Privacy

Privacy Policy

Last updated August 4, 2026

The Canadian Lenders Association ("CLA," "we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect personal information in connection with canadianlenders.org (the "Site"), our membership program, events, and related communications. This Policy is intended to comply with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") and Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation ("CASL"), and applicable provincial privacy laws.

  1. Information We Collect

    We collect personal information in the following ways:

    • Information you provide directly — such as your name, job title, company, email address, phone number, and mailing address when you submit a contact form, apply for membership, register for an event or roundtable, subscribe to our newsletter, or otherwise communicate with us through the Site's forms.
    • Billing and payment information — when you pay membership dues, sponsorship fees, or event fees, payment is processed through QuickBooks. CLA does not store full credit card numbers on our own servers; payment card details are handled directly by our payment processor in accordance with its own security standards.
    • Communications data — records of correspondence, inquiries, and email engagement (such as opens and clicks) when you interact with our email newsletters and campaigns, sent and tracked through our email marketing platform (FluentCRM).
    • Automatically collected information — such as your IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and referring URLs, collected through cookies and similar technologies. See our Cookie Policy for details, including our use of analytics and advertising tools such as Google Analytics, Meta (Facebook) Pixel, and the LinkedIn Insight Tag.
    • Security and log data — our website firewall and security service (Wordfence) automatically logs visitor IP addresses and request data to detect and prevent malicious activity.

  2. How We Use Your Information

    We use personal information to:

    • Process and administer membership applications, renewals, and dues;
    • Register you for events, roundtables, and summits, and communicate logistics;
    • Respond to inquiries submitted through our contact and membership forms;
    • Send newsletters, industry updates, event invitations, and other commercial electronic messages, where you have provided consent as required by CASL;
    • Process payments and maintain accurate billing and invoicing records;
    • Maintain, secure, and improve the Site, including detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, and security incidents;
    • Understand how visitors use the Site through aggregated analytics, in order to improve our content and services;
    • Comply with legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting obligations.

  3. By submitting a form on the Site or otherwise providing your contact information, you consent to CLA collecting and using that information for the purposes described above. Where we send commercial electronic messages (such as newsletters or promotional emails), we do so in accordance with CASL — every such message will identify CLA as the sender, include our contact information, and provide a clear mechanism to unsubscribe at any time. You may withdraw your consent to marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any email or by contacting us at info@canadianlenders.org. Withdrawing consent will not affect communications necessary to administer an existing membership, event registration, or transaction.

  4. How We Share Your Information

    We do not sell personal information. We may share personal information with:

    • Service providers who perform functions on our behalf, such as website hosting, payment processing (QuickBooks), email marketing delivery (FluentCRM, operated within our own systems), form processing (FluentForms), and website security (Wordfence). These providers are only permitted to use personal information as necessary to provide their services to us.
    • Analytics and advertising partners, including Google (Google Analytics), Meta Platforms (Meta Pixel), and LinkedIn (Insight Tag), who may receive limited technical and usage data as described in our Cookie Policy.
    • Professional advisors, such as our accountants, auditors, or legal counsel, where necessary.
    • Regulators or authorities, where required by law, regulation, or legal process.
    • A successor organization, in the event of a merger, reorganization, or sale of CLA's assets, subject to equivalent privacy protections.

    Some of the third-party services listed above (including Google, Meta, and LinkedIn) may process data on servers located outside Canada, including in the United States. By using the Site, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred to and processed in jurisdictions with different data protection laws than Canada.

  5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

    The Site uses cookies and similar technologies for essential site functionality, security, analytics, and — where applicable — advertising. Full details, including how to manage or disable cookies, are available in our Cookie Policy.

  6. Data Retention

    We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy, including the duration of your membership plus a reasonable period afterward for recordkeeping, legal, tax, and accounting purposes, or as otherwise required by law. Email marketing records are retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion, subject to our obligation to maintain suppression records.

  7. How We Protect Your Information

    We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, or disclosure, including website firewall and malware protection (Wordfence), access controls, and secure processing of payment information through our payment processor. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

  8. Your Privacy Rights

    Subject to certain exceptions under PIPEDA and applicable provincial law, you have the right to:

    • Request access to the personal information we hold about you;
    • Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information;
    • Withdraw consent to certain uses of your information (such as marketing), subject to legal or contractual restrictions;
    • Ask us to delete personal information we no longer need for the purposes it was collected, subject to our recordkeeping obligations.

    To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer using the details in the Contact Us section below. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law.

  9. Children's Privacy

    The Site is intended for business professionals in the lending industry and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 18.

  10. Changes to This Policy

    We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

  11. Contact Us / Privacy Officer

    Questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal information can be directed to our Privacy Officer:

    Canadian Lenders Association
    Attn: Privacy Officer
    120 Albany Ave, Main Floor
    Toronto, ON M5R 3C4
    Phone: 416-505-7410
    Email: info@canadianlenders.org

    If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.