CLF for the Internet - E-Mail

Rationale

The Federal Identity Program applies to all GoC corporate identity applications, such as institutional letterhead, business cards, complimentary cards, note paper, etc., and e-mail is no exception. With the evolution of graphic, windows-based e-mail software, the incorporation of the visual identifiers of the GoC is now possible. E-mail must be treated in the same manner as traditional business stationery applications to ensure proper identification through the institutional signature and the "Canada" wordmark.

4.3 Best Practices

June 2003

The Executive Summary of the e-mail assessment, completed by the CLF E‑mail Working Group, highlights the results of the assessment and their recommendations.

December 2002

An assessment by the CLF E-mail Working Group of various e-mail software applications in use across federal institutions has been undertaken. As a result, for those e-mail systems that cannot display the graphical elements ("Canada" wordmark and the institutional signature) in an accessible manner (e.g. HTML and alt text), it is important to include the institution's applied title in both official languages in the signature block of every employee. This applies to the signature block of employees of bilingual and unilingual designated regions. For a list of bilingual applied titles, please refer to http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/Pubs_pol/sipubs/TB_FIP/titlesoffedorg1_e.asp. For additional information on the use of applied titles and the use of the words "Government of Canada" in signature blocks, please refer to the Best Practice for CLF Standard 4.2.

July 2000

To ensure consistency in application, this initiative should be managed by mail and/or systems administrators rather than by individual GoC employees.

It should be noted that technological incompatibility between the sender and the recipient's e-mail systems might cause the institutional signature and the "Canada" wordmark to be stripped from e-mail messages.