Privacy Policy

Collection of personal information 

For business purposes we collect: 

• Visitor information for:
  • responding to emails and phone calls.
  • purchasing general admission at the gate.
  • purchasing general admission and 12-month passes online.
• Purchaser information for gifting general admission or 12-month passes.
• Subscriber information for receiving our newsletters.
• Wedding and event planner information and associated guest lists.
• Job applicant information to hire employees.
• Employee information to onboard and facilitate employment.

Additional details:

We collect the minimum amount of personal information required for our business purposes. The types of information we collect include:

• Visitors:
  

  • Contact information for response to queries: Name, email address, and/or, phone number
  • General admission bought at the gate with a credit card: Name, credit card number and expiration date.
  • General admission and 12-month passes bought online: Name, email address, phone number, credit card number, expiration date, security number (CVV), and billing address.
  • Account set up for 12-month pass purchase: Email address and password.
• Gift Purchasers:
  • Online purchase of e-tickets: Name, email address, phone number, credit card number, expiration date, security number (CVV), and billing address.
  • Phone purchase of hard copy tickets: Name, email address, phone number, credit card number, expiration date and security number (CVV) of purchaser. Name and address of receiver of the gift.
• Newsletter subscribers: Email address
• Wedding and event planners using personal information: Name, email address, phone number, credit card number, expiration date, security number (CVV), and billing address.
• Guests of weddings and events: Name
• Job Applicants: Resume (includes name, email address, home address, phone number, past and current work experience, skills and education), cover letter and references.
• Employees: Name, email address, home address, phone number, date of birth, social insurance number, banking information, family information for the benefits program, and emergency contact and relationship. If applicable to the employee’s role: proof of education, certifications, criminal records check, driver’s license number and driving record, health-related information, and insurance.

In situations where we need additional personal information, we will ask for the minimum amount of information needed, secure it within our systems and disclose it only with your consent. 

Please note that for safety and security purposes, some areas of the gardens are under video surveillance. 

Consent to collection of personal information 

At or before the point of collection, we tell you what our business purpose is for personal information collection and how the information will be used. Understanding what we do with your information ensures that you can provide us with implied or express consent (based on the sensitivity of the personal information), orally, in writing or electronically. 

Unless withdrawing consent affects a legal obligation, you may withdraw consent at any time by giving us reasonable notice and we will inform you of any consequences related to withdrawing.  

Under British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), we are allowed to collect, use, or disclose employee information without consent, for reasonable purposes related to establishing, managing, or terminating an employment relationship. 

Limited use and disclosure of personal information 

We only collect, use, or disclose personal information under identified purposes for collection, unless we have received additional consent from you or the processing is authorized by PIPA or required by law without your consent.  

For the fulfillment of some business purposes, we use third-party service providers. If personal information is disclosed to these third parties, we ensure that appropriate security undertakings, such as confidentiality clauses in contractual agreements, are employed to protect the collection, use and transfer of personal information.  

We use Pantheon to host our website. When you visit our website, our web server software may collect non-personally identifiable information such as the type of browser you are using (e.g. Firefox, Internet Explorer) and the type of operating system you are using (e.g. iOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux). This information is automatically entered into our server logs and we may use this information to help diagnose problems with our server, or to administer our website. Our website does not collect any individually identifiable information from visitors, unless you provide it to us. Pantheon holds our SSL Secured (128) Certificate to ensure safe transmission of your information to its servers in the United States. The United States does not have laws that protect personal information as stringently as Canada and personal information may be accessible by law enforcement, national security bodies, courts, litigants, or other governmental bodies in this jurisdiction. View Pantheon’s privacy policy for information on data protection and data transfers. 

Our shopping cart is hosted by Shopify. Secure socket layer (SSL) software is used for secure e-commerce transactions. It encrypts credit card number, name and address, so it cannot be read as the information travels over the internet. Although Shopify is a Canadian company, it may send personal information outside of Canada, including to the United States. View Shopify’s privacy policy for information on data protection and data transfers.  

Our website uses Google Analytics and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting. Should you wish to opt out, you may use this add-on for your browser.  

We do not sell, rent, share, or otherwise disclose to any other person or organization our mailing list or other personally identifiable information. 

Cookies on our website 

“Cookies” are small pieces of text that are placed on your computer when you visit a website to collect and store information provided and to record browsing patterns. They save information between visits to a website. We use a cookie set by Vimeo to host, manage, and share high-quality videos on our website.  

Cookies can also be used by third parties, such as advertisers, to build profiles about you and then these profiles can be used to place advertisements on websites you visit.  

Retention of personal information 

We retain personal information on set time periods based on legal and business requirements. This usually exceeds the PIPA requirement to retain personal information used to make a decision about individuals for at least one year, after which it is no longer necessary to fulfill the collected purpose.  

Personal information is kept until the appropriate time period passes, and then we destroy the information under approved and secure destruction methods. 

Accuracy of personal information 

If personal information is likely to be used in decisions that affect individuals or to be disclosed to another organization, we make efforts to ensure that personal information collected is accurate and complete.  

You may request that we correct any errors or omissions in your personal information. If we are satisfied your request is reasonable, we will correct the information and send the corrected information to organizations we have disclosed that information to during the year before the date the correction was made. If we are not satisfied the request for correction is reasonable, we will annotate the information, noting that the correction that was requested but not made. 

Protection and storage of personal information 

We use a combination of administrative, physical and technical safeguards to reduce the risk of loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure and alteration of your personal information.  

Your privacy rights and how we support them 

By submitting a written request to our Privacy Officer, you can: 

• withdraw consent with reasonable notice. 

• access your personal information, ask how it is and has been used, and to who it has been disclosed. 

• update your personal information for accuracy and completeness. 

• ask us to use alternative methods to collect and process your personal information. 

Please note that we require proof of identity to fulfill privacy rights requests, and that consent cannot be withdrawn retroactively.  

Under PIPA: 

• We may charge a minimal fee for providing an individual with access to their personal information. If a fee is required, we will provide you with a written fee estimate in advance. A payment of a deposit or the whole fee may be required before releasing the requested information. 

• We may be authorized or required to refuse access. If this case, we will tell you in writing, state the reasons for our refusal and outline further steps that are available to you. 

How to contact us about privacy questions or concerns  

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, wish to make a privacy rights request or would like to make a privacy complaint, you can: 
Call: (250) 652-4422               
Email: privacy@butchartgardens.com 
Write to: 
The Butchart Gardens 
Attention: Privacy Officer 
800 Benvenuto Avenue 
Brentwood Bay, BC 
V8M 1J8