Help

The Service Canada Web site has been designed to provide you with easy access to the information you need, for the services you want. If you need help using our site, this page will provide you with the following information:

1. Organization of the Web Site
   Accessing PDF Documents
   Page Tools
   Increasing Text Size
   Multimedia
   Contact Us

Organization of the Web Site

Information on the Service Canada Web site is organized in a variety of ways to make it easy for you to find information about Government of Canada programs and services.

Audience

If you identify with an audience listed on the home page, select the category that best describes your situation. You will be presented with a list of programs and services for which you may be eligible. From the left navigation bar, you may select a more specific subject related to your audience.

Subject

If you are interested in programs and services related to a specific subject, you can browse our list of subjects from the left navigation bar on the home page.  The subjects include:

1. Education and Training
2. Employment
3. Health
4. Housing
5. Immigration
6. Income Assistance
7. Legal Assistance
8. Personal Documents
9. Savings Plans
10. Special Events
11. Starting a Business
12. Travel

A to Z Services Index

The A to Z Services Index is an alphabetical listing of all Government of Canada programs and services listed on the Service Canada Web site. Simply select a letter and choose a program title, a keyword or a department from the list that appears. For example, if you're looking for the Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension, you can select "C" for "Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension", you can select "P" and look under "Pensions", or you can select "S" and look under "Service Canada".

On-line Services

Service Canada offers links to multiple on-line services that allow you to do everything from apply for benefits to change your address to calculate your retirement income.  On-line services are tailored to the audience or subject you select.

Other Useful Sites

Service Canada also offers a list of other useful sites tailored to each audience and subject. This list provides links to information-based Web sites offered by other federal government departments or agencies.

Search

Our search engine offers quick access to information through bilingual (French or English) keyword or phrase searches.

We are currently working on improving our search tool and will be launching a new version in the coming months. 

Accessing PDF Documents

In some cases we provide both PDF and HTML versions of our documents. To view the PDF version of a document you may require Acrobat Reader available free of charge from Adobe or other software capable of viewing PDF files. An accessible version of Acrobat Reader, which includes support for screen readers, is also available. Alternatively, you can convert a PDF file to HTML or ASCII text by using one of Adobe’s conversion services.

Help on the accessibility features of this site is available on our Accessibility page.

Page Tools

Printable Version

If you select “Printable Version” on any page, it will take you to a printable version with the same content but without any of the navigation menus from the top, left and right of the page.

Read to me

You do not need to download any extra programs or plug-ins to use this service. You will only need the following:

1. a soundcard with speakers or headphones
2. a Web browser with the ability to play sound

To be able to use the “highlight-and-read” function, you need to be using a Web browser that supports JavaScript.

Increasing Text Size

To increase the text size on our Web pages, you can change the settings in your Web browser. Just follow the instructions below based on the browser you are using or see your browser's help for details.

Internet Explorer

1. Select “View” in the menu bar.
2. Select “Text Size”.
3. Select “Larger” or “Largest”.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Select “View” in the menu bar.
2. Select “Text Size”.
3. Select “Increase”.
4. To increase the text size further, continue selecting “Increase”.

Opera

1. Select “View” in the menu bar.
2. Select “Zoom”.
3. From the menu, select the size with which you would like to view the Web site.
4. To increase the text size further, increase the percentage.

Netscape

1. Select “View” in the menu bar.
2. Select “Text Size”.
3. From the menu, select the size with which you would like to view the Web site.

Multimedia

For more information about the technical requirements needed to operate the Media Centre, please visit our Multimedia Help page.

Contact us

If you are still unable to locate the information on the service you are looking for, please contact us.