Privacy

The CAAT Pension Plan (“CAAT”, “the Plan”, “we”) is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Statement describes how we collect, use, disclose and protect the personal information of members of the Plan (“you”, “your”), as well as your beneficiaries and other related individuals.

Personal information refers to information that can identify an individual, such as your name, date of birth or pension information. This Privacy Statement does not apply to data that is not personal information, such as business information or anonymous information like statistics.

Why do we collect personal information, and how do we use it?

We collect personal information to administer the Pension Plan and fulfil our legal and regulatory reporting obligations. More specifically, we use your personal information to:

• establish and maintain your membership in the Plan
• manage and administer the Plan, which includes creating and maintaining internal databases and records about members and related individuals
• calculate and pay out your pension and other benefits under the Plan
• produce and issue personalized statements, notices, and retirement or termination documents to members and related individuals
• assess and evaluate claims for pension and benefits entitlement
• communicate with you and your employer(s), which can include verifying your identity, recording our interactions with you, and sending email newsletters with important Plan information
• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations (including those in Pension Benefits Act (Ontario), the Income Tax Act (Canada) and any other applicable legislation)
• investigate, detect, and prevent fraud or other illegal or unauthorized activity, and to collect funds owing
• improve the member experience, which can include research, development, and analysis to improve our services

We may collect or use personal information for additional purposes with your consent or as permitted or required by law.

What information do we collect?

The personal information we collect varies depending on your relationship with us (e.g. member, retired member, prospective member, beneficiary or spouse) and includes:

• Your name, address, telephone number, and other contact information
• Biographical information such as your sex, date of birth and spousal status
• Employment information including the name of your employer(s), employment dates, employment category and employment earnings;
• Benefit amounts
• Information included on a death certificate
• Divorce or separation agreement information
• Orders or judgments from a court, tribunal or similar body relating to pension entitlement
• Declarations in connection with marriage breakdown
• Power of attorney designations
• Social insurance number and banking information
• Other information with your consent or as permitted or required by law

We collect most of this information directly from you and your employer. We also collect some information automatically when you visit our website (see the section entitled “Our use of technology” below for details). In some cases, we collect information about you from third parties or from publicly available sources.

Who do we share personal information with?

We may share personal information with trusted third parties to help us administer the Plan and to comply with our obligations. These third parties include service providers that assist in the operation of the Plan, including:

• Financial and professional services providers, such as consultants and legal counsel
• Asset servicing companies, to pay out pension benefits
• Actuarial firms, to create actuarial valuations
• Third party pensions administrators, to administer the pensions of members from certain participating employers
• Information technology service providers, to maintain the pension administration system
• Mailing services providers, to send out statements and notices
• Research organizations, to assist us with research and development to improve our services
• Debt collection agencies, to assist with the collection of funds owing

We require service providers to protect personal information shared with them, and limit their use and retention of it to what is necessary to provide services to the Plan.

We may also disclose personal information to other third parties in the following circumstances:

• Limited information to certain participating employer(s) or organizations representing groups of employers for the purposes of administering other employer benefit programs
• To government or regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, legal processes, and governmental requests (such as the Canada Revenue Agency and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario)
• To protect our rights and property, to respond to emergencies, and to protect the safety of any person
• To detect and prevent fraud, and to investigate and enforce the potential breach of an agreement or law
• When it is relevant to a business transaction, such as a sale of part or all of the Plan, a re-organization, or a partnership opportunity
• When we have obtained your consent, or as otherwise permitted by law

We do not sell or trade any personal information we collect.

How do we use cookies and web analytics?

Like many other websites, our website uses cookies to collect information about website visitors. Cookies are small text files that are automatically deposited on a visitor’s device.

Information we collect via cookies helps us learn more about how the website is typically used, including the total number of visitors, which webpages they visit the most, the geographical location of the visitor, and the types of Internet browsers (e.g., Google Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge) and operating systems (e.g., Windows or Apple MacOS) that our visitors use. We use this information to enhance the user experience and the overall quality of the website.