Privacy Policy

Who We Are

The Canadian Institute of Facial Aesthetic Medicine ("CIFAM", "we", "us") operates cifam.ca and delivers botulinum toxin and dermal filler certification programs for licensed Canadian healthcare professionals. Our hands-on residencies are hosted at Monarch MD in West Vancouver, British Columbia.

This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, who processes it on our behalf, how long we keep it, and the rights you hold under British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, where applicable, Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). By using cifam.ca or enrolling in a program, you consent to the practices described here.

Information We Collect

Contact & professional details

When you register, book a call or write to us, we collect your name, email address, phone number and profession. Because enrollment is restricted to licensed professionals (MD, DMD/DDS, NP, RN, LPN), we also collect the professional designation and licensure details needed to verify your eligibility before the hands-on residency.

Booking details

Discovery calls are scheduled through Google Calendar's appointment booking. Google processes the name, email address and appointment time you provide in order to create and confirm the booking.

Payment information

Tuition is paid through our Shopify checkout. Your card details are collected and processed by Shopify, not by us.

Financing applications

If you choose to finance tuition, you apply directly with Beautifi. Your application is submitted to and assessed by Beautifi under its own privacy policy; CIFAM does not collect or store the financial details you provide to Beautifi.

Correspondence

We keep the emails you exchange with us at info@cifam.ca so we can respond to you and maintain an accurate record of your enrollment.

How We Use Your Information

• Verify your professional licensure and confirm program eligibility
• Administer your enrollment and deliver the certification program
• Schedule and conduct discovery calls
• Process tuition payments and issue receipts
• Issue your certificate and maintain the training records behind it
• Send administrative communications about your cohort — dates, logistics and preparation materials
• Respond to your questions and requests
• Meet our legal, tax and record-keeping obligations

We do not sell or rent personal information to anyone, and we do not use your information for third-party advertising.

Cookies & Analytics

We keep cookies and analytics deliberately minimal. cifam.ca is hosted on Webflow, which sets the cookies necessary to serve the site securely. The Shopify checkout sets the cookies it needs to hold your cart and complete your order. We do not run third-party advertising trackers on this site.

You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time. Blocking essential cookies may prevent the checkout from functioning.

Third-Party Processors

A small number of established service providers process personal information on our behalf. We share only what each provider needs to perform its service.

Some of these providers store or process information outside Canada, including in the United States. Where they do, your information may be subject to the laws of those jurisdictions.

Retention

We keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, after which it is securely deleted or anonymized. Two categories are kept longer:

• Certification records — retained on an ongoing basis so we can confirm your training for insurers, employers and regulatory colleges whenever you ask us to.
• Financial records — retained for the periods required by Canadian tax law.

Your Rights

Under PIPA and PIPEDA you may:

• Request access to the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of information that is inaccurate or incomplete
• Withdraw consent to our use of your information, subject to legal and contractual limits
• Ask how your information has been used or disclosed

To exercise any of these rights, write to our Privacy Officer at info@cifam.ca with "Privacy Request" in the subject line. We will respond within the timelines the legislation requires. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Safeguards

We protect personal information with safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity. Access is limited to the people who need it to deliver the program, records are held on the secured platforms named above rather than on local devices, and our hosting and payment providers encrypt information in transit — including PCI DSS-compliant payment processing through Shopify. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we deliberately choose established platforms to minimize that risk.

Changes & Contact

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page always reflects the current version, and material changes will be noted here before they take effect.

Questions, access requests and complaints: Privacy Officer, Canadian Institute of Facial Aesthetic Medicine, West Vancouver, British Columbia — info@cifam.ca. Our Terms of Service govern enrollment itself.