless you have given us your consent to keep them longer.
• Cookie consent: 12 months, then renewed by the banner.
• Marketing lists: until you unsubscribe or withdraw your consent.

Encryption in transit (HTTPS / TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256) for our databases and backups.

Two-factor authentication (2FA) on all professional accounts, password manager, principle of least privilege.

Logical and physical access controls: badge, alarm and video surveillance in clinics; role-based access to software.

Daily backups stored in an encrypted and geo-redundant Canadian data center.

Annual vulnerability scan, dependency updates, code review before deployment.

Internal confidentiality clause signed by every employee, contractor and supplier who has access to personal information.

Incident response plan: in the event of a confidentiality incident presenting a “risk of serious harm”, we notify the Commission d’accès à l’information and the affected individuals as required by Law 25.

• Right of access: obtain a copy of the information we hold about you and about your animal.
• Right of rectification: have inaccurate, incomplete or outdated information corrected.
• Right of withdrawal of consent: at any time, for processing based on your consent (marketing, newsletter, cookies).
• Right to be forgotten: request the deletion of your information, subject to the retention periods required by law.
• Right to data portability: receive your information in a structured, commonly used electronic format.
• Right to cease dissemination: request that your information no longer be disseminated, or that it be de-indexed from any search engine.
• Right to file a complaint: with the Privacy Officer, with the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, or with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
• Right to information following a decision based exclusively on automated processing (we do not use any).

The tools we use (online booking, automatic reminders, satisfaction survey) do not produce any legal or significant effect on you. They are limited to administrative tasks and to the prevention of fraud on payments.

If we were to use, in the future, a system that profiles you or that automatically influences the services offered to you, we would inform you in advance, ask for your express consent, and offer you the right to obtain human intervention.

When you click on a link to a third-party site (e.g. a social network, a partner, a specialized veterinary centre), you leave our environment. We invite you to read the privacy policy of each site you visit.

We are not responsible for the practices of these third parties, even if we recommend or use their services.

The date of the last update appears at the top of this page. In the event of a significant change (new purpose, new sub-processor, retention period change), we will notify you by email if we have your address, or by a banner on our websites.

We encourage you to consult this page regularly. Continued use of our services after a change signifies your acceptance of the updated Policy.

• Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec (CAI) · 525, boulevard René-Lévesque Est, Québec (QC) G1R 5S9 · accesinfo@cai.gouv.qc.ca · 1-888-528-7741
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) · 30 Victoria Street, Gatineau (QC) K1A 1H3 · info@priv.gc.ca · 1-800-282-1376
• For an issue related to professional practice, you can also contact the Ordre des médecins vétérinaires du Québec (OMVQ).

For any request relating to this Policy · access, rectification, complaint, withdrawal of consent, partnership, sub-processor disclosure · we recommend writing by email to the Privacy Officer. This guarantees traceability, a fast response and a written record of the exchanges.