Policies

As an organization, ELAN works to continuously adapt and update our policies in order to best reflect our roles and responsibilities within the community.

On this page, you can consult the following policies:

  • Privacy Policy

  • Cookies Policy

  • Inclusion Policy

Privacy Policy

Welcome to ELAN! This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, maintain, and disclose information collected from individuals interacting with our collection points. Here’s how we handle your information at our collection points. By engaging with us, you agree to the following practices.

Information We Collect:

  • Personal identification information (Name, Email, Phone, etc.)
  • Other information relevant to ELAN’s programs and initiatives, including:
    • Other info relevant to ELAN’s programs:
      • Workshop and event applications
      • Membership registrations
      • Newsletter sign-ups

Personal information such as name, last name, and email address are collected when you sign up as a member.  Billing address and payment information are collected when you pay a membership fee. Region of residence, field of artistic practice, career stage, website links, social media handles, photos, and profile descriptions are collected on an opt-in basis for members who wish to share this information in the member directory.

How We Use Collected Information:

  • Tailoring services to your needs
  • Improving our programs, products, and services
  • Sending you updates about events, news, and other relevant info
  • Ensuring accurate communication and membership details

Personal information such as name, last name, email address, shipping and billing address, payment information are collected for the purpose of establishing a member profile, paying  membership fees and/or member events. Region of residence, field of artistic practice, and career stage are collected in order for us to better understand who we are serving and in order to allow you to connect with others members via the membership directory. Email addresses are shared with Mailchimp on an opt-in basis in order to allow ELAN to communicate community news, events, and updates via our monthly newsletter and member exclusive newsletter.

Sharing Your Information:

We prioritize your privacy. Your personal information is not sold, traded, or rented to third parties.

Security:

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We have implemented suitable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.

Your Consent:

By sharing your information, you’re giving us permission to use it as outlined in this Privacy Policy. 

Who Has Access & Security Practices 

Access to personal information within ELAN is limited to those who need access for the purpose the information was collected. In particular:

  • The Executive Director, Membership Services Coordinator,  and Communications Coordinator have access to personal information collected for membership or donation records or for event attendance.
  • In addition, the Director of Operations may request certain information for reporting purposes, but typically these requests are for aggregate data such as number of members within a certain field and do not typically require access to individual and personalised information. The Director of Operations will have access to billing information for any submitted via invoice to the organization. 
  • When Assistants are hired for Membership and Communications departments will also have access to our membership email databases in order to help with newsletters, AGM outreach, and event coordination.
  • The Communications Coordinator has access to personal information collected through the website, such as newsletter subscribers’ information and information collected through Google Analytics. 
  • The Executive Director and Director of Operations have access to HR-related documents and information, such as SIN numbers, financial and health information of employees, IDs, dates of birth, and addresses of board members.
  • ELAN’s Accountant, who is a contract employee, as well as the Director of Operations, have access to employee financial information and invoices from suppliers.
  • Workshop facilitators, who are contract employees, will on certain occasions have access to the names and email addresses of workshop participants and, if relevant, their accessibility needs.
  • Information included in your CV for a job application will be accessed by the Executive Director, the Director of Operations, and the coordinator or manager of the department to which you are applying.

ELAN is committed to keeping our security practices up-to-date to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information. Some of the practices that we have in place to ensure this are: limiting access to sensitive data to a need-to-know basis, password protection on documents with sensitive data, and limiting downloads of personal information to local computers as much as possible. 

How Long We Store Your Information

When you visit our website, your IP address is stored by Google Analytics for 14 months.  ELAN will not see your IP address information through Google Analytics due to their own privacy-policy restrictions.

Information collected when you sign up as a member of ELAN will be stored for a period of up to 5 years subsequent to the expiry of your membership. After this period. The information will be archived. We will continue to store your data for the duration of your membership at ELAN. During this time, you are able to update and remove information you have shared via your member profile on the ELAN website. The same is true for current and past board members, who are required to be ELAN members. Board members can update biographical information and photos shared on our website at any time by reaching out to the Communications Coordinator.

The same membership data policies apply to organizations who become organizational members of ELAN. 

ELAN may store job applications for a period of up to five years, after which point they will be deleted.

ELAN will store relevant information about organizations that have funded us for five years at which point the information will be archived.

ELAN retains employee records unless the employee has left ELAN and requests that their information is removed (legal obligations allowing). By Quebec law, we must keep employee information for six years. 

When ELAN has a legal obligation to retain information for longer periods than those set out in this policy, those obligations will prevail over this policy.

Questions?

Reach out to us at privacy@quebec-elan.org 

Changes to This Policy:

ELAN may update this policy periodically. Please review this page for the latest information.

Cookie Policy:

 

  • What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work or improve their efficiency.

  • How We Use Cookies:

Essential cookies are necessary for ELAN’s website to properly track and analyze user behavior to distinguish humans from bots or automated software.

Advertising Cookies on our Member site optimize the website, remember items a user has placed in a shopping cart and ensure that cart functionality works perfectly. It expires when a user leaves the site.

Analytics & Customization Cookies collect information that help ELAN understand how our website is being used, how effective marketing campaigns are, and to help us customize our website for our members.

Performance & Functionality are used to enhance the performance and functionality of our website. Without these cookies, certain functionality (like videos) may become unavailable.

  • Your Consent:

By using our website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with this policy. If you do not agree, you may disable cookies in your browser settings; however, certain features of our website may not function properly.

  • Managing Cookies:

You can control and/or delete cookies, depending on the system availability. 

  • Changes to This Policy:

We may update our Cookie Policy to reflect changes in technology or legal requirements. Please review this policy periodically for the latest information.

  • Contact Us:

If you have questions about our use of cookies, contact us at privacy@quebec-elan.org .

How to Access Your Information, Make a Complaint, or Exercise Another Right Related to Your Privacy

You may at any time:

  • Ask to access the personal information that we have regarding yourself;
  • Update your information by logging in to your membership profile or reach out to ask ELAN to make a correction to personal information it holds about you;
  • Withdraw your consent to the retention of your personal information; or
  • Make a complaint regarding your privacy.

To exercise any of these rights, please email us at privacy@quebec-elan.org . 

If you would like to attend one of our workshops or in another way work with ELAN but would like to opt out of providing any of the information that was mentioned in this policy, don’t hesitate to write to our Privacy Officer privacy@quebec-elan.org to explore alternative options. 

ELAN’s Inclusion Plan

In summer 2017, after several years of internal discussion, the English Language Arts Network (ELAN) embarked on a process of creating an inclusion plan.

The Inclusion Plan outlines the actions that have been taken by ELAN in the development of our policy and introduces actions that will be taken over a five-year period from 2017-2022.

When ELAN began in 2004, the organization was focused on building positive bridges between the two solitudes of French- and English-speaking arts communities. This focus will remain present throughout our work. However, we recognize that in the 15 years since ELAN started, the context of the arts community has shifted and other issues have been raised.

Conversations about inclusion, diversity, and equity have made clear that many of Quebec’s English-speaking artists face specific barriers due to discrimination based on race, gender, disability, Indigeneity, language, and a number of other factors.

This plan mobilizes our priorities as an organization serving the English-speaking community of Quebec to integrate values of inclusion and equity in the specific areas of our work in Membership, Human Resources, Governance, Advocacy, and Communications.

Continuing Dialogue

Recognizing the need to support this ongoing work, ELAN commits to using our platforms to amplify the voices of organizations and communities who are directly implicated by a given issue and have lived experience and expertise. Through our role as a member-driven umbrella organization, we work toward filling existing gaps and, unless specifically requested, defer to grassroots groups on issues that impact them directly. Meaningful community consultations and the democratic participation of our members will continue to be part of our mandate and inform our programming.

To ensure that we use our platform to amplify voices that need to be heard, ELAN commits to investing time and resources to build strong, meaningful, and reciprocal relationships with organizational partners and individuals who work towards a more inclusive arts and culture sector in Quebec.

Community Feedback

At the heart of this plan is an acknowledgement that our work on inclusion and diversity is ongoing, will evolve, and will involve mistakes. It is active work, involving all of us and all parts of ELAN. We would like to invite our members and communities to provide feedback on our Inclusion Plan. This can be done via email. Send us a message.

Did You Know?

Inclusion Committee

The Inclusion Committee  is mandated by ELAN’s Board to promote and advance inclusion within the organization, its activities and projects

Committee Activities & Engagements

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Bill 21 Discriminates Against Quebecers: Statement from ELAN

As an organization serving the minority-language community of English-speaking Quebecers, ELAN strongly condemns the implementation of Bill 21 and Justice Michel Yergeau’s decision last week to reject an appeal from civil rights organizations…

Funding Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Conseil des arts de Montreal (CAM) for their financial support of this work.