Privacy Policy

About This Policy

MCG Career College Inc. ("MCG," "we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard personal information in accordance with:

• Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), SA 2003, c P-6.5 — the primary statute governing our activities as an Alberta-based organization;
• Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), SC 2000, c 5 — which applies to federally regulated activities and serves as a floor of protection;
• Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), SC 2010, c 23 — which governs our electronic commercial messages;
• Alberta's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) where applicable; and
• Any other applicable provincial or federal law.

By using our website, submitting an application, or engaging with our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy.

Who We Are

MCG Career College Inc. is a private vocational college incorporated and operating in Alberta, Canada. We offer career training programs in healthcare, business, and technology at campuses in Calgary, Red Deer, and Cold Lake, with administration offices in Edmonton and High River.

Personal Information We Collect

We collect only the information that is necessary for the identified purposes described in Section 5. This may include:

We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 16 without verifiable parental or guardian consent.

How We Collect Personal Information

We collect personal information through:

• Directly from you — via application forms, enquiry submissions, phone calls, in-person visits, and email;
• Our website — through contact forms, program inquiry tools, and cookies (see Section 11);
• Third parties — such as Alberta Student Aid, immigration authorities (for study-permit verification), prior educational institutions (transcripts), or referral partners, with your consent or as permitted by law;
• Publicly available sources — where permitted by PIPA, such as professional licensing registries.

Purposes for Collection, Use & Disclosure

We collect, use, and disclose personal information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances, including:

• Processing and evaluating your application for admission;
• Registering you as a student and administering your enrollment;
• Communicating about your program, courses, schedule, and academic progress;
• Administering financial aid, tuition payments, and student funding;
• Complying with regulatory, accreditation, and government reporting obligations;
• Issuing credentials, diplomas, and official transcripts;
• Verifying immigration and study-permit status where required by law;
• Responding to inquiries submitted through our website or by phone;
• Sending you program updates, event invitations, and marketing communications where you have provided express or implied consent under CASL;
• Improving our website and services through analytics;
• Protecting the safety and security of our campuses and staff;
• Complying with any applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request.

We will not use your personal information for any new purpose without first obtaining your consent or having legal authority to do so.

Consent

Subject to the exceptions set out in PIPA, we obtain your meaningful consent before or at the time of collecting personal information, or when a new purpose arises.

Form of consent. Consent may be express (e.g., a signed form, a checked checkbox) or implied (e.g., providing your contact details to receive a response to your inquiry). We will generally seek express consent for sensitive personal information, including health information.

Withdrawal of consent. You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice, by contacting our Privacy Officer (Section 15). Withdrawal may affect our ability to provide you with certain services.

Disclosure of Personal Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may disclose your information to:

• Service providers acting as our agents (e.g., cloud hosting, student management systems, payment processors, email delivery) who are contractually bound to protect your information and use it only as directed by MCG;
• Government authorities — including Alberta's Ministry of Advanced Education, Alberta Student Aid, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and Statistics Canada — as required by law or regulation;
• Accreditation and professional bodies for credential verification;
• Law enforcement or courts where required by a court order, subpoena, or other legal process;
• Emergency responders where disclosure is necessary to protect the life, health, or safety of an individual;
• Successor organizations in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of our operations, subject to the incoming organization providing equivalent privacy protection.

In all cases, we disclose only the minimum amount of personal information necessary for the purpose.

Retention & Disposal

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the identified purposes or as required by law. Our general retention guidelines are:

When personal information is no longer required, we destroy, erase, or de-identify it using methods appropriate to the sensitivity of the information (e.g., secure shredding for paper records, cryptographic erasure or certified destruction for digital media).

Safeguards

We protect personal information using security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Our measures include:

• Technical safeguards — TLS/HTTPS encryption for data in transit; encryption at rest for sensitive records; access controls and role-based permissions; firewalls and intrusion detection;
• Physical safeguards — locked filing systems; secure campus facilities; restricted access to areas where personal information is processed;
• Organizational safeguards — staff privacy and security training; confidentiality obligations for employees and contractors; written data-handling procedures;
• Breach response — documented incident response procedures, including notification to affected individuals and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (OIPC) where required under PIPA.

No transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We continually review and update our safeguards to reflect current best practices.

Your Rights

Under PIPA and PIPEDA, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information held by MCG:

• Right of access — You may request access to the personal information we hold about you and receive an explanation of how it has been or may be used or disclosed.
• Right to correction — You may request that we correct or annotate any inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Right to withdraw consent — You may withdraw consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information, subject to legal or contractual restrictions.
• Right to complain — You may file a complaint about our privacy practices with the OIPC Alberta (see Section 15).

To exercise any of these rights, please submit a written request to our Privacy Officer. We will respond within 30 calendar days as required by PIPA (extensions may apply for complex requests). We may require you to verify your identity before processing the request.

Access may be refused only in limited circumstances prescribed by PIPA (e.g., where disclosure would reveal personal information about a third party, or is subject to solicitor-client privilege).

Cookies & Website Analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to improve functionality and understand how visitors use our site. Cookies are small text files stored on your device.

You may control or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time. Disabling certain cookies may limit functionality. Where we use Google Analytics, data is processed subject to Google's privacy terms; we have enabled IP anonymization and data-sharing restrictions.

Electronic Communications & CASL

MCG complies with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) with respect to all commercial electronic messages (CEMs) — including promotional emails, newsletters, and event invitations.

• Express consent — We obtain express consent before sending you CEMs. Consent records are maintained for a minimum of 3 years.
• Implied consent — We may send CEMs on the basis of an existing business relationship (e.g., you are a current or recent student) for a maximum period of 2 years as permitted by CASL.
• Unsubscribe — Every CEM contains a clear, functioning unsubscribe link. We will honour unsubscribe requests within 10 business days as required by CASL.
• Identification — Every CEM clearly identifies MCG Career College Inc. and provides our mailing address and contact information.

Transactional messages (e.g., enrollment confirmations, invoice receipts, password resets) are not subject to CASL consent requirements and will be sent as needed.

Cross-Border Transfers

Some of our service providers are located or store data outside of Canada, including in the United States. When personal information is transferred outside Alberta or Canada, it remains subject to this Policy and we take appropriate contractual or technical measures to ensure equivalent protection.

You acknowledge that personal information transferred to another jurisdiction may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction, including lawful access requests by government authorities. Where feasible, we prefer Canadian or Alberta-based data hosting.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Effective Date" at the top of this page;
• Post a notice on our website homepage or notify current students and staff directly where the change materially affects how we handle their information;
• Where required by law, obtain fresh consent.

We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. Your continued use of our services after the updated effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

Contact & Complaints

For any questions, access requests, correction requests, or concerns about our privacy practices, please contact our Privacy Officer:

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to file a complaint with: