Terms and conditions

Copyright/Permission to Reproduce

Materials on this website have been produced and/or compiled by Environment and Climate Change Canada for the purpose of providing Canadians with direct access to information about the programs and services offered by the Government of Canada (GoC).

Much of the material on this site is covered by the Copyright Act, by Canadian laws, policies, regulations and by international agreements. Such copyright serves to identify the information source and, in specific instances, to prohibit reproduction of materials without written permission.

Non-commercial Reproduction

Information on this website 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

Unless otherwise specified, you may not reproduce materials on this site, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution without prior written permission from Environment and Climate Change Canada's copyright administrator. To obtain permission to reproduce Government of Canada materials on this site for commercial purposes, apply for Crown Copyright Clearance using the Request form below to:

Environment and Climate Change Canada
Public Inquiries Centre
7th floor, Fontaine Building
200 Sacré-Coeur Boulevard
Gatineau QC  K1A 0H3

Telephone: 819-938-3860
Toll Free: 1-800-668-6767 (in Canada only)
Email: ec.enviroinfo.ec@canada.ca

Third-party Materials

Some of the content on this site may be subject to the copyright of another party. 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. Details concerning copyright ownership are indicated on the relevant page(s).

On social media platforms, end products created by Environment and Climate Change Canada that include photos, images, etc. licensed to Environment and Climate Change Canada may be reproduced and/or be linked to; however, rights are not granted to use, download or reproduce those licensed photos, images, etc. separately from the end products.

To obtain additional information concerning copyright ownership and restrictions, please contact:

Environment and Climate Change Canada
Public Inquiries Centre
7th floor, Fontaine Building
200 Sacré-Coeur Boulevard
Gatineau QC  K1A 0H3

Telephone: 819-938-3860
Toll Free: 1-800-668-6767 (in Canada only)
Email: ec.enviroinfo.ec@canada.ca

Request Form Word format (203 Kb)
Request Form PDF format (62.5 Kb)

Trademark Notice

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.

Privacy Statement

The Government of Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada are committed to respecting the personal privacy of individuals who visit our websites. This section summarizes the privacy policy and practices of Environment and Climate Change Canada websites.

  • The Government of Canada does not automatically gather any personal information from you, such as your name, telephone number, email or street address during your visit to its websites. This information is only obtained if you supply it voluntarily, usually through contacting us via email, or registering in a secure portion of the site.
  • All personal information that you do provide is protected under the federal Privacy Act. This means that, at the point of collection, you will be informed that your personal information is being collected, the purpose for which it is being collected and that you have a right of access to the information.
  • Environment and Climate Change Canada occasionally uses "cookies" to track how our visitors use this site or to determine sites previously visited. 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 site efficiency. The system will notify you before any cookies are used so that you may refuse them, and the refusal of cookies will not affect the site performance or restrict your ability to access information from this site. (A "cookie" is a file that may be placed on your hard drive without your knowledge by a website to allow it to monitor your use of the site.)
  • By keeping this data, Environment and Climate Change Canada's website administrators can fine-tune the sites based on user-activity trends.
  • Environment and Climate Change Canada is a participant in the Government of Canada Public Key Infrastructure, which gives you the opportunity to communicate with the Department in a confidential manner.
  • Questions or comments regarding this policy or the administration of the Privacy Act at Environment and Climate Change Canada may be directed to Shelley Emmerson, Chief, Access to Information and Privacy, by email at priv@ec.gc.ca or by calling 819-997-4552. If you are not satisfied that we have adequately respected your privacy, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by calling 1-800-267-0441 or via the Internet at www.privcom.gc.ca.

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 cooperation of an ISP, 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 visitors request a Web page, such as the page or pages visited, and the date and time of the visit.

Unless otherwise noted, Environment and Climate Change Canada does not automatically gather any specific information from you, such as your name, telephone number or email address. We would obtain this type of information only if you supplied it to us, for example, by email or by filling in a contact form. In such cases, how your personal information is handled will be provided in a Personal Information Collection Statement.

In cases where services are provided by organizations outside of the Government of Canada, such as social media platforms or mobile applications, IP addresses may be recorded by the Web server of the third-party service provider.

Communicating with the Government of Canada

If you choose to send Environment and Climate Change Canada an email or complete a feedback form online, your personal information is used by us in order to respond to your inquiry. The information you provide will only be shared 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 the information to anyone other than to 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 the Government of Canada are not secure unless this is specifically stated 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.

Personal information from emails or completed feedback forms is collected pursuant to Section 5 of the Department of Environment Act. Such information may be used for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes and is included in Personal Information Bank [PIB Number (PIB Title) – e.g. Public Communications (PSU 914)].[EC1] 

Official Languages

The Official Languages Act, the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations and Treasury Board policy requirements establish when Environment and Climate Change Canada uses both English and French to provide services to or communicate with members of the public. When there is no obligation to provide information in both official languages, content may be available in one official language only. Information provided by organizations not subject to the Official Languages Act is in the language(s) provided. Information provided in a language other than English or French is only for the convenience of our visitors.

Hyperlinking Notice

Hyperlinking from Environment and Climate Change Canada Internet Site

Links to websites not under the control of Environment and Climate Change Canada, including those to our social media accounts, are provided solely for the convenience of users. Environment and Climate Change Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the content of those websites. Environment and Climate Change 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.

Users should be aware that information offered by non-Government of Canada websites that are not subject to the Official Languages Act, and to which Environment and Climate Change Canada links, might be available only in the language(s) used by the websites in question. With respect to privacy, visitors should research the privacy policies of these non-government websites before providing personal information.

Our Commitment to Accessibility

The Government of 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

Interacting with Us on Social Media

This notice has been written to explain how Environment and Climate Change Canada interacts with the public on social media platforms.

Content and Frequency

We use our social media accounts as an alternative method of sharing the content posted on our website and interacting with our stakeholders. By following our social media accounts (by “following,” “liking” or “subscribing”), you can expect to see information about the programs and services we provide.

We understand that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. You should expect to see new content posted Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST/EDT. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and responded to as soon as possible.

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 platforms becoming unresponsive or unavailable.

Links to Other Websites and Ads

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.

Following, “Favouriting” and Subscribing

Our decision to “follow,” “favourite” 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

We will read comments and participate in discussions when appropriate. We ask that your comments be relevant and respectful. We reserve the right to delete comments that violate this notice, and the user may be blocked and reported to prevent further inappropriate comments.

We cannot engage in issues of party politics or answer questions that break the rules of this notice.

We reserve the right to edit or remove comments that:

  • Contain personal information;
  • Are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
  • Express racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting or life-threatening messages;
  • Put forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
  • Are aggressive, coarse, violent, obscene or pornographic;
  • Are offensive, rude or abusive to an individual or an organization;
  • Are not sent by the author or are put forward for advertising purposes;
  • Encourage illegal activity;
  • Contain announcements from labour or political organizations;
  • Are written in a language other than English or French;
  • Are unintelligible or irrelevant;
  • Are repetitive or spam; and
  • Do not, in our opinion, add to the normal flow of the discussion.

In short, please be respectful and make sure that your comments are relevant to where they are posted. The views of users commenting on our social media accounts do not necessarily represent the views of Environment and Climate Change Canada or the Government of Canada.

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 that we post is subject to the Copyright Act.

Privacy

Our social media accounts are not Government of Canada websites and represent only our presence on third-party service providers.

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

Official Languages

Many social media platforms have multiple language options and provide instructions on how to set your preferences. The Government of Canada respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that our information is available in both English and French and that both versions are of equal quality.

We reply to comments in the official language in which they are posted. If we think the response is a question of general public interest, we may respond in both official languages.

We may share links that direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and available only in the language(s) in which they are written. When content is available in only one language, we make an effort to provide similar content in the other official language.

Questions and Media Requests

Reporters are asked to send questions to media@ec.gc.ca.

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