Privacy Statement
The Ombudsman de Montréal (OdM) is an independent and impartial entity that provides an easily accessible, free recourse to people who believe they have been adversely affected by a decision, act or omission of the City of Montréal.
The purpose of this privacy statement is to explain to citizens who use our services how our office collects, uses and shares their personal information.
We process complaints in strict confidentiality and we protect your personal information.
Confidentiality of records is a fundamental value of any ombudsman’s office, ensuring trust on the part of complainants and the people collaborating in investigations.
Our bylaw states specifically that the Ombudsman and their employees must respect the confidential nature of any and all information brought to their attention in the course of their duties.
Our privacy practices are compliant with the City of Montréal directive on the governance of personal information.
When exchanging information with citizens, we also adhere to the City of Montréal policy regarding the confidentiality of personal information collected by technological means.
What personal information do we collect and how do we collect it?
Personal information is any information concerning a natural person that allows the person to be identified, directly or indirectly.
The OdM collects only the personal information that is necessary for the purposes of addressing your complaint, including: your first name and last name, address and other contact information (e-mail address or phone number) and, if need be, the address concerned and certain clarifications about the subject of your complaint.
Without this information, we cannot address your complaint.
You will typically provide us with this information on an electronic complaint form, but other means of communication (e.g., e-mail, phone) may also be used.
What are you consenting to?
When you submit a complaint to our office, you consent to the OdM and its team members obtaining, using and sharing your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Statement.
If we need to disclose your personal information to a third party such as a city subcontractor as part of our investigation, we will obtain your express consent beforehand.
At any time, you may withdraw your consent to the sharing of this information and to the continuation of the complaint process.
Who has access to your personal information?
Only the members of the OdM team have access to investigation records. In exceptional circumstances, a select group of members of the City of Montréal Information Technology team may be granted limited access, solely for the purpose of providing technical support.
To the extent required to properly process your complaint, certain information must be shared with the City of Montréal staff involved in the situation in question (boroughs, departments, paramunicipal corporations or corporations controlled by the Ville or their civil servants or employees).
What are your rights with respect to accessing and requesting corrections to your personal information?
Our office treats the information it receives in the course of its investigations with thoroughness and precision. You may request that we communicate to you, verify or rectify your personal information.
Note, however, that the Cities and Towns Act, which states that no one is entitled to access a document containing information obtained by the ombudsman or members of their team in the exercise of their duties, limits your access rights.
Accordingly, someone who submits a complaint to our office cannot obtain a complete copy of the investigation record.
That person may, however, ask our office to send them all documents that they have personally transmitted to us and that they wish to recover (e.g., paper copy of plans, photos, maps, other) or obtain a copy of (e.g., complaint form).
As a last resort, any request or complaint relating to access to or protection of personal information must be addressed to the person in charge of access to information, Emmanuel Tani-Moore at [email protected] or Service du greffe, 275, rue Notre-Dame Est, Montréal (Québec) H2Y 1C6.
This privacy statement is effective October 2023.
