Important Notices

• Copyright/Permission to reproduce
• Non-commercial reproduction
• Commercial reproduction
• Third-party material
• External hyperlinks
• Privacy Notice
• Official languages
• Web Site Governance

Copyright/Permission to reproduce

Material on this Web site was produced and/or compiled by the Public Health Agency of Canada for the purpose of providing Canadians with direct access to information about the Government of Canada.

The content on this site is covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act (External link), by Canadian laws, policies, regulations and international agreements. Such provisions serve to identify the information source and, in specific instances, to prohibit reproduction of materials without written permission.

Non-commercial reproduction

• Information on this Web site has been posted with the intent that it be readily available for personal or public non-commercial use and may be reproduced, in part or in whole, and by any means, without charge or further permission, unless otherwise specified.
• Users are required to:
  • 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 organization; and
  • Indicate that the reproduction is a copy of an official work that is published by the Government of Canada and that the reproduction has not been produced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of the Government of Canada.
• Unless otherwise specified, this authorization is also applicable to all published information regardless of its format.

Commercial reproduction

Electronic or multiple-copy print reproduction of content on this site, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution is prohibited except with written permission from the Government of Canada's copyright administrator, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). Through the permission granting process, PWGSC 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 please contact:

Public Works and Government Services Canada
Publishing and Depository Services
350 Albert Street, 4th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario Canada
K1A 0S5
Email: copyright.droitdauteur@pwgsc.gc.ca

Translations or modifications are not permitted without the consent of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Third-party material

Some of the content found on this Web site may be subject to copyright held by other organizations. This is particularly true of sites that are jointly operated by the Public Health Agency of Canada and an external organization as part of a collaborative arrangement. In such cases, some restrictions on the reproduction of information or graphical elements may apply and it may be necessary to seek permission from the rights holder prior to reproducing the material.

External hyperlinks

Links to Web sites not under the control of the Government of Canada (GoC) are provided solely for the convenience of users. The GoC is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. The GoC 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.

Users should be aware that information offered by non-GoC sites that are not subject to the Official Languages Act (External link) and to which the Public Health Agency of Canada links, may be available only in the language(s) used by the sites in question.

(Please note: Links to documents housed on external sites will open in a new browser window.)

Also see Criteria for Hyperlinking to and from the Public Health Agency of Canada Web Site.

Privacy Notice

The Government of Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada are committed to providing visitors with websites that respect their privacy. This privacy notice summarizes the privacy policy and practices for the Public Health Agency’s website.

Personal information collected from users

The Public Health Agency website does not automatically gather the following personal information from you: your name, phone number or email address. We would only obtain this type of information if you provide it by email, in an online form or in a secure portion of the site. In these circumstances you will be:

• Asked for consent and/or advised of the authority for collection of this information;
• Informed of the purpose for which the information is being collected; and
• Informed how you may access submitted information and request corrections.

Under the federal Privacy Act, the Public Health Agency protects all personal information created, held or collected.

Any collection of non-identifiable or statistical information for evaluation and reporting purposes is pursuant to the federal Privacy Act and the Financial Administration Act.

Standard Internet information automatically collected from all users

The Public Health Agency 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, the pages visited and the Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site, if applicable. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting the Agency’s site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

Information on individual visitors is used by Public Health Agency employees who need to know the information in order to respond your request or to ensure the security of this system. We only share the information you give us with another government department if your inquiry relates to that department.

Cookies

A "cookie" is a small computer (text) file that may be placed on your hard drive without your knowledge by a website to monitor your use of the site. The Public Health Agency uses "session" cookies (stored in your browser's temporary memory which are discarded when you close your browser) and "persistent" cookies (stored on your computer’s hard drive until it expires or until you delete the cookie) to monitor usage of its website. The cookies we use do not allow us to identify individuals. They are compiled into statistical information on traffic patterns and are used to assess and improve the efficiency of the site.

Google Analytics

The Public Health Agency uses Google Analytics, a Web analytics service provided by Google Inc. to help measure traffic patterns to, from, and within its public website. This analytics measurement tool uses "session" and "persistent" cookies to collect standard Internet log information and to track visitor behaviour information anonymously. The information generated by the cookies about your use of the website (including your truncated IP address to ensure your anonymity) will be transmitted to Google . No personally identifying information is recorded or provided to Google. The Public Health Agency uses this anonymous aggregate data and statistical information to evaluate visitors' use of the website. This information, that helps us make our website more useful to visitors, is only available to Web managers and designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.

For further information about Google Analytics, please refer to Google Analytics Privacy Policy.

If you wish, you may opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics by disabling or refusing the cookies; by disabling JavaScript within your browser; or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On. By disabling cookies or JavaScript you will still be able to access our main public website; however you might have difficulties accessing a small number of pages which require cookies or JavaScript to function. To disable cookies or JavaScript, please refer to your browser's Help Menu for instructions.

For further information on how we use Google Analytics, visit tracking web page visits to improve your online experience.

External Service Providers

To effectively operate its websites, the Public Health Agency occasionally uses external service providers. Such service providers are bound by contract with the Public Health Agency to treat any personal information they may receive in a manner that is consistent with the Privacy Act.

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about how external service providers handle personal information, you may wish to contact the Public Health Agency’s Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator.

Anti-Spam Software

To protect our employees and networks from spam, the Public Health Agency employs a fully automated Anti-Spam filter. Incoming email messages, flagged by the software as spam, are automatically deleted without notification by the technology. Email that is considered obvious spam because of its content (e.g. pornographic, racist, get-rich-quick schemes, junk, commercial solicitations) as determined by general industry best practice is blocked.

Questions or comments

If you have privacy concerns or require clarification about this notice, contact the Agency’s Privacy Coordinator by e-mail at atipphac-aiprpaspc@phac-aspc.gc.ca. For complaints or more information on privacy issues and the Privacy Act, consult the Office of the Privacy Commissioner or call 1-800-282-1376.

The Internet is a public forum and electronic information may be intercepted while visiting this site, or when sending an email. This is not a secure website. Individuals are cautioned not to disclose unnecessary confidential personal information.

For a description of the records held by the Public Health Agency of Canada, as part of the Depository Services Program, please visit the Sources of Federal Government Information on InfoSource.

For access to the standard personal information held by Public Health Agency of Canada and other government institutions, please visit the Descriptions of Standard Personal Information Banks page on InfoSource.

Visit the Federal Privacy Commissioner's website for a summary of rights under the Privacy Act.

Visit the Office of the Information Commissioner's website for information on rights under the Access to Information Act.

Official languages

This Site is bound by the Official Languages Act(External link) and relevant Treasury Board policies and all information is available in both French and English. However, users should be aware that some information on external sites to which we link is available only in the language in which it was provided.

Web Site Governance

This Site is maintained by the Public Health Agency of Canada, a federal agency which receives its funding from the Government of Canada. The content on this site is prepared and/or reviewed by public health experts employed with the Public Health Agency of Canada and authorized for publication by senior officials. The Public Health Agency's Communications Directorate is responsible for the Web site. The content on the site is regularly reviewed and updated periodically.