Terms and conditions

Copyright and permission to reproduce material

Ownership and use of content provided on this site

Library and Archives Canada has produced or compiled materials on this website. The site's purpose is to provide Canadians with information about the programs and services LAC offers.

Content on this site may be subject to the Copyright Act, the Trademark Act or other restrictions. Some of the content on the website is under license from third parties. The reproduction of third party content is also subject to restrictions. The relevant pages often show details about copyright ownership.

For more information, see Restrictions on viewing and copying material.

Using information from this site outside of Canada

When you use this site's content in another country, international agreements may protect copyright.

Example

Expired images with no other restrictions may be in the Public Domain for use in Canada but may not be in the Public Domain for use in other countries.

For more information contact droitdauteur-copyright@bac-lac.gc.ca.

Use of Government of Canada (GC) materials

Non-commercial or cost-recovery reproduction

Unless otherwise specified, there is no charge or permission required to reproduce all or part of the materials, in any format, for non-commercial or cost-recovery purposes, as long as you

ensure, to the best of your ability, that the materials reproduced are accurate
do not revise or translate the work
indicate both the complete title of the materials reproduced as well as the author (where available)
indicate that the reproduction is a copy of the version available at [URL where original document is available]

Commercial reproduction

Unless otherwise specified, you must have prior written permission from the copyright administrator to reproduce all or part of the Government of Canada materials on this site for the purposes of commercial redistribution.

Access to information (ATI) release packages

ATI release packages are subject to Use of Government of Canada (GC) materials terms and conditions.
To request permission for commercial use, provide the ATI request number (request number: A-2016-00028) and the URL.

ATI release packages can include third-party content that may require further permission for uses other than for research and private study purposes.

To request permission to reproduce Government of Canada materials from this site, contact droitdauteur-copyright@bac-lac.gc.ca.

Trademark notice

You may not reproduce the official symbols of the Government of Canada, without prior written authorization. These symbols include:

Canada Wordmark
Royal Coat of Arms of Canada
Canada flag symbol

For more information contact droitdauteur-copyright@bac-lac.gc.ca.

Copyright Services

Copyright Services
Library and Archives Canada
550 de la Cité Boulevard
Gatineau, Quebec J8T 0A7
Email: droitdauteur-copyright@bac-lac.gc.ca

Accessing LAC collections online

The following section applies to you when you access LAC collections through our online platform, regardless of whether you are logged into a My Account. The other sections of this Terms of Use webpage continue to apply. By searching, accessing, or using any of the records in LAC collections, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms.

You understand and acknowledge that certain information that is contained in LAC collections is generated by third parties and not by LAC. Some of the digitized images have been transcribed, tagged, translated, or described by third parties using Co-Lab, a crowdsourcing tool made available to members of the public by LAC. Public Research Lists is another crowdsourcing tool made available by LAC that allows third parties to generate and share lists of items from our collection on a specific theme or topic, alongside third party generated information including the name of the list, tags, topics, and description. These crowdsourcing tools are intended to improve your experience by making LAC records easier to search.

To the extent possible, LAC marks and categorizes the content that includes information generated by a third party. You may choose not to use the marked content that contains crowdsourced information. For example, if you do not wish to review records in your search results that contains Co-lab contributions from third parties (marked with a blue tag icon), you can use the search filters to hide the records that contain these contributions.

You acknowledge that LAC does not review all information generated by third parties in the LAC collections and that you are solely responsible for your use of this third party information. You agree that in no event will the Crown be liable to you or anyone else for any loss that is experienced as a result of your reliance on the accuracy, completeness or currency of the information generated by third parties in the collections.

If you see information generated by a third party that contains inappropriate language that you think LAC should review, please contact us: reference@bac-lac.gc.ca. Please include as much detail as possible about the language that requires our attention, such as the archival reference number or permalink to the record.

You understand that any views or opinions that may be expressed in the information generated by third parties in the LAC collections are not reflective of the view of the Government of Canada and LAC is not endorsing any information generated by a third party, even if LAC has reviewed and allowed that specific information to be public.

Harmful language and historical advisories.

Please read the notice about historical language in LAC’s collection.

Contributing content on My Shared Research Lists or Co-Lab

The following section applies to your use of LAC’s crowdsourcing tools, including My Shared Research Lists and Co-Lab. The other sections of this Terms of Use webpage continue to apply.

My Shared Research Lists is a crowdsourcing tool that allows you to share lists of items from our collection on a specific theme or topic, alongside additional information you may produce, including the name of the list, tags, topics, and description. Co-lab is a crowdsourcing tool that allows you to transcribe, tag, translate or describe digitized images in the LAC collections. Each time you submit a new public contribution through My Shared Research Lists or Co-Lab, you agree to be bound by these terms when you submit the contribution. If you do not wish to be bound by these terms, you must not submit a contribution; you will be unable to publish contributions through LAC’s crowdsourcing tools.

For the purpose of the terms in this section, “content” means any written text that you contribute through our crowdsourcing tools, whether you contribute original text or you revise the text of a third party. This text includes but is not limited to: list names, tags, descriptions, transcriptions, and titles.

Restrictions

The content you contribute to the LAC collections must not:

include personal information, other than personal information directly related to the contents of a historical record
include protected or classified information belonging to the Government of Canada
infringe intellectual property or proprietary rights
be racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or defamatory, or contain or refer to obscenity or pornography
be threatening, violent, intimidating or harassing
be contrary to any Canadian federal, provincial or territorial laws
constitute impersonation, advertising or spam
encourage or incite criminal activity
be written in a language other than English, French, unless the language is directly related to the contents of the historical record
otherwise violate these Terms of Use

Content Review by LAC

LAC reserves the right to review any content you contribute through My Shared Research Lists or Co-Lab, either before or after the content is published on the LAC collections, to ensure that the content is compliant with these Terms of Use. If LAC undertakes review of your content prior to publication, this may result in a delay in your content being published; LAC provides no guarantees on the length of time LAC will require to complete a review of your content.

Following review, LAC may decide, at its sole discretion and without prior notice to you, to revise or remove your content from the LAC collections, in the following circumstances:

if LAC determines that your content is not compliant with the Restrictions outlined above
if LAC considers the inclusion of your content in the LAC records to be contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the Constitution Act, 1982
if LAC determines that your content includes errors, inaccuracies, incomplete information, or information that is not relevant to the records or the LAC collections

Where LAC deems it appropriate, in addition to revising or removing your content, LAC may also suspend or terminate your access to the crowdsourcing tools through your MyAccount. In such cases, LAC will notify you when this action has been taken, and will provide a reason for the decision.

You understand that any decision by LAC to allow your content to be published does not prevent LAC from reviewing the content again in accordance with these Terms of Use. You also understand that, even if LAC reviews your content and allows it to be published in the LAC collections, the Government of Canada and LAC do not endorse any views or opinions you include in the content you contribute.

Content review by third parties

Some of LAC’s crowdsourcing tools have a peer review function that allows third party crowdsource contributors the ability to revise and remove your content, without notice, with the goal of ensuring accuracy and relevance of the completed information on the LAC collections. LAC is not responsible for decisions made by third parties to revise or remove your content, nor will LAC be responsible for making available to you any previous versions of content that contain your contributions.

Copyright assignment and waiver of moral rights

To the extent that copyright may exist and subject to these Terms of Use, you hereby grant to His Majesty the King a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, sublicensable, fully transferable licence to reproduce, display, distribute, translate, modify, and create derivative works of any works contained in the content you contribute though My Shared Research Lists and Co-Lab. You waive all moral rights associated with such works, including, without limitation all rights of attribution in respect of the contributions.

As the owner of any copyright that exists in the content you contribute, you agree that your content can be removed or revised in accordance with the Content review by LAC section and the Content review by third parties section above.

Notwithstanding the Trademark notice in the “Ownership and usage of content provided on this site” section of these Terms of Use, you may reproduce the official symbols of the Government of Canada for the purposes of creating content to contribute through My Shared Research Lists and Co-Lab.

Other terms and conditions

Using files located on non-Government of Canada servers

Certain files may load automatically to your browser from a trusted third-party server or content delivery network. These files include:

open source libraries
images
scripts

This helps improve the functionality of Government of Canada websites. Speeding response times makes for a better user experience. Our privacy notice includes specific privacy statements covering these files where applicable.

Linking to non-Government of Canada websites (external links)

We provide external links for the convenience of our website visitors. We're not responsible for the accuracy, maintenance or reliability of the content of outside websites. This includes websites of our social media accounts. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the information found via these links and does not endorse the sites and their content.

We may link to information offered by non-Government of Canada sites. Some of these sites are 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. Visitors should research the privacy policies of these websites before providing personal information.

Providing content in Canada's official languages

We provide services and communicate with the public based on:

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.

Our commitment to accessibility

We're committed to achieving a high standard of accessibility. For more information, please see the:

If you're having difficulty using our website or applications, let us know. We can provide alternatives such as regular print, Braille or other appropriate formats.

We use social media to communicate and interact with Canadians who use these platforms.

Content and frequency

Another way we interact and share content with Canadians is through Social media. These accounts ease access to information and services. They also provide stakeholders with a chance to interact in an informative and respectful environment.

We understand that the web is a 24/7 medium. Your comments are welcome at any time. You should expect to see new content or replies to comments posted on weekdays during business hours.

Third parties usually manage these platforms and their servers. Social media accounts may be subject to downtime that is out of our control. We don't accept responsibility for platforms that become unresponsive or unavailable.

Please read the notice about historical language in LAC’s collection.

Links to other websites and ads

Our social media accounts may post or show links or ads for websites not controlled by the Government of Canada. We provide these links for the convenience of our users. The Government of Canada is not responsible for information in these links or ads, nor does it endorse the sites or their content.

Comments and interaction

Your comments on social media posts are welcome. We expect that conversations will follow the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are responsible for all content submitted in your comments. Note that all posted comments are in the public domain. Please keep your submissions relevant and remain civil. We don't tolerate comments that are rude, abusive, or offensive. We won't discriminate against differing viewpoints. However, we will remove comments and block users based on the criteria below.

We'll remove comments and contributions if they:

include personal information
include protected or classified information belonging to the Government of Canada
infringe upon intellectual property or proprietary rights
are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the Constitution Act, 1982
are racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic or defamatory, or contain or refer to obscenity or pornography
are threatening, violent, intimidating or harassing
are contrary to any Canadian federal, provincial or territorial laws
constitute impersonation, advertising or spam
encourage or incite criminal activity
are written in a language other than English or French
otherwise violate the standards in this policy

Be respectful and make sure that your comments are relevant. If you have any questions about this policy or how it's applied, please contact us.

We try to prevent and remove inappropriate posts. If you're not using social media properly, we'll report you to social media service providers. Avoid posting things that go against:

this policy
the terms of service
use of the third-party social media platform

See the Government of Canada’s Terms and Conditions section for more information.

Following, “liking” and subscribing

LAC’s decision to follow, “like” or subscribe to another social media account does not imply an endorsement of that account, channel, page or site. Neither does sharing (retweeting, reposting or linking to) content from another user.

Copyright information

LAC retains copyright on all material posted on its social media platforms. Please consult our Copyright restrictions section for more information.

Accessibility

Third-party service providers operate social media platforms. They 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. We'll make every attempt to solve the problem or to provide the information in a different format.

Privacy

Social media accounts are not Government of Canada websites. They are the Government of Canada’s presence on third-party service providers.

Official languages

Social media platforms can have many language options. They will provide instructions on how to set preferences. LAC respects the Official Languages Act. We're committed to making information available in both French and English, and of equal quality.

Contact information

Our Web and Social Media teams manage LAC's social media platforms. You can reach them at:

Place de la Cité
550 de la Cité Boulevard
Gatineau, Quebec J8T 0A7
Email: bac.mediassociaux-socialmedia.lac@bac-lac.gc.ca
For more information, see the Contact us section.

Media inquiries

Media representatives can contact us:

during regular business hours
on an emergency basis outside regular working hours

Telephone: 819-994-4589

Email: BAC.Media.LAC@bac-lac.gc.ca

Thank you for reading this policy. We encourage you to join the conversation and are looking forward to an active exchange of ideas!

Privacy notice

The Government of Canada and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) are committed to providing websites that respect the privacy of visitors. This privacy notice summarizes the privacy practices for LAC's online activities.

All personal information collected by this institution is governed by the Privacy Act. We'll let you know why we're collecting your personal information. We can also show you how to exercise your right of access to that information.

Your privacy and the Internet

Web servers collect certain information about a visit to a website. This includes 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. The IP address, on its own, does not identify an individual. 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. The Government of Canada considers the IP address to be personal information.

LAC does not automatically gather any specific information from you, unless otherwise noted. LAC would only get this type of information if you supply it to us, for example, by email or by filling in a contact form. In such cases, you'll receive a Personal Information Collection Statement. The statement explains how we handle your personal information.

When an outside organization is providing a service, a third-party web server might record your IP address. Examples of third-party providers outside the Government of Canada include:

social media platforms
mobile applications

Communicating with the Government of Canada

If you send LAC an email or fill out form online, we use your personal information to respond to your inquiry. We only share your information with other government institutions if your question relates to them. LAC does not use the information to create individual profiles. We don't disclose it to anyone, except those in the federal government who need to provide you with a response. Any disclosure of your personal information falls under the Privacy Act.

Emails and other means of electronic communication are not secure unless otherwise specified. Be careful with your sensitive personal information. We recommended you don't send it to us through non-secure electronic means. Examples of sensitive personal information include your:

Social Insurance number
date of birth

Third-party social media

Library and Archives Canada’s use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the Web. Social media account(s) are public and are not hosted on Government of Canada servers. If you're using social media to interact with us, make sure to read:

the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers
policies for any applications you use to access them.

LAC uses X, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and LinkedIn.

If your comments violate Canadian law, we'll delete them and let law enforcement authorities know. We'll also delete comments that violate our rules of engagement.

Digital markers (including cookies)

A digital marker is a resource created by your web browser to remember certain pieces of information. The web server references them during the same or later visits 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 you're looking at. This helps website administrators ensure visitors find what they're looking for.

Library and Archives Canada uses digital markers on some portions of its website. During your on-line visit, your browser exchanges data with LAC’s Web server. The digital markers used do not allow LAC to identify individuals.

You can adjust your browser settings to reject digital markers, including cookies. However, it may affect your ability to interact with LAC’s website.

Web analytics

Web analytics is the process of analyzing the behaviour of visitors to a website. It involves the collection, analysis, measurement and reporting of data about Web traffic. It helps us understand how people use our websites so we can optimize them. Information in digital markers can remember your online interactions with our website. We use digital markers in our web analytics.

LAC uses a tool to improve its website. When your computer requests a page on our site, we collect the following information:

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

Protecting the security of Government of Canada websites

LAC uses software programs to monitor network traffic to identify malicious behaviour like:

unauthorized attempts to upload or change information
attempts at causing damage

This software receives and records IP addresses, date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We don't link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

We collect this information pursuant to section 161 of the Financial Administration Act. If we suspect criminal activity, we can share the information with law enforcement authorities.

Inquiring about these practices

For questions or comments, reach out to our Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator at BAC.DAIPRP-ATIPD.LAC@bac-lac.gc.ca.

You can reach them by telephone at: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll-free in Canada and the U.S.) or by mail:

Access to Information, Privacy and Personnel Records Division
Library and Archives Canada
395 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0N4
CANADA

If you are not satisfied with our response to your privacy concern, contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at 1-800-282-1376.