Filing a Complaint

If you believe the university has collected, used or disclosed your personal information inappropriately, you have the right to report it. You do so by filing a complaint.

The process for making a complaint is as follows:

1. Notify the head of the department or office which has custody and control of your personal information of your complaint, including who you believe has inappropriately collected, used or disclosed your information.
2. If after making this report to the department head you are not satisfied with the resolution or outcome, you may re-submit your complaint to the Information and Privacy Coordinator, Archives and Records Management Department. This complaint:
   1. must be in writing (i.e., signed letter, memo or email)
   2. should include
      1. the nature of your complaint (i.e., the inappropriate collection, use or disclosure of your personal information),
      2. the department or office which has custody and control of the personal information in question
      3. the specific information that is at issue
      4. your previous complaints and attempts to resolve the issue
      5. the remedy you seek
3. The Information and Privacy Coordinator will attempt to resolve your complaint informally.
4. If you are not satisfied with our informal attempt to resolve your complaint, you may submit a formal privacy complaint to British Columbia’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) at the address below.

If you do not feel comfortable making your initial complaint to the appropriate SFU department or to SFU’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, you may complain directly to the OIPC at the address below. However, the OIPC complaint procedure states that "where a complainant has not given the [university] an opportunity to respond to and attempt to resolve the complaint, the OIPC will normally refer the complainant to the [university] before the OIPC takes further action." In some cases the OIPC may determine that it would not be appropriate to refer your complaint to the university and will instead refer your complaint to an OIPC Portfolio Officer for investigation.

Complaints to the OIPC should be addressed as follows:

Information and Privacy Commissioner
PO Box 9038, Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC
V8W 9A4