Social media protocol

Table of contents

This protocol describes how Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) interact with the public on social media platforms. For the list of social media accounts managed by CIRNAC and ISC, visit the stay connected page.

Any other account or page on social networking sites bearing CIRNAC, ISC or the Government of Canada name or likeliness is not an official account managed by CIRNAC or ISC.

Official policy

Our communication in social media channels should not be considered as the authoritative source of new policy or guidance on services and programs from CIRNAC, ISC or the Government of Canada. Any change or evolution in the official position on Government of Canada services and programs, legislation, guidance, investigations and audits will be communicated through more traditional channels, such as official publications (online and offline), speeches, media releases, statements to the traditional media and government websites.

Content

CIRNAC and ISC use social media accounts as an alternative method of interacting with Canadians and of sharing the content posted on their websites, facilitating access to CIRNAC and ISC information and services, and providing partners with an opportunity to interact in an informative and respectful environment.

Your engagement with CIRNAC and ISC via social media is in part governed by the terms of service and use of the relevant third-party social media platform providers, as well as the following terms and conditions. The Government of Canada has no control over the social media platform providers' terms of service and use, but you are strongly encouraged to read them in addition to those that follow.

Links to other websites and advertisements

Social media accounts may post or display links or ads for websites that are not under the control of the Government of Canada. These links are provided solely for the convenience of users. The government is not responsible for the information found through these links or ads, neither does it endorse the sites, businesses, products, services or their content.

Following, "favouriting" and subscribing

CIRNAC and ISC's decision to follow, "like" or subscribe to another social media account does not imply an endorsement of that account, channel, page or site and neither does sharing (re-tweeting, reposting or linking to) content from another user.

Comments and interaction

CIRNAC and ISC will read comments and participate in discussions when appropriate. Your comments and contributions must be relevant and respectful.

CIRNAC and ISC will not engage in partisan or political issues or respond to questions that violate these terms and conditions.

CIRNAC and ISC reserve the right to remove comments and contributions and to block users based on the following criteria.

The comments or contributions:

CIRNAC and ISC reserve the right to report users and their comments and contributions to third-party social media service providers to prevent or remove the posting of content that is contrary to these terms and conditions, or to the terms of service and use of the third-party social media platform.

Availability

CIRNAC's and ISC's social media accounts are managed between 9 am and 5 pm eastern time, Monday to Friday, excluding holidays.

CIRNAC's and ISC's social media accounts are also subject to downtime that may be beyond CIRNAC's and ISC's control because the social media website servers are managed by a third party. Accordingly, we accept no responsibility for social media networks becoming unresponsive or unavailable.

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.

Copyright

Information posted by CIRNAC and ISC on their social media accounts is subject to the Copyright Act of Canada.

Official languages

CIRNAC and ISC respect the Official Languages Act and are committed to ensuring that information products of equal quality are available in both English and French. Posts from CIRNAC and ISC will be published almost simultaneously in both official languages.

Users should be aware that some links direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and that these sources are only available in the language in which they are provided.

Privacy

CIRNAC and ISC are committed to respecting individuals' privacy. CIRNAC and ISC's social media accounts are not Government of Canada websites, but represent our presence on various social media websites hosted by third-party service providers.

Third-party social media and privacy

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. CIRNAC and ISC use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Flickr.

Personal information that you provide to the Government of Canada via social media accounts is collected under the authority of Order in Council 2017-1464 for ISC and Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Act for CIRNAC. This information is collected to capture conversations, such as questions and answers, comments, "likes" and retweets, between you and CIRNAC or ISC. 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. Comments that violate our rules of engagement will also be deleted. The personal information is included in Personal Information Bank Outreach Activities (PSU 938) and Public Communications (PSU 914).

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, CIRNAC and ISC recommend that you don't include personal information in your comments or any other content you post. Personal information includes home addresses and telephone numbers, photographs containing images of identifiable individuals, and any other information consisting of personal information as defined in paragraph 3 of the Privacy Act.

If you have any questions about your privacy rights as explained in this protocol, please contact CIRNAC and ISC Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Coordinator by:

ATIP Coordinator
Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada
10 rue Wellington, Room 517
Gatineau QC K1A 0H4

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by calling 1-800-267-0441 or via the Internet.

Employees on social media

CIRNAC's and ISC's employees may be active on social media through their own personal accounts, under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with CIRNAC, ISC and the Government of Canada, their posts don't represent the official position of CIRNAC, ISC or that of the Government of Canada and should be considered the product of each individual as a private citizen.

Contact information

Questions and requests for general information on the programs, services and publications of CIRNAC and ISC should be directed to the CIRNAC and ISC Public Enquiries Contact Centre.

Media representatives who have inquiries on any program area or issue are invited to contact CIRNAC Media Relations or ISC Media Relations.

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