Public Safety Canada's Social Media Protocol
This notice has been written to explain how Public Safety Canada interacts with the public on social media platforms.
All Public Safety Canada social media accounts are managed by our Communications Directorate.
Please note: These accounts are not to be contacted if you have an emergency. You should call 9-1-1 to report an emergency or crime. For less urgent emergencies, please call the 10-digit number for your local police, fire, or health services.
In This Issue
- Content and Frequency
- Comment Moderation and Interaction
- Link to Other Websites
- Following,“Favouriting”, and Subscribing
- Official Languages
- Accessibility
- Copyright
- Privacy
- General Enquiries and Media Requests
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," etc.), you can expect to receive information, which may include (but not limited to):
- Alerts about Public Safety Canada content (news, publications, videos, campaigns, events, etc.),
- Information about programs and services within the department, and
- Information updates during a crisis, emergency, or significant event of national interest.
We will occasionally share content that we believe is of value to our audience. This is most likely when the content is related to the safety and security of Canadians.
We monitor and update our social media channels between 8 am and 5 pm E.S.T Monday to Friday, excluding holidays observed in Ontario.
During emergencies, we provide additional coverage as required.
Because a third party manages social media platforms' servers, 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.
Comment Moderation and Interaction
We read all @replies, comments, and direct messages sent to us. We're happy to help you in any way we can and look forward to seeing your feedback. However, we do ask that your comments be relevant, respectful, and allow for further discussion.
We also want everyone's experience on our social media channels to be positive. So, we reserve the right to hide and delete comments that violate this notice, and the user may be blocked and reported to prevent further inappropriate comments.
The comments posted by others on our social media accounts do not represent our views, nor do we verify or confirm posted comments' accuracy.
We also don't engage in issues of partisan politics.
Members expect a place that is respectful, reliable, relevant, and safe. 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;
- attack or discriminate against any other individual or group based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability;
- are aggressive, coarse, violent, obscene, or pornographic;
- are offensive, rude, or abusive to an individual or an organization;
- are threatening, violent, intimidating or harassing;
- encourage illegal activity;
- violate an individual's privacy;
- break copyright rules;
- contain spam or links to malicious websites; and
- otherwise violate this notice
Links to Other Websites
Our social media accounts may post or display links or ads for websites not under the Government of Canada's control. These links are provided solely for user convenience. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it mean we endorse the sites or their content.
Following, “Favouriting” and Subscribing
We don’t auto-follow. At the moment, we only follow accounts from our partners and stakeholders.
Please note that our decision to “follow,” “favourite,” “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.
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 French and English 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.
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. When content is available in only one language, we make an effort to provide similar content in the other official language.
Accessibility
Social media platforms are third-party service providers and are not bound by Government of Canada policies for Web accessibility.
If you have any problems accessing any information on our social media accounts, please contact us. We will try to solve the problem or provide you with the information in an appropriate format.
Copyright
Information that we post is subject the Copyright Act.
Privacy
Our social media accounts are not Government of Canada websites and only represent our presence on third-party service providers as an extension to our existence on the Web. Users are encouraged to read all such third-party service providers' privacy policies, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.
Information shared with us on any of our social media accounts is subject to the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. This means that the information may be accessed and disclosed in response to a request under any of the aforementioned acts. Users are advised not to share personal information, including home addresses and telephone numbers.
General Enquiries and Media Requests
To contact us for official correspondence, please visit our website.
Please direct media requests to our Media Relations team.
If you have any questions regarding our social media accounts and protocol, please contact us at Social.media@ps-sp.gc.ca
Public Safety Canada reserves the right to change or modify its social media policy without notice.
Thank you for taking the time to read this policy. We encourage your participation in our discussions and messages and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.
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