Privacy policy

The Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada is committed to respecting the privacy and protecting the information of all visitors to our website.

All personal information collected by us about visitors to our website is authorized by and is in compliance with the Privacy Act. This means that you will be informed when your personal information is required, about the purpose for which it is collected, and how to exercise your right of access to that information.

While visiting our website, you may be directed to websites controlled by other Government of Canada institutions, to a third party's website or to third-party social media platforms. When visiting a website outside of our website or a social media platform, your personal information will be subject to the terms, conditions and privacy policies of the other institution or third-party to whom the site or platform belongs. In these cases, we strongly encourage you to take the time to read the specific privacy notices or statements that describe those organizations' specific terms, conditions and policies.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or complaints about how we administer our website with regard to handling your personal information under the Privacy Act, contact our Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator.

You may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada by telephone at 1-800-282-1376.

Web analytics

Web analytics is the collection, analysis, measurement and reporting of data about web traffic and website visits for the purposes of understanding and optimizing website usage. We carry out web analytics to help determine how we can improve our website to better serve Canadians and other visitors.

In particular, we track certain types of information during website visits including the following:

• the IP address of the device that contacted the site (which is not stored or retained in a format that can be used to identify you);
• the type of browser used;
• the type of operating system used;
• the date and time of the visit; and
• the pages visited and documents downloaded.

For the purposes of the Privacy Act, we treat this information as personal information

We may also use the personal information collected for non-administrative uses, such as statistics, audits and evaluations, research, planning, and reporting. We never use this personal information for decision-making processes concerning you or to profile individual visitors to our website.

We carry out web analytics using services from the third-party service provider Google Inc. (Google Analytics). This service provider is based in the United States, which means that the personal information collected is transmitted outside of Canada and may be subject to U.S. laws, including the USA Patriot Act. In addition, Google operates servers in other countries on which it may process the web analytics data. Consequently, the data may be subject to the governing legislation of those jurisdictions.

For more information about the privacy policies of these service providers, please visit their individual websites or go to Google Privacy and Terms.

To track visits to our website for web analytics, Google Analytics requires the use of digital markers (“sessions” and “persistent cookies”) to collect standard Internet log information and to track visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. The information generated by the cookies about your use of the website (including your IP address, truncated to ensure your anonymity) is transmitted to Google. No personally identifying information is recorded or provided to Google.

If you wish, you may opt out of having your visit tracked by doing one of the following:

• changing your browser settings to refuse cookies;
• disabling JavaScript within your browser; or
• downloading and installing a browser add-on from Google that prevents your visit data from being used.

Communicating with us

If you choose to send ys an email or complete a feedback form online, we will use your personal information to respond to your inquiry, and may use it for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. We will only share the information you provide with another government institution if your inquiry relates to that institution. We do not use the information to create individual profiles nor do we disclose it to anyone other than those in the federal government who need to provide you with a response. Any disclosure of your personal information is in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Emails and other electronic methods used to communicate with us are not secure, unless it is specifically stated to they are on a web page. 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.

Protecting the security of our website

We use software to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. This software receives and records information including the following:

• the IP address of the device that contacted the site;
• the name of the domain used to access the Internet;
• the type of browser used;
• the type of operating system used;
• the date and time of the visit; and
• the pages visited and documents downloaded.

We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identities of individuals visiting the site unless we detect an attempt to damage the site.

If we suspect or detect criminal activity, we may share this information with the appropriate law enforcement authorities. We may also use this information for network security-related statistical purposes, and for audits, evaluations, research, planning and reporting. The information is included in Personal Information Bank PSU 939 Security Incidents and Privacy Breaches.

Inquiring about our practices

You may direct any questions, comments, concerns or complaints you have about our administration of the Privacy Act and privacy policies with regard to our web presence to our Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator:

Toll free: 1-888-761-5953

Email: ATIP-Services-AIPRP@oic-ci.gc.ca

Regular mail to the following address:

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concerns, you may  contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada by telephone at 1-800-282-1376.