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Guiding Principles

  • It is in the interest of all parties that complaints are dealt with promptly and resolved as quickly as possible.
  • Review of complaints is fair, impartial and respectful to all parties.
  • Complainants are advised of their options to escalate their complaint to a more senior staff person if they are dissatisfied with treatment or outcome.
  • Complainants are provided clear and understandable reasons for decisions relating to complaints.
  • Updates are provided to complainants during review processes.
  • Complaints are used to assist in improving services, policies and procedures.

Definition

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction about the service, actions, or lack of action by The Kidney Foundation as an organization, or by a staff or volunteer acting on behalf of The Kidney Foundation. Complaints may come from the general public, donors, participants, patients, researchers, and/or volunteers. (Employees wishing to make a complaint should follow the appropriate Human Resources Policy.)

Procedure

Many concerns or informal complaints can be resolved easily and quickly, often at the time they arise, by speaking with your contact at The Kidney Foundation of Canada. You can choose one from among these three options:
  1. You can call us by telephone at any of The Kidney Foundation of Canada Branches or the National Office. The contact information is available on our website for our National Office and each of the Branch locations.
  2. You can email us at info@kidney.ca.
  3. Or, you can write to us at any of our Branches, or at the National Office.
If a problem cannot be resolved in this way or if a member of the public wishes to make a formal complaint, they may do so in writing to the National Executive Director by email at info@kidney.ca or by mail to:

The Kidney Foundation of Canada
National Office
880-5160 Decarie Blvd.
Montreal, QC H3X 2H9
 
Please include your name, address, email address and contact telephone number in your email or letter so that we can contact you easily.

Complaints relating to personal information

Complaints about the collection, retention, use, communication or destruction of personal information should be made in writing by email at privacy@kidney.ca or by mail at 5160 Bd Décarie Suite 880, Montréal, QC H3X 2H9 ATTN Privacy Officer. The complaint should include a description of the nature and extent of the situation affecting the individual's privacy, the name of the branch or department involved in the alleged unjustified collection, use or disclosure, the names of all persons involved, the date or period during which the alleged unjustified collection, use or disclosure took place, and the expectations of the individual filing the complaint regarding the outcome of the complaint.

How long will it take to receive a response?

We will try to respond to all formal complaints within 10 business days. However, you will receive an acknowledgment within the first 5 days of receipt.  If the process takes longer, we will let you know.

What will we do?

In the spirit of continuous improvement, we will work diligently to fix problems, correct mistakes and address concerns. We will always treat you with courtesy and respect, listen to what you say, keep you informed about our progress, and finally provide you with a response.

From time to time we receive complaints that do not relate directly to something that The Kidney Foundation is responsible for. We are a charity with limited resources and we must use these in the best way possible.

There may be rare occasions when we choose not to respond to a complaint.

These include:

  • When a complaint is about something that The Kidney Foundation has no direct connection to. We may choose to reply to clear our name but we are not obliged to.
  • When someone unreasonably pursues a complaint that we have already responded to. They will be given escalation points, but we may choose not to reply again and we will always inform them of our decision to do this.
  • When a complainant is being obviously abusive, prejudiced or offensive in their manner.
  • When a complainant is harassing a staff member.
  • When a complaint is illegible or incoherent.
  • When a complaint has clearly been sent to us and numerous other organizations as part of a bulk mailing or email. In this instance we can choose whether it is necessary for us to reply or not.
  • The Kidney Foundation cannot respond to a complaint made anonymously. However, we will investigate the complaint and use the information to improve in any way that we can.
On behalf of The Kidney Foundation of Canada, we want to thank you for your continued support.