Collection and use of Personal Information

Definity Financial Corporation (“Definity”) is committed to protecting your Personal Information by complying with applicable privacy laws of Canada, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. "Personal Information" generally means information about an identifiable individual.

We may collect your Personal Information from:

  • Third parties, such as your insurance broker, insurance industry databases, consumer credit reporting agencies, governmental authorities, investigation organizations, and regulatory organizations
  • Such other parties for whom you have provided your consent
  • Such other sources as may be permitted or required by law

We may use your Personal Information for the following purposes (the "Purposes"):

  • To help us better understand your insurance and service needs
  • To enable us to process your applications for insurance
  • To enable us to process, investigate, and administer claims, and assess and settle losses in the event of a claim
  • To allow us to operate our site in accordance with its terms of use
  • To respond to your questions or inquiries
  • To ensure proper billing, and to service your policies and accounts
  • To allow us, in conjunction with other factors, to establish the risk and premium associated with your insurance policy issued by one of our insurance companies
  • To assist your insurance broker to provide services to you
  • To verify the information you provide when you buy your insurance, or at the time of a claim
  • To analyze your activities to help us serve you as a customer and to help us improve our business and/or our site, including using postal codes provided to us
  • To protect our interests, including to detect, prevent and prosecute fraud
  • For such other purposes for which you have provided your consent
  • As otherwise permitted or required by law

We may provide your Personal Information to:

  • Operators of insurance industry databases and credit and consumer reporting agencies for the purpose of verifying the application information you submit
  • Your insurance broker for the purpose of your broker providing services to you
  • Independent insurance adjusters and brokers for the purpose of obtaining assistance in processing and administering your claims
  • Governmental authorities, claims investigation service providers, medical organizations, other vendors, other insurance carriers, reinsurers and regulatory organizations for the purpose of assisting in the investigation and processing of claims
  • Other persons for whom you have provided your consent, for the Purposes
  • Third party service providers that assist us with carrying out the Purposes
  • Any third party that we merge with or that acquires all or a portion of our business, including for due diligence should any such transaction be proposed
  • As otherwise permitted or required by law

Cookies and how Definity collects information through technological means

When you visit our site, Definity may collect information that is automatically sent to us by your web browser or your internet service provider, as well as through cookies and similar technologies. This information may include your numerical IP address, your browser type, the pages you visit, and the files you request. We use these technologies, including web beacons and conversion pixels, for a variety of purposes described below. Cookies are small files that your web browser places on your computer's hard drive.

We use cookies and similar technologies for a variety of purposes, including remembering information you have previously provided so you do not have to re-enter it, supporting website functionality, load balancing, and helping us understand how visitors use our website. The information collected through these technologies may relate to you, your preferences, your interests or your device. By using these technologies, we can deliver faster service, consistent and updated results, and a better experience on our site.

Some cookies and similar technologies are essential to the operation of our site and cannot be disabled through our cookie management tool. These technologies support essential website functionality and services, including security, authentication, and fraud prevention.

Other cookies and similar technologies help us personalize your experience and provide advertising based on your interests. When enabled, these technologies may also be used to customize our site and support browser interactions, as well as behavioural targeting. Through their use, we are able to enhance your experience with tailored advertising and content that may be most relevant to you. For visitors in Québec, these technologies are disabled by default and will only be used if you choose to enable them through our cookie management tool.

You can manage your preferences for non-essential cookies through the cookie management tool on our site. You can also configure your browser to block cookies. However, depending on your browser, this may affect cookies that are necessary for our website to function, and certain parts of the website may not work properly.

Limited access and protecting Personal Information

The security of your Personal Information is important to us. We protect your Personal Information by maintaining physical, organizational, and technological safeguards intended to help protect against unauthorized use, disclosure or access.

Your Personal Information will be made available to the authorized employees, representatives, contractors or agents of Definity, or its service providers, or of your broker, who need to access the information in connection with the Purposes. The Personal Information will be held primarily in an electronic form. All third parties that obtain Personal Information from us (e.g. service providers that perform functions on our behalf) are required to protect your confidentiality and Personal Information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Statement, and/or as required by law.

Your personal information may be stored or disclosed outside of Canada for the Purposes, and while such information is out of the country, it is subject to the laws of the country in which it is held, and may be subject to access by the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of such other country, pursuant to the laws of such country.

Accessing and correcting your Personal Information

You have a right to request access to your Personal Information and to request a correction to it if you believe it is inaccurate. If you have submitted Personal Information to Definity and would like to have access to it, or if you would like to have it removed or corrected, please contact us using the contact information provided below. We may require you to confirm your identity before permitting you to access your Personal Information. We will use reasonable efforts to comply with your request; however, in some cases we may not be able to allow you to access certain Personal Information (for example if it contains Personal Information of other persons, or for legal reasons). In such cases, we will provide you with a reasonable explanation in writing of why it is not possible to grant access to your Personal Information.

Providing your consent

By applying for insurance, continuing your business relationship with Definity through your broker, or by providing Definity with Personal Information, you provide your consent for the ongoing collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Statement. In most cases, you may withdraw your consent with reasonable notice to Definity and your broker; however, by doing so, Definity may no longer be able to meet your insurance needs. Your withdrawal of consent is also subject to your legal and contractual obligations.

More on consumer credit reporting agencies

Consumer credit reporting agencies collect and provide information on consumer behaviour and credit use. Research indicates this type of information is valuable for helping to determine the risk associated with an insurance request. Numerous insurance companies throughout Canada use similar information to determine premium or product eligibility.

Definity may use information derived from these agencies as one of many underwriting factors to determine personal property insurance eligibility and/or premium. This information is not used as the only factor.

Questions?

You have certain rights to access and rectify the information contained in the file held about you and in order to exercise these rights, or if you have any questions, comments or concerns about the collection, use and/or disclosure of your Personal Information, please contact your broker or email our Privacy Officer. You can also contact our Privacy Officer by phone or mail:

Phone

1-800-265-9996 (ext. 48215) or 519-570-8215

Mail

Privacy Office
Definity Financial Corporation
111 Westmount Road South, PO Box 2000
Waterloo ON N2L 2L6