Social Media Protocol

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Introduction

AANDC's social media accounts provide information about the programs and services provided by the Department. These accounts are also used as an alternative method for accessing some of the material found on the AANDC and NNC Web sites.

This protocol describes how Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) communicates with Canadians through social networking sites.

This protocol applies to the social media accounts listed below:

Any other account or page on social networking sites bearing the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) or Nutrition North Canada (NNC) name or likeliness is not an official account managed by AANDC.

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 AANDC. 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 Web sites.


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Links to Other Web sites and Advertisements

From time to time the AANDC social media accounts may post or display links or ads for Web sites that are not under the control of AANDC or the Government of Canada. These links are provided solely for the convenience of users. AANDC is not responsible for the information found through these links or ads, nor does it endorse the sites, businesses/products/services and/or their content.

Availability

AANDC's social media accounts are managed between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm EST Monday to Friday, excluding holidays.

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

In the event that our social media channels are unavailable or unresponsive, you may access AANDC-related content on the AANDC departmental Web site and NNC-related content on the NNC Web site.


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Accessibility

AANDC, as a part of the Government of Canada, is committed to achieving a high standard of accessibility. Social media Web sites are hosted by third-party service providers, and are therefore not bound by Government of Canada policies for Web accessibility.

Content posted on our social media accounts regarding AANDC programs and services is also available in accessible formats on the AANDC departmental Web site and NNC Web site.

Copyright/Permission to Reproduce

Information posted by AANDC on its social media accounts is subject to the Copyright Act of Canada. For more information, see the Important Notices page on the AANDC Web site.

Official Languages

AANDC respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products of equal quality are available in both English and French. Posts will be published near-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.


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Privacy

AANDC is committed to respecting individuals' privacy. AANDC's social media accounts are not Government of Canada Web sites, but represent our presence on various social media Web sites hosted by third-party service providers.

Information shared with AANDC's social media accounts is subject to the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, which means that the information may be accessed and disclosed in response to a request under either of these acts.

AANDC will not record the conversations or comments posted to its social media accounts. The Department will collect aggregated information, such as the number of likes, shares, poll responses, and the volume and sentiment of comments. This information will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the AANDC social media accounts and help the Department make decisions for future content and design.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, AANDC recommends that you not 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.

Should you have any questions about your privacy rights as explained in this Protocol, please contact the departmental Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator by e-mail to atip-aiprp@aadnc-aandc.gc.ca or by calling 819-953-2049 or writing to:

ATIP Coordinator
Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
10 Wellington, Room 517
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
Ottawa, Ontario
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.


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AANDC Employees on Social Media

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

Additional Information

If you are looking for more information about the Department, please consult the AANDC departmental Web site. The usual ways of contacting us for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact Us section of our Web site.

Contact Information

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

Media representatives who have inquiries on any program area or issue are invited to contact a member of the Public Affairs Unit.


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AANDC on Facebook

The Department currently manages two Facebook accounts in each official language:

Anyone viewing or "liking" these Facebook accounts can expect to see information about AANDC and NNC programs, as well as re-posts of select information of value to our viewers.

Posts will be published near-simultaneously in both official languages on the corresponding pages. Messages and comments that require a response will be answered in the official language of origin.

Use of "Like"

AANDC's Facebook pages are open to the public, so anyone with Internet access can view the content posted. Facebook users can also "like" AANDC's pages. When they do so, posts and updates from the relevant pages will appear in their newsfeed.

At this time, AANDC will only “like” other Government of Canada institutions and organizations that we believe are relevant to the mandate of our work. The appearance of any particular page on the “Likes” tab of AANDC's Facebook pages does not imply endorsement.

Use of "Share"

AANDC's Facebook pages may share relevant material posted by other Government of Canada social media accounts and/or other content determined to be relevant to our Facebook community and of significant value. This may include research findings, statistics, relevant events and conferences, as well as cross-linking to information.

Comments and Feedback

Feedback and interaction is strongly encouraged. Comments sent to the AANDC Facebook pages will be read and, although we are not able to reply individually to all messages, they will be handled on a case-by-case basis and responded to when appropriate.

If we feel a comment or a question posed to AANDC requires a response and/or a greater level of detail, we may develop a formal response and distribute the information through other channels such as our Web site or other social media channels. We will pay attention to emerging themes and helpful suggestions and look forward to this potential interaction.

AANDC cannot engage in issues of party politics or answer questions that break the rules of our Protocol.

Please keep in mind that AANDC cannot tolerate comments that are offensive to an individual or an organization, rude in tone, or abusive. We will only take steps to remove comments or block users if they fail to abide by this Protocol. Each instance will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis prior to any action being taken. We do not discriminate against any views, but we reserve the right to edit or remove any comments that are:

  • contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
  • racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting, or life-threatening messages
  • serious, unproven, unsupported, or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations
  • abusive, aggressive, coarse, explicit, vulgar, violent, obscene, or pornographic comments
  • personal attacks and/or defamatory statements
  • comments that encourage or suggest illegal activity
  • messages where the sender is not the author (nor the copyright holder if applicable)
  • solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency
  • attempts to efame or defraud any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency
  • announcements from labour or political organizations
  • messages written in a language other than English or French
  • comments not sent by the author and/or posted by anonymous or robot accounts
  • repetitive posts copied and pasted by multiple users
  • unintelligible messages
  • message posted using all capital letters (it is difficult to read and is interpreted as yelling)

Users may also be reported to Facebook or blocked if they do not comply with Facebook's Terms of Use. Facebook may also remove posts if they do not comply with Facebook's Terms of Use.


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AANDC on Twitter

The Department currently holds two Twitter accounts in each official language:

Follow our principal accounts, AANDCanada and AADNCanada, for the latest media advisories, news releases, speeches and background information on current and historical matters relevant to Aboriginal people and Northerners.

Follow our Nutrition North Canada accounts, Nutrition_North and Nutrition_Nord, for information related to Nutrition North, the Government of Canada's northern food subsidy program.

Following

This account will not "auto-follow" all users. Any follows that do occur do not imply endorsement of any kind.

@Replies and Direct Messages

We welcome feedback and ideas from all our followers. AANDC will read @replies and Direct Messages and any emerging themes or helpful suggestions will be passed to the relevant people in the Department. However, we are unable to respond to any @replies or Direct Messages to any of our accounts at this time.

Retweets

AANDC may retweet news and links that we believe are relevant to the work we do in fulfilling our mandate. Retweets will only be delivered in the language of the original author (in some cases, English or French only). Tweets that we retweet do not necessarily imply endorsement on our part.


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AANDC on Flickr

The Department currently holds one Flickr account in each official language:

Flickr serves as an additional mechanism to reach Canadians and is mainly used as an alternative method for accessing many of the images posted to AANDC's Web site. Images displayed on our Flickr account cover various themes related to AANDC's mandate.

Subscribers, Contacts and Testimonials

The appearance of the AANDC account as a contact of a Flickr user does not imply endorsement, nor does the fact of AANDC subscribing to any particular photostream or listing any particular user as a contact.

We will only take steps to remove or block subscribers or contacts if they fail to abide by this Flickr Protocol. Users may also be reported to Flickr if they do not comply with the service provider's Terms of Service (Yahoo) or the Flickr Community Guidelines.

Commenting Policy

AANDC has disabled commenting on these accounts at this time.


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AANDC on YouTube

The Department currently holds one YouTube account in each official language:

YouTube serves as an additional mechanism to reach Canadians and is mainly used as an alternative method for accessing many of the videos posted to AANDC's Web site. Videos displayed on our YouTube channel cover various themes related to AANDC's mandate.

Subscriptions and Subscribers

We only subscribe to and/or display related channels of other Government of Canada YouTube accounts. Users are invited to subscribe to our channel. The appearance of a YouTube user as a subscriber of our YouTube channels does not imply endorsement of any kind.

We will only take steps to remove or block subscribers if they fail to abide by this Protocol. AANDC may also report users to YouTube if they do not comply with YouTube's Terms of Service.

Commenting Policy

AANDC has disabled commenting and video responses on these accounts at this time.

Embedding Videos on Other Web sites

Subject to the Copyright/Permission to Reproduce section above, AANDC permits its videos to be embedded on other Web sites by enabling the YouTube embedded player. This feature may be disabled at any time without prior notice by AANDC. AANDC will not be responsible for any damage resulting from the disabling of such function.


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