Terms and Conditions

Privacy Statement for Privy Council Office websites

The Government of Canada and the Privy Council Office are committed to providing visitors with websites that respect their privacy. This page summarizes the privacy policy and practices on Privy Council Office websites. Be aware that Privy Council Office websites provide links to external sites that are not covered by this privacy policy.

• Privy Council Office websites do not automatically gather personal information from you, such as your name, phone number or e-mail address. We only obtain this type of information if you supply it by sending us an e-mail or by completing an electronic form on the site. Please be reminded that unless specifically noted otherwise, electronic systems and e-mail are not secure information transmission methods, so it is not recommended to transmit sensitive personal information electronically.
  
  
• All personal information collected or held by this institution is protected under the federal Privacy Act. This Act governs the collection, retention, use and disposal of personal information and allows you a right of access to your personal information held by the institution.
  
  
• The information you provide us is used by Privy Council Office employees to respond to your request. We will share your information with another government department only if your inquiry relates to that department. We do not use the information to create individual profiles, nor do we disclose this information to anyone outside the federal government.
  
  
• The Privy Council Office does not use "cookies" to track how our visitors use this site or to determine sites previously visited. (A "cookie" is a file that may be placed on your hard drive without your knowledge by a website to allow it to monitor your use of the site.)
  
  
• The Privy Council Office employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. This software receives and records the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer that has contacted our website, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

Questions or comments regarding this policy, or the administration of the Privacy Act in the Privy Council Office may be directed to the Privacy Coordinator by calling (613) 957-5210 or writing to:

• Privacy Coordinator
  Privy Council Office
  Room 1340, 55 Metcalfe Street
  Ottawa, Canada
  K1A 0A3

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Using Files Located on Non-Government of Canada Servers

To improve the functionality of Government of Canada websites, certain files (such as open source libraries, images and scripts) may be delivered automatically to your browser via a trusted third-party server or content delivery network. The delivery of these files is intended to provide a seamless user experience by speeding response times and avoiding the need for each visitor to download these files. Where applicable, specific privacy statements covering these files are included in our Privacy Notice.

Providing Content in Canada's Official Languages

The Official Languages Act, the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations and Treasury Board policy requirements establish when we use both English and French to provide services to or communicate with members of the public. When there is no obligation to provide information in both official languages, content may be available in one official language only. Information provided by organizations not subject to the Official Languages Act is in the language(s) provided. Information provided in a language other than English or French is only for the convenience of our visitors.

Linking to Non-Government of Canada Websites

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada, including those to our social media accounts, are provided solely for the convenience of our website visitors. We are not responsible for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the content of such websites. The Government of Canada does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.

Visitors should also be aware that information offered by non-Government of Canada sites to which this website links is not subject to the Privacy Act or the Official Languages Act and may not be accessible to persons with disabilities. The information offered may be available only in the language(s) used by the sites in question. With respect to privacy, visitors should research the privacy policies of these non-government websites before providing personal information.

Ownership and Usage of Content Provided on this Site

Materials on this website were produced and/or compiled by the Privy Council Office for the purpose of providing Canadians with access to information about the programs and services offered by the Government of Canada. You may use and reproduce the materials as follows:

Non-Commercial Reproduction

Unless otherwise specified you may reproduce the materials in whole or in part for non-commercial purposes, and in any format, without charge or further permission, provided you do the following:

• Exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced;
• Indicate both the complete title of the materials reproduced, as well as the author (where available); and
• Indicate that the reproduction is a copy of the version available at [URL where original document is available].

Commercial Reproduction

Unless otherwise specified, you may not reproduce materials on this site, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution without prior written permission from the Privy Council Office (PCO).

Some of the content on this site may be subject to the copyright of another party. Where information has been produced or copyright is not held by Government of Canada, the materials are protected under the Copyright Act, and international agreements. Details concerning copyright ownership are indicated on the relevant page(s).

For any questions or to obtain permission to reproduce Government of Canada materials on this site for commercial purposes write to:

• Privy Council Office
  Room 1000
  85 Sparks Street
  Ottawa, Ontario
  Canada
  K1A 0A3
  Telephone: (613) 957-5153 (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST)
  TTY: (613) 957-5741
  Fax: (613) 957-5043
  Email: info@pco-bcp.gc.ca

Trademark Notice

The official symbols of the Government of Canada, including the Canada Wordmark, the Arms of Canada, and the flag symbol may not be reproduced, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, without prior written authorization.

Our Commitment to Accessibility

The Government of Canada is committed to achieving a high standard of accessibility as defined in the Standard on Web Accessibility and the Standard on Optimizing Websites and Applications for Mobile Devices. In the event of difficulty using our Web pages, applications or device-based mobile applications, please contact us for assistance or to obtain alternative formats such as regular print, Braille or another appropriate format.

Interacting with the Privy Council Office on Social Media

The Privy Council Office (PCO) uses Facebook and Twitter. These social media accounts are public and are not hosted on Government of Canada servers. Users who choose to interact with PCO on social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications used to access them.

Content and Frequency

Social media accounts are used to communicate and interact directly with Canadians and stakeholders and as an alternative method of sharing content posted on PCO Web sites. By following PCO’s social media accounts (by "following", "liking", “sharing” or "subscribing", etc.), you can expect to see information about the role of the Privy Council Office, the Public Service of Canada, and Government of Canada programs, services and initiatives.

The Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. You should expect to see new content posted Monday to Friday during regular business hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST/EDT. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends are read and responded to, where appropriate, as soon as possible within the standard business hours.

Any communications activity during holidays, after core business hours and on weekends would likely be related to an emergency or other urgent situation, or have significant value to our followers and subscribers. Otherwise, the accounts will be relatively inactive during these times.

Because the servers of social media platforms are managed by a third party, our social media accounts are subject to downtime that may be out of our control. As such, we accept no responsibility for platforms becoming unresponsive or unavailable.

Links to Other Web sites and Ads

PCO’s social media accounts may post or display links or ads for Web sites that are not under our control. These links are provided solely for the convenience of users by the third party service providers. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the information found through these links or ads, nor does it endorse the sites or their content.

Follow, Like, Share, and Subscribe

Our decision to "follow", "favourite", “like”, or "subscribe" to another social media account does not imply an endorsement of that account, channel, page or site, and neither does sharing (retweeting, liking, reposting, sharing or linking to) content from another user.

At this time, PCO’s decision to "follow", “friend”, "like" or "subscribe" will be limited to other Government of Canada institutions, organizations and personnel determined to be relevant to our followers or subscribers and to PCO's mandate.

We will share (re-tweet, repost, “like” or link to) information posted by accounts that are diverse, non-commercial, and non-partisan and/or of value to our followers and subscribers.

Comments and Interaction

We will read comments and participate in discussions when appropriate. We ask that your comments be relevant and respectful. We reserve the right to delete comments that violate this notice, and the user may be blocked and reported to prevent further inappropriate comments.

We cannot engage in issues of party politics or answer questions that break the rules of this notice.

We reserve the right to edit or remove comments that:

• Contain personal information;
• Are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
• Express racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting or life-threatening messages;
• Put forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
• Are aggressive, coarse, violent, obscene or pornographic;
• Are offensive, rude or abusive to an individual or an organization;
• Are not sent by the author or are put forward for advertising purposes;
• Encourage illegal activity;
• Contain announcements from labour or political organizations;
• Are written in a language other than English or French;
• Are unintelligible or irrelevant;
• Are repetitive or spam; and
• Do not, in our opinion, add to the normal flow of the discussion.

Users may also be blocked and reported to the social network if they do not comply with the service’s Terms of Use.

In short, please be respectful and make sure that your comments are relevant to where they are posted. The views of users commenting on our social media accounts do not necessarily represent the views of the Privy Council Office or of the Government of Canada.

Also, please note that you participate in social media at your own risk, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username and any information provided. To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include full names, home phone numbers or e-mail addresses, photographs containing images of identifiable individuals, or any other personal information in the body of your comment.

Accessibility of Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms are third-party service providers and are not bound by Government of Canada standards for Web accessibility.

If you have difficulty accessing content on our social media accounts, please contact us and we will try to solve the problem or provide you with the information in a different format.

Privacy

Our social media accounts are not Government of Canada Web sites and represent only our presence on third-party service providers.

For more information, please refer to our Privacy Notice regarding third-party social media.