Privacy Policy

Personal Alternative Funeral Services Limited ("Alternatives", "we", "us" or "our") operates myalternatives.ca, including MyPlan and the MyEstate Estate Assistant, and provides funeral and cremation services in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Services is a registered trademark of Personal Alternative Funeral Services Limited.

This policy explains what personal information we collect when you visit our website, contact us, make arrangements with us after a death, plan ahead, or use the Estate Assistant; why we collect it; who we share it with; how long we keep it; and the choices and rights you have. In British Columbia we follow the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). In Saskatchewan, and wherever information crosses provincial or national borders, we follow the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

The short version

• We collect what we need to care for the person who has died, register the death, carry out your arrangements or pre-need plan, support your family afterwards, and run this website.
• We never sell your personal information, and we don't use it to train artificial intelligence models.
• Card payments are entered on Moneris's secure checkout.
• Analytics and advertising tags load only on our public pages: never when you are signed in, and never on arrangement, pre-need, estate, upload, payment or sign-in pages.
• In the Estate Assistant, your family decides what our staff can see, and staff views are recorded for you.
• You can ask to see or correct your information at any time by contacting our Privacy Officer.

Our Privacy Officer

Our Privacy Officer is responsible for how we handle personal information and for our compliance with this policy. You can reach them at:

• Email: care@myalternatives.ca (subject "Privacy")
• Phone: (604) 857-5779 or toll-free (888) 857-5917
• Mail: Privacy Officer, Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Services, 3070 275A Street, Aldergrove, BC V4W 3L4
• Saskatchewan office: 1170 Winnipeg Street, Regina, SK S4R 1J6, (306) 757-2327

What we collect

When you visit our website

• Technical information: your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you view, the page or ad that sent you here, and the date and time.
• Your approximate area (city and province), worked out from your IP address so we can show you local information. We use Cloudflare and ipstack for this. We do not use your device's GPS.
• Cookies, described under Cookies and tracking.

When you contact us, plan ahead online, or sign up for something

Your name, email address, phone number and message; the answers you give in MyPlan and our quote tools; and the details you give when you book an appointment, register for an event, download a guide or subscribe to obituary notices.

When you create an account

Your name, email address and password (we store only a secure, one-way hash of the password). If you sign in with Google, Google gives us your name, email address and Google account identifier.

Staff accounts sign in with Microsoft 365. Microsoft gives us the staff member's name, work email address and Microsoft account identifier, and we keep a record of each sign-in.

When you make arrangements after a death

To arrange a funeral or cremation and register the death, provincial law requires information about the person who has died. This includes their legal name; date and place of birth and death; Social Insurance Number; provincial health number; marital status and spouse; occupation; usual residence; parents' names and birthplaces; the attending physician; and whether there is a pacemaker or other medical implant, which must be removed before cremation for safety.

We also collect the name, contact information and relationship of the person authorizing the arrangements and of other next of kin; a copy of the authorizing person's identification when we need to confirm who they are; and the payment and invoicing details for the arrangement.

When you buy a pre-need plan

The name, contact information and date of birth of the purchaser and of the person the plan is for; the information the insurer or trust that funds the plan requires (which can include a Social Insurance Number and a beneficiary); and payment information, such as card details or the bank account for pre-authorized debits.

When you sign documents electronically

Your name, email address and signature, and the IP address, device and time of signing. This record is what makes an electronic signature valid.

When you send us files

Files you send through Secure Upload go only to the staff member you choose, are encrypted, and are destroyed after 7 days.

Obituaries and condolences

If you ask us to publish an obituary, we collect the name, dates, photograph and story you provide, and publish them on our website. If you leave a condolence message, we collect your name, email address and message. We publish your name and message once we have reviewed it; we never publish your email address.

The Estate Assistant (MyEstate)

The Estate Assistant helps executors and families settle an estate in British Columbia. What you keep in it can be very sensitive: identity documents and numbers, bank, investment, insurance and pension accounts, property and vehicle records, online account details, contacts and professionals, uploaded files, your answers to its questions, and comments between the people helping you. People you invite join by email.

Your family decides what our staff can see:

• We can always see how far through the estate you are: task names, who they are assigned to and when they are due, who is helping, and the activity on the estate.
• We cannot see anything you have written into your Digital Vault, files you have uploaded, your answers or your comments, unless an executor allows it.
• To see more, a staff member must ask in writing and say why. An executor can allow it for 24 hours, for 30 days, or for a single form, and can turn it off at any time. Access also ends on its own.
• There is no override: no staff member, however senior, can see private estate information without your permission, or sign in as you.
• Staff views of your estate are recorded and shown to you on your estate's Privacy page, including each document a staff member opens.

The most sensitive fields are encrypted in our database. You can delete your own entries and files at any time.

Why we use it

• To care for the person who has died and carry out the funeral, cremation and services you choose.
• To register the death with the provincial vital statistics agency and obtain the permits the law requires.
• To prepare, sign and keep your contracts, invoices and receipts.
• To set up and administer pre-need plans with the insurer or trust that funds them.
• To take payments and keep accounting and tax records.
• To answer your questions, keep you informed by email, text message or phone, and support your family afterwards, including through the Estate Assistant.
• To publish obituaries you ask us to publish, and send obituary notices you subscribe to.
• To keep our website secure, stop spam and fraud, and fix problems.
• To understand how our public pages are used and measure our advertising.
• To send newsletters, follow-ups and offers where you have agreed or the law allows it, with an unsubscribe link in every one.
• To meet our legal obligations, including funeral and cremation record-keeping laws and Canada Revenue Agency rules.

We will not use your information for a new purpose without telling you first, and asking for your consent where the law requires it.

Your consent

• When you give us information to make arrangements, plan ahead, use the Estate Assistant or ask a question, you consent to our using it for that purpose. We ask for your express consent for sensitive information.
• We send marketing email only where you have agreed to it or where Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation allows it, for example after you ask us for a quote, buy a plan, download a guide or register for an event. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link.
• When you give us information about someone else, such as the person who has died, a family member or a beneficiary, you confirm that you have the authority to do so: for example, as the executor, as the person entitled by law to make the arrangements, or with that person's permission.
• You can withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal and contractual limits, by contacting our Privacy Officer. We will explain what withdrawing means for you. For example, we cannot register a death without the information the law requires.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only as needed for the purposes above.

Government and others involved in the arrangements

• BC Vital Statistics Agency and eHealth Saskatchewan, to register the death and obtain the permits the law requires. About death registration in BC.
• Physicians, coroners, hospitals and care homes, to obtain the medical certificate of death and bring the person into our care.
• Cemeteries, crematoriums, clergy, celebrants and other providers you ask us to work with.
• Consumer Protection BC and the Funeral and Cremation Services Council of Saskatchewan, which license funeral providers and may inspect our records.

Pre-need plan funding

• TruStage Life of Canada underwrites insurance-funded pre-need plans and receives the plan application, including the purchaser's and insured person's details and payment information. Contact TruStage's Privacy Officer at Canada.privacychoicesmail@trustage.com or visit trustage.ca.
• Guaranteed Funeral Deposits of Canada (Fraternal) (GFD) holds pre-need funds in insurance policies. Read GFD's privacy policy.

Service providers

These companies host, process or deliver information for us. Our agreements with them limit their use of it to the services they provide to us.

• Moneris Solutions Corporation: card payments. The card details you enter at checkout go directly to Moneris. Privacy statement.
• DocuSeal: electronic signatures. Privacy policy.
• ClickSend: faxing papers to physicians, hospitals and care homes. Privacy policy.
• SMSGate: sending the text messages we send you. Privacy policy.
• Mailchimp (Intuit): newsletters, event and guide follow-ups, and email updates for pre-need plan holders. Privacy statement.
• Resend: delivery of the emails we send. Privacy policy.
• Microsoft 365: our email, and sign-in for staff accounts. Privacy statement.
• Google: Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics and Google Ads on our public pages; Google sign-in; address suggestions on our forms (Google Maps); and Google Fonts. Privacy policy and how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
• Meta (Facebook and Instagram): the Meta Pixel on our public pages, which measures visits and planning steps such as finishing a quote, so we can measure and show our ads. Privacy policy.
• Simpli.fi and Coleman Insights (Validate Audio): measuring our advertising, on our home page only. Simpli.fi privacy policy.
• YouTube and Vimeo: the videos on some of our pages.
• Cloudflare: website security, spam protection on our forms (Turnstile), your approximate area, and privacy-friendly visitor statistics. Privacy policy.
• ipstack: your approximate area from your IP address, when Cloudflare can't tell. Privacy policy.
• Laravel (Forge and Nightwatch): managing our servers and alerting us to errors. Privacy policy.
• Amazon Web Services: secure off-site backup copies of our records. Privacy notice.
• LineLedger: our accounting system (customer names, invoices and receipts). Privacy policy.

When the law requires it

We disclose personal information where the law requires or allows it: for example, to comply with a court order or a lawful request from the coroner or police, or to protect someone's health or safety in an emergency. If our business is sold or merged, personal information may pass to the new owner, who must use it as this policy describes.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not use it to train artificial intelligence models.

Information stored outside Canada

Some of our service providers, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Mailchimp, DocuSeal, ClickSend, Resend, Cloudflare, ipstack, Simpli.fi and Amazon Web Services, store or process information in the United States or other countries. While it is there, it is protected by our agreements with them, but it may be accessed by the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of those countries under their laws. To ask about our service providers outside Canada, contact our Privacy Officer.

Cookies and tracking

Cookies our website needs

• Session cookie: keeps you signed in and remembers your progress through a form. It ends after 2 hours without activity.
• Security cookie (XSRF-TOKEN): protects our forms against forgery.
• "Keep me logged in": set only if you tick the box, and lasts up to 7 days. It is never offered for the Estate Assistant.
• Planning and referral cookies (myplan_path, myplan_advisor, ref): remember which planning path you chose and who referred you, for up to a year. A referral code is kept until you clear your cookies.

Analytics and advertising

On our public pages, and only for visitors who are not signed in, we use Google Tag Manager (with Google Analytics and Google Ads), the Meta Pixel, and, on our home page, Simpli.fi and Validate Audio. These set their own cookies to measure visits and advertising. If you arrive from a Google ad, we remember the ad click (gclid) for 30 days. None of these load when you are signed in, or on arrangement, pre-need, estate, upload, payment or sign-in pages. When you create an account, we may tell Google Analytics and Google Ads that this happened, using the identifiers those cookies already set. We never send them your name or email address. Videos from YouTube and Vimeo may set their own cookies when you play them.

To limit this tracking:

• Install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
• Change your ad settings in Google My Ad Center and in your Meta ad preferences.
• Opt out of interest-based advertising at YourAdChoices.ca.
• Block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block the cookies our website needs, signing in and our forms will not work.

How long we keep it

• Arrangement and pre-need records, contracts and signed documents: for as long as provincial funeral and cremation law requires, and at least six years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as the Canada Revenue Agency requires. Pre-need records are kept while the plan is in force and for that period after it ends.
• Card numbers for a pre-need application: stored encrypted only until the application is signed, then deleted.
• Online arrangements you start but leave unfinished: deleted automatically.
• Working copies of documents: deleted once the signed copy is complete.
• Secure Upload files: destroyed after 7 days.
• Estate Assistant invitations: expire after 14 days. Your estate's records stay until you delete them or ask us to close the estate.
• Sign-in and security records: kept as long as we need them to protect accounts and look into problems.
• Marketing email lists: until you unsubscribe.

When we no longer need personal information, we securely delete it or make it anonymous.

How we protect it

• Every page of our website is served over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.
• Card numbers for pre-need applications, Secure Upload files and the most sensitive Estate Assistant fields are encrypted in our systems.
• Only staff who need information to do their work can see it. Staff sign in with Microsoft 365, sign-ins are logged, and in the Estate Assistant every staff view is recorded for the family.
• Card payments are taken on Moneris's checkout, which meets the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
• Our records are backed up securely off site.

No method of transmitting or storing information is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and review our safeguards regularly.

If there is a privacy breach

If personal information we hold is lost, stolen or accessed without authority, and this creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will tell you as soon as we can. We will tell you what happened and what you can do, and we will report the breach to the privacy commissioner where the law requires it.

Your rights

• Access: ask what personal information we hold about you, how we have used it, and who we have shared it with.
• Correction: ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete.
• Withdraw consent: stop marketing email or other uses, subject to legal and contractual limits.
• Someone who has died: their executor, administrator or other legal representative can exercise these rights on their behalf.

Send requests to our Privacy Officer. We will answer within 30 days (business days for requests under PIPA), or tell you if we need more time and why. We may ask you to confirm your identity first. Most requests are free; if a minimal fee applies, we will tell you before we start.

If you have a concern, please contact our Privacy Officer first. If we cannot resolve it, you can complain to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or, for Saskatchewan and wherever federal law applies, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Children

Our website and services are meant for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from anyone under the age of majority in their province, except information about a child who has died that a parent or guardian gives us to make arrangements.

Links to other websites

Our website links to websites we do not run, including those listed in this policy. Their own privacy policies apply when you visit them, and we are not responsible for their practices.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our practices change, and the date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make a significant change, we will post a notice on our website and email account holders before it takes effect.

Contact us

For questions about this policy or your personal information, contact our Privacy Officer by email at care@myalternatives.ca, by phone at (604) 857-5779 (toll-free (888) 857-5917), or by mail at 3070 275A Street, Aldergrove, BC V4W 3L4.