Policies, Code of Conduct & Terms of Use

Copyright

Copyright is held by the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association. Permission to reproduce or reprint this document for educational purposes is not required; however, appropriate credit must be included. If the material is used exactly as is, please include the text "Source: Canadian Dental Hygienists Association www.cdha.ca." If this material is used in part or modified from its original format, please include the text: "Adapted from the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association, year, publication name, article title, www.cdha.ca"

C'est l'Association canadienne des hygiénistes dentaires qui détient le droit d'auteur. Il n'est pas nécessaire d'obtenir d'autorisation pour reproduire ou réimprimer ce document à des fins éducatives, mais il faut mentionner la source comme il se doit. Si le matériel est utilisé exactement tel quel, prière d'ajouter le texte suivant : « Source : l'Association canadienne des hygiénistes dentaires, www.cdha.ca. » Si le matériel est utilisé en partie ou que sa présentation originale est modifiée, prière d'ajouter le texte suivant : « Adapté de l'Association canadienne des hygiénistes dentaires, année, nom de la publication, titre de l'article, www.cdha.ca. »

Advertising Disclaimer

Publication of advertisements in CDHA print or online properties in no way constitutes endorsement of the product/service or company. CDHA does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of statements by advertisers, nor their compliance with any federal or provincial/territorial legislation. CDHA reserves the right to reject any submission if the advertisement, organization, product or service is not compatible with CDHA’s mission, vision or values.

CDHA Online Community Code of Conduct and User Policies

The Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA) recognizes that facilitating online communities, including Facebook, Twitter, our CDHA forums, blogs and listservs, is an important part of our overall communications strategy and an integral means of interaction between CDHA and its members as well the public and an invaluable place for CDHA members to connect, share with and learn from each other.

We want our online communities to be welcoming and constructive environments. To ensure the integrity of our communities, we ask participants to agree to the following code of conduct and adhere to established policies when participating in any of our CDHA online channels.

Read the CDHA Online Community Code of Conduct and User Policies

Zero Tolerance Policy

CDHA is committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all. We do not tolerate any form of abuse, violence, harassment, discrimination, or intimidation—whether verbal, physical, written, or digital—toward CDHA’s staff, volunteers, and partners.

By engaging with our organization, you agree to uphold these standards. Violations may lead to removal from our programs, services, or membership in accordance with CDHA’s bylaws.

Privacy Policy

Policy Type: Membership Control Policies

Policy Title: Privacy and Security

Date Approved: January 2004

Revised: February 2026

The Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA) values and respects the privacy of our members and works to ensure their personal information is protected in accordance with relevant privacy laws in Canada and, where applicable, internationally. We will limit the data we collect to only what is required to fulfill our mission and deliver programs and services, and we commit to using such information only for its intended purposes. This policy applies to written, verbal, and electronic personal information collected and used in the course of our activities.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CDHA will act as the CDHA Privacy Officer.

In accordance with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), “personal information includes any factual or subjective information, recorded or not, about an identifiable individual. This includes information in any form, such as:

age, name, ID numbers, income, ethnic origin, or blood type;
opinions, evaluations, comments, social status, or disciplinary actions; and
employee files, credit records, loan records, medical records, existence of a dispute between a consumer and a merchant, intentions (for example, to acquire goods or services, or change jobs).”

Collection of Data

Data are collected during account creation and membership renewal.

Members can choose at any anytime whether they wish to receive CDHA email communications or third-party emails and mailings. Individuals can do so by calling, emailing, mailing or faxing CDHA to update their information and communication preferences. In addition, individuals can update their own record online via the My Profile section of CDHA’s website. Reminders to keep information up to date are included in member communications, including both printed and electronic publications.

All credit card payment information is forwarded to third-party payment processors, who specialize in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. Any payment information retained by CDHA for membership autorenewal purposes is encrypted and stored securely.

Member, non-member, and guest data are stored in the CDHA membership database. This database is used for mailings, broadcast email to whole or subsets of the database, research surveys, employment surveys, national statistics about the profession, third-party mailing list rental for survey or product promotion, management of professional standards and, as deemed appropriate by management staff, for other organizational business.

Additional data are collected as members and non-members interact with CDHA through the website, online communities, and as volunteers or in contract positions. The collection of personal information is limited to that necessary for the purposes identified. Consent for the collection of data is obtained as follows:

Consent is acquired upon account registration.

Opt-in consent is provided for third-party email communications and mailing list rental.

Security

CDHA’s Responsibility:

Security safeguards, such as limited access, password protection, encoding, and CDHA policies and procedures protect personal information. Furthermore, member data are stored at a secure state-of-the-art data centre and monitored by a third-party managed detection and response (MDR) service to rapidly identify and limit the impact of cybersecurity threats.

A confidentiality agreement must be signed by all parties with whom the CDHA exchanges information. This extends to the exchange of information between the provincial associations, regulatory authorities, and third parties.

Email communications sent on behalf of third parties are managed through CDHA systems to protect member information.

Members’ Responsibility:

Protecting your CDHA membership number is critical to safeguarding your personal information, as it grants access to the members-only section of the website and to your personal profile. Your CDHA membership number should never be divulged to any individual or third-party organization, except to CDHA corporate/affinity partners when required. If you choose to provide your membership identification number to organizations other than CDHA, constituent provincial associations or our corporate/affinity partners, you are potentially jeopardizing the privacy of your personal information. If you are required to provide proof of membership to a third-party organization, the third-party organization may contact CDHA at 613-224-5515, and we would be pleased to provide proof of membership on your behalf.

Third Party Access to Data

Member email addresses and telephone numbers will not be sold to any outside parties. However, CDHA may send emails on behalf of third parties to members who have opted in to receive “Dental Industry product information/advertising” through their communication preferences. These communications are intended to provide members with information about products, services, and opportunities relevant to the dental hygiene profession.

CDHA also rents member mailing addresses to third parties such as suppliers, educational organizations, industry, and grant recipients who may wish to promote special events, inform members of new products and resources and/or conduct funded research by mail. The CDHA Privacy Officer or their designate reviews and approves all materials distributed by third parties prior to renting mailing lists, ensuring they are of potential interest to members.

Finally, CDHA may share member contact information with regulatory authorities and provincial associations, where agreements are in place.

Only the minimum necessary contact information is shared with approved third parties for these purposes. Members may opt out of third-party mailings or emails at any time by updating their online profile or contacting CDHA directly.

The CDHA WebSite (www.cdha.ca)

Cookies and Website Functionality

CDHA’s website uses cookies that are necessary for core site functionality, including maintaining secure member login sessions, protecting forms from misuse, and supporting navigation across the site. These cookies are typically session-based and are removed when you log out or close your browser.

The website also uses first-party analytics cookies to understand how the site is used in aggregate and to improve performance and usability. These cookies do not serve advertising purposes and do not identify individual users.

In limited cases, functional cookies may be set by trusted third-party services that support CDHA operations, such as learning management systems (LMS), community platforms, or online support tools. These cookies are used to enable secure access, maintain session continuity, and support core functionality. CDHA does not use third-party cookies for advertising or behavioural marketing.

Tracking IP Addresses

An IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) is a number that is automatically assigned to a user’s computer whenever they are using the Internet. Web servers—the computers that “serve up” Web pages—identify the computer by its IP Address. We collect IP addresses for system administration, to report aggregate information to our partners, and to audit use of our website. When pages are requested from the Members Only section of our website, our servers log the IP Address. We do not normally link IP addresses to personally identifiable information, which means that a user’s session is logged but the user remains anonymous. We can and will use IP addresses to identify a user when necessary to enforce compliance with our Terms of Use and License Agreement or to protect our service, website, customers, or others.

Summary

Please be assured that we take member privacy seriously and make every reasonable effort to protect it. If you have questions or comments about our member privacy policy, please contact the CEO (olove@cdha.ca).

Responsible Office (Required)

The Director of Finance and Operations is responsible for stewardship of this policy and maintaining procedures.

Language and Translation Policy

Effective date: July 2020

Revised: November 2023

Policy Statement

As the national, professional association serving and representing the interests of dental hygienists in every Canadian province and territory, the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA) endeavours to provide key information and services in both of Canada’s Official Languages.

The implementation of this policy is guided by the principles outlined below.

In the event of any uncertainty in applying this policy or the associated guidelines, CDHA’s chief executive officer (CEO) has ultimate authority to decide what information will be translated and may delegate this authority as appropriate.

Guidelines

CDHA will be guided by the following principles with respect to the use of language and translation:

Dentalhygienecanada.ca – consumer website
All material created and distributed by CDHA to the public via this site will be available in English and French.

CDHA.ca – member website
Designated sections (50 most popular pages) of the website will be available in English and French (through a toggle button). Determination of additional sections to be translated will be reviewed on an annual basis using the following criteria:

Importance of information to members
Permanent vs temporary content
Cost
Relevance to francophone members

General association operations
Available in both English and French

Annual Report
Position papers and statements
Biennial Job Market & Employment Survey and the membership survey. Translation of other surveys will be assessed on a case-by-case basis
Membership services (general calls, emails to and from members)
Membership renewal correspondence
Job postings for CDHA staff positions that require a bilingual candidate
Media releases will be distributed in English and available in French upon request. CDHA will participate in French language media interviews when possible.
Significant updates and special email announcements
Executive summaries of official reports
Majority of resources and fact sheets

Available in English only

Internal documents, such as consultation papers, backgrounders, interim reports, strategic plan, meeting minutes, and policy documents
All association eNewsletters (CDHA Connect, Advocacy in Action, Trends, Career Centre bulletins) and most email announcements
Conferences, webinars, and workshops will primarily be conducted in English. Consideration will be given to French-only professional development for francophone markets
Courses will be available primarily in English. Course quizzes will be available in French, upon request
Most oral consultations and all meetings will be conducted in English
Some minor surveys and reports
Some resources and fact sheets

Available in the language of submission

Career centre employment postings, conference paper abstracts
CJDH (Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene) manuscripts will be published in the language of submission. Abstracts will be published in the opposite language of the submitted article

Oh Canada! articles will be published in the language of submission. The president’s message will be published in English and French