Privacy

ESDC ’s administration of Canada.ca includes various activities that may require the collection of personal information for both administrative footnote 1 and non-administrative Footnote 2 purposes.

All personal information collected by ESDC from visitors to Canada.ca is authorized under legislation and is done in compliance with the Privacy Act . This means that you will be notified when your personal information may be required, the purpose for which it is collected, and how to exercise your right of access to that information.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or complaints about the activities of ESDC in administering the Canada.ca website as they relate to the Privacy Act , the Department of Employment and Social Development Act , and privacy policies regarding Canada.ca, you can contact the ESDC Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator .

In addition, you have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada regarding ESDC ’s handling of your personal information.

Web Analytics and Cookies

For the purpose of performing web analytics, certain types of information are collected during visits to Canada.ca.

Date and time of website visits

Type of browser, operating system and device used

How you arrived at the website

Pages visited and buttons/links clicked

Terms entered into our search engine

How long it took to do certain tasks

We make sure you cannot be directly identified by web analytics data. We do this by ensuring any personal data found on the pages you visit is not collected, this includes names, addresses, and account information.

The IP address of the device accessing the web page is used to determine the geographic location of visitors (city/province/country), but IP addresses are never stored in a format that can be used to identify an individual.

We also use Adobe Target to test and optimize the experience that you receive on the site. Adobe Target uses data collected by Adobe Analytics to display content that we think is relevant to you or would improve your experience on the website.

Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target are part of the Adobe Experience Cloud. The web analytics information collected by Adobe is stored in the United States. This means that it could be shared if required by American law. Web analytics information is kept for a maximum period of 37 months.

Privacy information for the Adobe Experience Cloud can be found on the following link:

Adobe Experience Cloud Privacy

Privacy information for Coveo can be found on the following link:

Privacy Notice | Legal | Coveo

Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target and Coveo use digital markers, also known as cookies, to track visits to Canada.ca. Cookies are also used to improve user experience by remembering preferences and settings of a particular website.

If you wish, you may opt-out of having your visit tracked by using the following links to download opt-out cookies. If you choose the opt-out cookies from Adobe, your experience on Canada.ca will not be affected.

Adobe Analytics opt-out

Adobe Target opt-out

Public Communications on Canada.ca

Canada.ca includes a general communications

section called “ Questions and comments form ”, which allows visitors to send questions and comments. When a question or comment is about a specific activity, program, or service, it may be forwarded to the appropriate responsible officers at ESDC or at another government institution to prepare a reply.

When you use the “General enquiries by email” feature, you are required to provide your email address. ESDC does not ask for or intend to use any other personal information for this activity. IP addresses are collected incidentally as they are a part of any Internet communication. Consequently, ESDC does not intend or try to associate you to an IP address for this activity, or to create a profile about you. When you use the “General enquiries by email” feature, please do not include any sensitive personal information in the questions/comments box, such as your social insurance number, date of birth, personal finance data, and medical or work history .

A description of the information provided in the questions and comments form can be found in the Personal Information Bank entitled Public Communications (PSU 914) or in Executive Correspondence (PSU 902) .

Security Monitoring and Incidents

IP address of the device that has contacted the Canada.ca website Footnote 3

name of the domain used to access the Internet

type of browser used

type of operating system used

the date and time of the visit

pages visited and documents downloaded

IP address of the website that linked directly to Canada.ca

ESDC will not attempt to link these IP addresses with the identity of visitors to the Canada.ca website unless an attempt to damage the site is detected or otherwise in accordance with Canadian law or the law of the provinces.

ESDC engages in security monitoring and investigation of the Canada.ca website under the authority of

section 161 of the Financial Administration Act . Personal information may be shared with appropriate law enforcement authorities if suspected criminal activities are detected, in accordance with lawful authorities. It may also be used for network security-related statistical purposes, audit, evaluation, research, planning, and reporting.

Personal information for this activity is described in the Personal Information Bank Security Incidents and Privacy Breaches (PSU 939) .

Footnote 1

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Policy on Privacy Protection defines administrative purpose as the use of personal information about an individual "in a decision making process that directly affects that individual". This includes all uses of personal information for confirming identity (i.e. authentication and verification purposes) and for determining eligibility of individuals for government programs.

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Footnote 2

The Policy on Privacy Protection defines non-administrative purpose as the use of personal information for a purpose that is not related to any decision-making process that directly affects the individual. This includes the use of personal information for research, statistical, audit and evaluation purposes.

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Footnote 3

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.

This would only happen in accordance with law, such as in response to a warrant or pursuant to another lawful authority.

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2025-09-05