SAQ Confidentiality Policy

In this Policy, "we" or "us" means the Société des alcools du Québec, "SAQ", its mandataries and authorized representatives.

By deciding to use or visit our websites, mobile applications, digital terminals or any other services that involve the exchange of personal information, you accept the terms and conditions of the present Confidentiality Policy (the "Policy"). You agree, among other things, that we may collect and use your personal information in accordance with the provisions herein, being understood we comply with the legislation in effect regarding personal information.

We understand the significance you place on protecting your privacy and we commit to preserve the confidentiality of the personal information we gather when:

you visit or register with our websites;
you enroll with our SAQ Inspire program;
you participate in our contests, promotions or events;
you participate in one of our surveys or any other customer study;
you agree to receive our newsletters, promotional emails, flyers, text messages and other communications regarding our products, services, promotions or events that are likely to be of interest to you;
you use our mobile applications or our digital terminals in SAQ stores;
you buy products or return products to one of our stores;
you submit a job application;
you contact our Customer Relations Centre or contact us by any other means to formulate comments, questions, or complaints;
you appear on our surveillance cameras while visiting one of our stores.

What personal information do we gather?

"Personal information" is information which allows identifying a natural person.

We limit the gathering of personal information only to that information which we need to provide the products and services you request. Such information can be gathered including when you use our websites, mobile applications or digital terminals, by participating to the SAQ Inspire program, or when you visit our stores or transact with us. The information includes your full name, mailing address, telephone number(s), email address, status as a SAQ Inspire program member, information drawn from registering to our websites or SAQ Inspire and browsing history, from participating to our surveys, activities or events, information regarding the products or services purchased or suggested, the promotional offers, rebates and benefits you received, or information about your preferences or spending habits.

Should we wish to use your personal information for any reason other than those disclosed in this Policy, we will obtain your consent prior to doing so.

Why do we gather your information?

We undertake to gather only the personal information required for the purpose for which it was gathered, including to successfully carry out our business activities. For example, by:

offering the products and services you want;
managing your files and accounts created for our various services and websites;
registering you with the SAQ Inspire program and ensuring the proper management of your account and program overall;
adequately processing your product and service orders;
organizing promotional events or activities to which we can invite you;
sending out mailings regarding our products and services or providing you with information that could be of interest to you;
conceiving, improving or commercializing products and services;
studying, analyzing and preparing marketing activities;
holding contests or surveys;
recognizing you on our websites, mobile applications and digital terminals and knowing your preferences;
improving the content of our websites, mobile applications and digital terminals;
answering to your questions and comments;
identifying attempts of fraud and errors, preventing and protecting ourselves from same;
ensuring the safety and protection of people and assets in our stores or other buildings under our control;
ensuring age requirements for alcohol purchasing are being complied with;
for any other reason required by law and to successfully conduct our business activities.

Who has access to your personal information?

In addition to the situations provided for or required by law, access to personal information is limited to SAQ employees, mandataries, and approved providers specifically authorized by SAQ who need it to perform their work or mandate. They are required to comply not only with the law but also with SAQ's requirements regarding the protection of personal information. They must process this information only for the purposes mentioned above.

How do we use cookies?

Cookies are information saved by an HTTP server on the hard drives of your computers and other electronic devices to identify them (rather than the user). They facilitate navigation, in particular by memorizing your choice of navigation language and the products you have selected during your previous visits and allow us to process your orders. In addition, cookies allow us to adapt our websites, mobile applications and digital terminals so that they better suit your interests and preferences.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies. You may, however, deactivate them by modifying the confidentiality settings of your browser.

In addition, we use the services of Google Analytics to analyze our websites, our mobile applications and our digital terminals. The information collected through these services is anonymized so that it does not identify users. This information is used primarily to evaluate your use of our websites, mobile applications and digital terminals, including the number of visits, the pages viewed and the time spent on these pages, the source, and other statistics useful for continuous improvement of our websites, mobile applications and digital terminals.

How is your personal information protected?

We employ relevant security measures to protect your personal information from loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, reproduction, use, unauthorized modification, and when transferring your information to a third party for processing or for any other purpose.

Moreover, when you make an online purchase from one of our websites or mobile applications, your credit card information is transmitted securely while transaction processing takes place with encryption mechanisms (Secure Sockets Layer protocol) used by your browser and our websites and mobile applications. No credit card information is kept or saved in any of our data bases.

Although we take steps to prevent any unauthorized access to your personal information, you will understand that we cannot guarantee the absolute protection and security of your information on the Internet. You therefore acknowledge and agree that we will not be held liable for any damages resulting from the transmission of confidential or personal information over the Internet and that such disclosure is at your own risk.

You are responsible for your accounts

Furthermore, you must do your part to ensure the security of your personal information. We invite you to act responsibly by:

creating a unique and complex password that includes letters (including upper case letters), numbers or symbols (e.g. ^, ¨,$,#, /), by inserting them in a simple password (in a way that makes sense) to make it complex;
refraining from writing the password on a physical medium (e.g.: on your SAQ Inspire program membership card);
frequently changing your password(s);
refraining from disclosing your passwords, user or access codes to third parties;
immediately informing us of any threat or loss of confidentiality regarding the passwords, user or access codes associated with your accounts.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We keep your personal information only for the time required to fulfill the purpose for which it was gathered, the whole in accordance with our rules under our records retention schedule. The personal information will then be destroyed securely and confidentially.

How can you access, modify and/or delete your personal information?

You can access, modify, update, or delete any of the personal information you enter in your accounts. You can also withdraw from our mailing lists or opt out of our electronic communications (see our undertaking to this end below).

If you have any issues with making these changes, you can reach our Customer Relations Centre, by the following methods:

By email: info@saq.com
By using the Contact Us form on the SAQ.COM website
By telephone at 1-866-873-2020
By mail:
Société des alcools du Québec
7500, rue Tellier
Montreal (Quebec) H1N 3W5

Our undertaking on sending electronic mailings

We undertake to manage email addresses responsibly and use them in accordance with the law and your consent.

When you enroll in our SAQ Inspire program or our websites and mobile applications, subject to your consent, we may, from time to time, send you promotional offers, rebates, or other advantages respecting products, services, contests and events by email, mail, text message or otherwise. These promotional offers may sometimes be personalized according to your interests, your purchases, the services you use, or any other information we have about you. This allows us to send you the promotional offers most likely to be of interest to you. In each mailing sent to you, you will have the possibility of removing your name and email address from our mailing list.

Furthermore, in certain circumstances and within the exceptions authorized by law, we remain authorized to send you emails and other electronic communications even if you have removed your name from our commercial mailings.

Northern villages

Some northern villages have enacted regulations providing that their residents must obtain the prior authorization of their local authorities to purchase alcoholic beverages.

That is why any customer from these particular northern villages must authorize us, as the case may be, to send a copy of their order (which contains their personal information) to local authorities, thereby enabling us to receive confirmation that such local authority has authorized the order.

Our person responsible for access to information and the protection of personal information

Do not hesitate to contact our person responsible for access to information and the protection of personal information in the following cases:

you have questions or comments regarding this Confidentiality Policy;
you wish to have access to, consult or correct your personal information file.

In this case, you must send your written request to our person responsible for access to and protection of personal information:

Ms. Martine Comtois
Vice-President Corporate Affairs and Secretary General
7500, Tellier Street
Montreal (Quebec) H1N 3W5

By telephone: 514-254-6000 ext. 6645
By fax: 514 864-3642
By email: m.comtois@saq.qc.ca

We are a public body governed by the Act Respecting Access to Documents Held by Public Bodies and the Protection of Personal Information. You may find more details on this subject in the Access to information section of our SAQ.COM website.

Official version

The French version of this Confidentiality Policy is the official version and it will take precedence over the translated English version.

Update of the Confidentiality Policy

We reserve the right to modify this Confidentiality Policy at any time without prior notice. You may verify whether it has been updated by referring to the "Last updated" date indicated below.

Last updated on November 27, 2019