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Privacy Notice

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, commonly known as Elections Canada, is committed to providing visitors with a website that respects their privacy. This Privacy Notice summarizes the privacy policy and practices related to Elections Canada's website for the Inspire Democracy initiative (inspirerlademocratie-inspiredemocracy.ca).

All personal information created, held or collected by Elections Canada on this website is protected under the Privacy Act. You also have a right to access and correct your personal information. This means that you will be informed of the purposes for which personal information is being collected and how to exercise your right of access to that information. You will be asked for your consent where appropriate.

Your Privacy and the Internet

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, federal institutions including Elections Canada consider the IP address to be personal information, particularly when combined with other data automatically collected when a visitor requests a Web page such as the page or pages visited, date and time of the visit.

Unless otherwise noted, Elections Canada does not automatically gather any specific information from you, such as your name, telephone number or e-mail address. Elections Canada would obtain this type of information only if you supply it to us, for example, by e-mail or by filling in a contact form.

Communicating with Elections Canada

If you choose to send Elections Canada an e-mail or complete a form online, your personal information is used by Elections Canada in order to respond to your inquiry. Elections Canada does not use such information to create individual profiles nor does it disclose such information to anyone other than to those within Elections Canada who need to provide you with a response. Any disclosure of your personal information is in accordance with the Privacy Act.

E-mails and other electronic methods used to communicate with Elections Canada are not secure. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not send sensitive personal information, such as your Social Insurance Number or your date of birth, through non-secure electronic means.

Personal information from e-mails is collected pursuant to the Canada Elections Act. Such information may be used for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes and is included in Personal Information Bank Public Communications (PSU 914).

Improving your Experience on the Elections Canada Website

Digital Markers (including cookies)

A digital marker is a resource created by the visitors' browser in order to remember certain pieces of information for the Web server to reference during the same or subsequent visit to the website. Examples of digital markers are "cookies" or HTML5 web storage. Some examples of what digital markers do are as follows:

Elections Canada uses sessional digital markers on its website. During your on-line visit, your browser exchanges data with Elections Canada's Web server. The digital markers used do not allow Elections Canada to identify individuals.

You may adjust your browser settings to reject digital markers, including cookies, if you so choose. However, it may affect your ability to interact with this website.

Web Analytics

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 Elections Canada's website.

When your computer requests an Elections Canada Web page, our institution collects the following types of information for Web analytics:

Elections Canada uses Google Analytics and the information collected is disclosed to Google, an external third party service provider. Your IP address is anonymized prior to being stored on the service provider's servers in order to help safeguard your privacy. The information collected is de-personalized by activating the anonymization feature in Google Analytics. Data collected for Web analytics purposes goes outside of Canada to Google servers and may be processed in any country where Google operates servers. Data may be subject to the governing legislation of such country.

Information used for the purpose of Web analytics is collected by Elections Canada pursuant to its mandate as outlined within the Canada Elections Act. Such information may be used for communications and information technology statistical purposes, audit, evaluation, research, planning and reporting. For more information on how your privacy is safeguarded in relation to web analytics, see the Treasury Board Standard on Privacy and Web Analytics.

Privacy Inquiries

Any questions, comments, concerns or complaints you may have regarding the administration of the Privacy Act and privacy policies for this website may be directed to the Manager and Coordinator, Access to Information and Privacy by e-mail at atip-aiprp@elections.ca, by calling 819-939-1237 or by writing to 30 Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M6. If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner through their online information request form or by telephone at 1-800-282-1376.

Official Languages Notice

Elections Canada is bound by the Official Languages Act and relevant Treasury Board policies and is committed to ensuring that information that originates from Elections Canada will be posted on this website simultaneously in both official languages. However, users should be aware that information provided by entities not subject to the Official Languages Act will only be available in the language in which it was provided.

Hyperlinking Notice

Links to websites not under the control of Elections Canada are provided solely for the convenience of our website visitors. Elections Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or currency of the information contained on external websites. Elections 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 or their content.

Visitors should also be aware that information offered by non-Elections Canada and 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.

Copyright/Permission to Reproduce Notices

Materials on this website were produced and/or compiled by Elections Canada for the purpose of providing Canadians with direct access to information about the programs and services offered by Elections 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 from Elections Canada, provided you do the following:

Commercial Reproduction

Unless otherwise specified, you may not reproduce materials on this website, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution without prior written permission from Elections Canada.

Third-party Materials

Some of the materials and graphical elements found on this website are subject to copyrights held by other organizations. 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.

Contact

To obtain permission to reproduce materials on this website for commercial purposes, or to obtain information concerning copyright ownership and restrictions on reproduction from this website, please contact Elections Canada at:

Elections Canada
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0M6

Telephone

1-800-463-6868
toll-free in Canada and the United States

001-800-514-6868
toll-free in Mexico

613-993-2975
from anywhere in the world

For people who are deaf or hard of hearing:
TTY 1-800-361-8935
toll-free in Canada and the United States

Fax

613-954-8584
1-888-524-1444
toll-free in Canada and the United States

Trademark Notice

The official marks of Elections Canada, including the Elections Canada wordmark and logos, the Inspire Democracy wordmarks and logos may not be reproduced, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, without prior written authorization.

External Service Providers

In order to effectively operate its website, Elections Canada uses external service providers. Such service providers are bound by a contract with Elections Canada to treat any personal information they receive in a manner consistent with the provisions of the Privacy Act.

Our Commitment to Accessibility

Elections 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.

Information Archived on the Web

Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact us" page.