SEES Platform Infrastructure, Member Data & Security

The Substantial Equivalency Assessment System (SEAS) is a Canada-wide assessment program administered by the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations (ACOTRO). It supports the regulation of occupational therapy, a healthcare profession, by assessing whether internationally educated occupational therapists have education and competencies that are substantially equivalent to those of Canadian-educated occupational therapists entering practice. Applicants who successfully complete SEAS may then apply for registration with a provincial occupational therapy regulator in Canada. SEAS uses Members Village as the secure database & management software platform supporting its application and assessment processes. The information below provides a general overview of the platform’s infrastructure, data hosting, privacy-supporting features, and security practices. It is intended for general information and does not replace ACOTRO or SEAS privacy policies, regulatory requirements, application terms, payment terms, or other notices that may apply to applicants, assessments, communications, services, or transactions.

Canadian Data Residency & Hosting

The core Members Village platform, including the website, member portal, application, and database infrastructure, is hosted in Canada.

Members Village is designed for Canadian associations and non-profits that want their core member data hosted close to home with Canadian data residency.

Some optional or connected third-party services, such as payment processors, analytics tools, email delivery tools, embedded content, survey platforms, or external forms, may operate under their own terms and privacy policies.

Information Managed Through the Platform

Information may be collected and managed through Members Village to support association operations, including membership management, event registrations, payments, communications, learning activities, forms, and member portal access.

This may include:

1. Personal Information
   Information such as names, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, membership details, registration details, and other information required to provide member services.
2. Interaction and Portal Information
   Information generated through use of the website, member portal, forms, event tools, learning systems, or other enabled Members Village features.
3. Aggregated or De-identified Information
   Aggregated or de-identified usage information may be used to understand system performance, platform usage, and user experience.

Privacy & Communication Support

Members Village is designed to support Canadian associations in managing privacy-conscious member data and communications.

The platform includes tools that assist with obligations under Canadian privacy and anti-spam frameworks, including PIPEDA and CASL, such as member profile management, communication preferences, unsubscribe tools, access controls, and secure member portal functionality.

SEES remains responsible for its own privacy practices, member communications, content, data collection purposes, and any policies or consent language specific to its programs and services.

Data Ownership

SEES remains the owner and steward of its member data.

Members Village acts as the software platform, hosting provider, and technical service provider supporting the website, database, and member portal infrastructure.

Subject to applicable law and SEES’ privacy practices, individuals may be able to request access to their personal information, request corrections, update their profile information, or manage eligible communication preferences.

Some administrative, transactional, membership, payment, or service-related communications may still be required in order to provide association services.

Public Spaces, Directories & Member-Contributed Content

Where enabled, information voluntarily shared in member-facing areas, such as forums, group spaces, comment sections, directories, or profile fields, may be visible to other authorized users based on the permissions configured by SEES.

Members should use care when posting or sharing information in any area that may be visible to other members, staff, volunteers, committees, or authorized portal users.

Third-Party Services

While the core Members Village platform is hosted in Canada, SEES may choose to link to or use third-party tools alongside the platform.

These may include external survey tools, payment services, video platforms, analytics services, embedded media, social media links, or other third-party websites and applications.

When you leave the Members Village-powered website or portal to use a third-party service, that third party’s own privacy policy, security practices, and terms of use may apply.

System Reliability, Backups & Recovery

Members Village uses monitoring, backup, and recovery practices designed to support platform reliability and reduce the risk of data loss.

These practices include:

1. Uptime Monitoring
   Members Village uses automated uptime monitoring to help identify service interruptions and support platform stability.
2. Secure Connections
   Web traffic is protected using HTTPS/TLS encryption.
3. Scheduled Backups
   Members Village maintains scheduled backups, including daily backups and periodic longer-retention snapshots.
4. Backup Protection
   Backup systems are protected using access controls, including multi-factor authentication where applicable.
5. Restoration Testing
   Backup restoration procedures are tested periodically to support recovery readiness.

Questions

For questions about your membership, account, personal information, communication preferences, event registrations, or association services, please contact SEES directly.

For technical questions about the Members Village platform, SEES may coordinate with Members Village as needed.