Terms and Conditions

Privacy Notice

The Government of Canada and Natural Resources Canada are committed to providing websites that respect the privacy of visitors. This privacy notice summarizes the privacy practices for the Natural Resources Canada's online activities.

All personal information collected by this institution is governed by the Privacy Act. This means that you will be informed of the purpose for which your personal information is being collected and how to exercise your right of access to that information.

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

Unless otherwise noted, Natural Resources Canada does not automatically gather any specific information from you, such as your name, telephone number or email address. Natural Resources Canada would obtain this type of information only if you supply 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 Natural Resources Canada an email or complete a feedback form online, your personal information is used by Natural Resources Canada 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. Natural Resources Canada does not use the information to create individual profiles nor does it 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 it 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 the Privacy Act. Such information may be used for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes and is included in Personal Information Bank Public Communications (PSU 914).

Social Media Notice

The purpose of this notice is to explain how Natural Resources Canada interacts with the public on social media platforms.

Third-Party Social Media

Natural Resources Canada’s use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the Web. Social media accounts are public and are not hosted on Government of Canada servers. 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 they use to access them. Natural Resources Canada uses Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Comments posted that violate Canadian law will be deleted and disclosed to law enforcement authorities.

Interacting With Us on Social Media

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 seven days a week. Our regular business hours are between 8:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) Monday to Friday. Comments submitted after hours and over the weekend will be reviewed and responded to by staff during regular business hours.

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”, "like", "favourite, "share" or “subscribe” to another social media account does not imply an endorsement of that account, channel, page or site, and neither does sharing (re-posting or linking to) content from another user or account.

Comments and Interaction

We review comments and respond 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.

By submitting a comment on this site, you, as the user, agree to indemnify and hold harmless Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada including Natural Resources Canada against any liability and any and all third-party claims, demands, actions or costs (including legal costs on a solicitor-client basis) arising from its publication, including but not limited to breach of confidentiality or copyright, libel, or any obscene, defamatory, blasphemous or other actionable statement you may make.

We do not 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;
• Promote discrimination on the grounds of religion, nationality and disability;
• 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;
• Are put forward for advertising purposes;
• Encourage illegal activity;
• Contain announcements from labour or political organizations;
• Are written in a language other than Canada’s official languages of 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 Natural Resources 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.

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 the information above 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 French and English and that both versions are 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, though this is sometimes not possible.

Improving your Experience on Government of Canada Websites

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:

• they allow a website to recognize a previous visit each time the visitor accesses the site;
• they track what information is viewed on a site which helps website administrators ensure visitors find what they are looking for.

Natural Resources Canada uses persistent digital markers on some portions of its website. During your on-line visit, your browser exchanges data with Natural Resources Canada’s Web server. The digital markers used do not allow Natural Resources 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 Natural Resources Canada’s 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 Natural Resources Canada’s website.

Natural Resources Canada uses Google Analytics to improve its web site. When your computer requests a Natural Resources Canada Web page, our institution collects the following types of information for Web analytics:

• the originating IP address
• the date and time of the request
• the type of browser used
• the page(s) visited

Natural Resources 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 removing the final octet of your IP address before analysis of the data occurs.

Data collected for Web analytics purposes goes outside of Canada to the United States of America and may be subject to the governing legislation of that country, such asthe USA Patriot Act.

Information used for the purpose of Web analytics is collected pursuant to the Financial Administration Act. Such data 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 Standard on Privacy and Web Analytics.

Protecting the Security of Government of Canada Websites

Natural Resources Canada 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 IP address of the computer that has contacted our website, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

This information is collected pursuant to section 161 of the Financial Administration Act. The information may be shared with appropriate law enforcement authorities if suspected criminal activities are detected. Such information may be used for network security related statistical purposes, audit, evaluation, research, planning and reporting and is included in Personal Information Bank Security Incidents (PSU 939).

Inquiring about these Practices

Any questions, comments, concerns or complaints you may have regarding the administration of the Privacy Act and privacy policies regarding Natural Resources Canada’s Web presence may be directed by email to Ami Najm, Director, Access to Information and Privacy; by calling 343-292-8999 or by writing to Natural Resources Canada, 580 Booth Street, 11th Floor, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4.

If you are not satisfied with Natural Resources Canada’s response to your privacy concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by telephone at 1-800-282-1376.

Using Files Located on Non-Government of Canada Servers

To improve the functionality of Government of Canada websites, certain files (such as open source libraries, images and scripts) may be delivered automatically to your browser via a trusted third-party server or content delivery network. The delivery of these files is intended to provide a seamless user experience by speeding response times and avoiding the need for each visitor to download these files. Where applicable, specific privacy statements covering these files are included in our Privacy Notice.

Providing Content in Canada's Official Languages

The Official Languages Act, the Official Languages (Communications with and Services to the Public) Regulations and Treasury Board policy requirements establish when we use 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.

Linking to Non-Government of Canada Websites

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada, including those to our social media accounts, are provided solely for the convenience of our website visitors. We are not responsible for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the content of such websites. The Government of 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.

Visitors should also be aware that information offered by 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.

Ownership and Usage of Content Provided on This Site

Materials on this website were produced and/or compiled by Natural Resources Canada for the purpose of providing Canadians with access to information about the programs and services offered by the Government of Canada. You may use and reproduce the materials as follows:

Non-Commercial Reproduction

Permission to reproduce Government of Canada works, in part or in whole, and by any means, for personal or public non-commercial purposes, or for cost-recovery purposes, is not required, unless otherwise specified in the material you wish to reproduce.

A reproduction means making a copy of information in the manner that it is originally published – the reproduction must remain as is, and must not contain any alterations whatsoever.

The terms personal and public non-commercial purposes mean a distribution of the reproduced information either for your own purposes only, or for a distribution at large whereby no fees whatsoever will be charged.

The term cost-recovery means charging a fee for the purpose of recovering printing costs and other costs associated with the production of the reproduction.

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 Natural Resources Canada.

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 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).

To obtain permission to reproduce Natural Resources Canada materials on this site for commercial purposes or to obtain additional information concerning copyright ownership and restrictions, please contact:

Natural Resources Canada
580 Booth Street
15th floor
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1A 0E4
E-mail: nrcan.copyright-droitdauteur.rncan@canada.ca
Fax: (613) 992-0792

Copyright

Information that we post is subject to the Copyright Act.

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.

Google reCAPTCHA

Occasionally, the Natural Resources Canada website may use Google reCAPTCHA. This security feature helps us protect our website from spam by trying to identify if a user is human or an automated program (also known as a “robot” or a “bot”).

Your interactions with reCAPTCHA will be disclosed to Google. This means that your IP address and other data collected by reCAPTCHA are sent to Google’s servers in the United States of America and processed there to determine how likely you are to be a human and not an automated program. Natural Resources Canada does not collect or have access to the information collected by reCAPTCHA and Google.

For more information, please visit Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages.

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.

Questions and Media Requests

For media inquiries, please contact Media Relations via email or by phone at 343-292-6100.