The nature of the Internet is such that Web servers automatically collect certain information about a visit to a website, including the visitor’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses are unique numbers assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISP) to all devices used to access the Internet. Web servers automatically log the IP addresses of visitors to their sites. The IP address, on its own, does not identify an individual. However, in certain circumstances, such as with the co-operation of an ISP for example, it could be used to identify an individual using the site. For this reason, the Government of Canada considers the IP address to be personal information, particularly when combined with other data automatically collected when visitor requests a Web page such as the page or pages visited and date and time of the visit.

Unless otherwise noted, the Prime Minister of Canada’s website does not gather any specific personal information from you, such as your name, telephone number or email address. This information is obtained only if you supply it to us, for example, by email or by filling in a contact form.

If you choose to send an email or complete a feedback form online, your personal information is used by the Prime Minister of Canada’s website employees in order to respond to your inquiry. The information you provide will be shared with a government institution if your inquiry relates to that institution. We do not disclose the information without your consent to anyone other than to those in the federal government who need to provide you with a response unless doing so is permitted or required by law.

Emails and other electronic methods used to communicate with the Prime Minister of Canada’s website are not secure unless it is specifically stated on a Web page. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not send personal information, such as your Social Insurance Number, home address, telephone numbers, and photographs of identifiable individuals through non-secure electronic means.

We employ software programs to monitor network traffic and identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. When you visit the Prime Minister of Canada’s website, these software programs automatically receive and temporarily store in our Web server logs information that is supplied by your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, etc.). Information automatically collected by our server when you browse this website includes the following:

• Network location and the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using to contact this website;
• Name of the domain you are using to access the Internet (e.g., ".com," ".org," ".net," and ".ca");
• Type of browser you are using;
• Type of operating system you are using (e.g., Windows and Mac OS);
• Date and time you accessed the site;
• Pages you have accessed and the documents you have downloaded; and
• Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to this site, if applicable.

In most circumstances, this is anonymous statistical data, and we make no attempt to link this data or the IP addresses of the computers that have contacted our website with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected, a threat is expressed in a message collected by the site, or as otherwise required by law.

In cases where services are provided by organizations other than the Prime Minister of Canada’s website, such as social media platforms or mobile applications, IP addresses may be recorded by the web server of the third-party service provider. (See Social Media)

A digital marker is a computer file created by a visitor’s Web browser, in order to remember certain pieces of information for a web server to reference during the same or subsequent visits to the website. Examples of digital markers are “cookies” or HTML 5 web storage.

We use “session and persistent” digital markers on some portions of the Prime Minister of Canada’s website to store information within a session. During your visit to this site, your browser exchanges information with our Web server. Session and persistent digital markers facilitate this exchange by reminding the server which computer is making the request. The digital markers used do not allow the employees’ of the Prime Minister of Canada’s website to identify individuals.

You may adjust your browser settings to reject digital markers, including cookies, if you so choose.  However, this may affect your user experience on the website. (See Disabling Digital Markers).

Web analytics is the collection, analysis, measurement, and reporting of data about Web traffic and visits for purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. Information in digital markers may be used for the purpose of web analytics to remember your online interactions with the Prime Minister’s website.

We use Google Analytics, a Web analytics service provided by Google Inc. to help measure traffic patterns to, from, and within our website. This analytics measurement tool uses "session" and "persistent" cookies to collect standard Internet log information and to track visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer and expire two years after your last visit to the website. The information generated by the cookies about your visit to our website (including your truncated IP address) is transmitted to Google. No personal identifying information is recorded or provided to Google. This anonymous information is then used to evaluate visitors’ use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. The aggregate data and statistical reports are only used to help us make our site more useful to visitors and are only made available to Web managers and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.

For further information, consult Google Analytics and its privacy policy.

If you wish, you may opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics by disabling or refusing the digital markers, by disabling JavaScript within your browser or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On. Disabling Google Analytics or JavaScript will still permit you to access comparable information or services from our websites. However, if you change the settings on your browser so that digital markers will be denied or so that you will be warned before a digital marker is saved on your computer, navigating on the websites may be a much slower process. It may also have an impact on your user experience of the website. To disable digital markers, please refer to your vendor’s browser instruction guide.

The Prime Minister’s social media accounts are public and are not hosted on Government of Canada servers. Users who choose to interact with us via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications you use to access them, including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr.

Personal information that you provide via social media may be collected to capture conversations (e.g. comments, “likes”, retweets) between you and the social accounts associated with the Prime Minister’s website. It may be used to respond to inquiries, or for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. Comments posted that violate Canadian law will be deleted and disclosed to law enforcement authorities. In addition, if any comments posted are deemed inappropriate or offensive, we reserve the right to edit or delete them.

Unless otherwise specified, information on the Prime Minister of Canada’s website has been posted with the intent that it be readily available for personal and public non-commercial use and may be reproduced, in part or in whole and by any means, without charge or further permission provided you do the following:

• Exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced;
• The Office of the Prime Minister be identified as the author, and the complete title be included (where available); and,
• The reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor as having been made, in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Office of the Prime Minister.

Unless otherwise specified, reproduction of materials on the Prime Minister of Canada’s website, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution is prohibited except with written permission from the Privy Council Office (PCO).

Through the permission granting process, PCO helps ensure individuals/ organizations wishing to reproduce Government of Canada materials for commercial purposes have access to the most accurate, up-to-date versions. To obtain permission to reproduce materials on this site for commercial purposes or to obtain additional information concerning copyright ownership and restrictions, please contact:

Privy Council Office
General Enquiries
Room 1000
85 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1A 0A3

Telephone: (613) 957-5153
TTY: (613) 957-5741
Fax: (613) 957-5043
Email: info@pco-bcp.gc.ca

Some of the content on the Prime Minister of Canada’s website may be subject to the copyright of another party. This is particularly true of sites that are jointly operated by a Government of Canada institution and an external organization as part of a collaborative arrangement. Where information has been produced or copyright is not held by the Government of Canada, the materials are protected under the Copyright Act, and international agreements. In such cases, some restrictions on the reproduction of materials or graphical elements may apply and it may be necessary to seek permission from the rights holder prior to reproducing the material.

Images and videos available through the Prime Minister’s Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Prime Minister’s Volunteer Awards YouTube accounts are subject to a Canadian Crown Copyright with all rights reserved, unless otherwise specified. We use Creative Commons Licenses to enable sharing and use of images and videos in accordance with the terms set out in the specified Creative Commons license.

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.

The Prime Minister of Canada’s website respects the Official Languages Act (http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/O-3.01/index.html) and  the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is committed to ensuring all information on this site is available in both French and English.  Information provided in a language other than English or French is only for the convenience of our website visitors.

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided solely for the convenience of our website visitors. We are not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or currency of the information provided by external sources.  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 unless otherwise specified.

Visitors should also be aware that information offered by non-Government of Canada sites to which this website links is not subject to 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.

We use our social media accounts as an alternative method of sharing the content posted on our website. By following our social media accounts (by “following,” “liking” or “subscribing”), you can expect to see information about priorities, announcements and Government of Canada programs and services, subject to the terms of use of those social media providers.

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 third-party platforms.

Our social media accounts may post or display links or ads for websites that are not under our control. These links are provided solely for the convenience of users. 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, unless otherwise specified.

Images and videos available through the Prime Minister’s Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and the Prime Minister’s Volunteer Awards Facebook accounts are subject to a Canadian Crown Copyright with all rights reserved, unless otherwise specified. We use Creative Commons Licenses to enable the sharing and use of images and videos in accordance with the terms set out in the specified Creative Commons license.

Our social media accounts are not hosted by the Prime Minister’s website and represent only our presence on third-party service providers.

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

Our social media accounts are not hosted by the Prime Minister’s website and represent only our presence on third-party service providers. Many social media platforms have multiple language options and provide instructions on how to set your preferences. The Government of Canada respects the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that our information is available in both French and English and that both versions are equal quality.

We may share links that direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or Official Languages Act and available only in the language(s) in which they are written.

If our social media accounts "follow," "favourite" or "subscribe" to another social media account, channel, page or site, it does not imply that we endorse it. Similarly, if we share, re-tweet, repost or link to content from another user, it does not imply that we endorse that user.

Social media platforms are third-party service providers. They do not have to meet Government of Canada standards for Web accessibility. If you have problems accessing content on the Prime Minister of Canada’s social media accounts, please contact us. We will do our best to solve the problem and, if we cannot, will provide you with the information in a different format.

We welcome your comments on our social media content. We expect conversations to be respectful. You are responsible for everything that you submit, and all posted comments are in the public domain. Please keep your submissions relevant.

We may edit or remove any comments that:

• do not respect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
• are racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting, or life-threatening;
• make serious, unproven, unsupported, or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
• are abusive, aggressive, coarse, explicit, vulgar, violent, obscene, or pornographic;
• make personal attacks and/or are defamatory;
• encourage illegal activity;
• are solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency;
• are announcements from labour or political organizations;
• are not sent by the author;
• aim to cause nuisance to the page administrator or other users (e.g. spam); and/or
• are not relevant to the discussion or are unintelligible.

Users who do not respect the comment guidelines outlined above may be blocked without warning.

A few other important notes:

• We review comments daily but don’t generally reply to them; we engage in conversations only when appropriate.
• We generally moderate and reply Monday through Friday during regular business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time).
• We cannot engage in issues of party politics nor answer questions that break the rules of our Important Notices.
• The views of participants commenting on these pages do not represent the views of the Prime Minister.
• You participate 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 personal information (e.g. phone numbers or email addresses) in the body of your comment.

If you have any questions about this commenting policy or how we apply it, please contact us.