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Public Health Agency of Canada YouTube Terms of Use

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) uses YouTube , a free video-sharing platform, as one way to communicate with Canadians.

These Terms of Use describe how we will communicate with Canadians via YouTube. By participating on our YouTube channel you are agreeing to these Terms of Use. PHAC does not endorse any of the views shared by users. Comments in violation of these Terms of Use may result in PHAC deleting the comment and blocking the user in question to prevent further inappropriate comments.

The Agency currently holds two YouTube channels:

PublicHealthCanada (English)

SantePubliqueCanada (French)

• Content
• Subscriptions
• Subscribers/Friends
• Feedback and Messages
• Media Requests
• Policy on comments
• Availability
• Privacy
• Official Languages
• Accessibility
• Links to other websites
• PHAC employee use of YouTube
• Additional information

Content

Videos displayed on the PHAC YouTube channel will cover various topics related to health such as public health messages, social marketing campaign announcements, press releases and ministerial announcements.

Subscriptions

We will only subscribe to other Government of Canada institutions and organization channels that we believe are relevant to the mandate of our work. This could include non-profit organizations, associations and other governmental agencies.

Subscribing to a channel does not imply endorsement.

Subscribers/Friends

We will accept subscriptions from individual users as long as they comply with these Terms of Use. However, we will take steps to remove or block subscribers if they do not abide by these terms. Users may also be reported to YouTube if they do not abide by the service provider's Terms of Service .

The appearance of a YouTube user as a follower of PHAC account does not imply endorsement.

PHAC will not accept friend requests from individual users.

The views of participants commenting on this YouTube channel does not reflect our views, nor do we verify or confirm the accuracy of posted comments. We reserve the right to remove or not post comments if they appear to be in breach of these terms of use.

Feedback and Messages

Feedback and interaction is highly encouraged. All video and channel comments, as well as email sent to the YouTube account will be read, and any emerging themes or helpful suggestions will be passed to the relevant people in the Agency. 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 deemed appropriate.

If we feel a comment or a question posed to PHAC 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 e-mail, our website or other social media channels. We will pay attention to emerging themes and helpful suggestions and look forward to this potential interaction.

Please take note that we cannot engage in rendering medical advice, nor can we discuss issues of party politics.

Media Requests

We encourage the media to follow traditional channels to make a media request and visit our media room.

Policy on comments

We welcome your comments and do not discriminate against any views. Disagreements and constructive arguments are acceptable as part of the discussion. However, abusive or insulting comments are not acceptable. We expect the content of posts to be respectful of others.

We disclaim all liability for comments posted to YouTube. However, we will moderate all comments and reserve the right to refuse to post ones containing content that is not appropriate, including any of the following:

• 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, not proven, not supported, or not accurate accusations against individuals or organizations;
• abusive, aggressive, coarse, vulgar, violent, obscene, or pornographic comments;
• comments that encourage or suggest illegal activity;
• messages that infringe copyright or other intellectual property rights;
• solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any financial, commercial, or non-governmental agency. Similarly, we do not allow attempts to defame 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 or irrelevant messages;
• messages that are off-topic and any other message that the forum moderators feel will not add to the flow of debate; and
• messages that infringe upon an individual's privacy.

In short, be respectful and make sure your comments are relevant to the topic under which you are responding. Anyone acting contrary to these terms may be blocked from posting to our YouTube channel. Users can provide video responses as long as they respect these terms of use.

If you feel someone has violated YouTube's Terms of Service , report the problem by selecting the "Flag" link, which is a YouTube feature that is displayed beside every video and comment.

Note:
YouTube is an unsecured, public Web site. Comments are viewable by all YouTube users and, potentially, by hackers and others.

Availability

We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will generally occur during regular office hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. The Agency is not responsible for offering this service outside of the stipulated hours.

YouTube may occasionally be unavailable and we accept no responsibility for lack of service owing to YouTube downtime.

Privacy

PHAC channel is not a Government of Canada website and represents our presence on YouTube, a third-party service provider. Users are encouraged to read its privacy policy .

Information shared with PHAC on YouTube 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.

Users are advised not to share personal information. 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 section 3 of the Privacy Act . Should you have any questions about your privacy rights as explained in this notice, please contact the Agency Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division.

Official languages

PHAC respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products are available in both French and English, of equal quality. Videos will be posted simultaneously in both official languages – in English on PublicHealthCanada , and in French on SantePubliqueCanada .

Through the very nature of the social media forum, content will vary between the English and French YouTube accounts, particularly where messages and comments are concerned.

Comments, video responses, and questions that require a response will be answered in the official language of origin.

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 written.

The YouTube interface is available in multiple languages including English and French. To change the interface's language settings, select either "English" or "French" from the language selection menu available in YouTube's website footer (the bottom of the website).

Accessibility

YouTube, as a third party service provider, is not bound by Government of Canada policies for web accessibility. The Government of Canada is committed to achieving a high standard of accessibility and is working to address issues with third-party service provider platforms.

Links to other websites

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided for the convenience of users. We are not responsible for the accuracy, currency, or reliability of the content of other sites. We do not offer any guarantee in that regard. We are not responsible for the information found through these links, nor do we endorse the sites or their content.

PHAC employee use of YouTube

Some PHAC employees use YouTube outside of work hours and in their personal capacity under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with PHAC, the conduct of employees on YouTube in their personal capacity does not represent the official position of PHAC. The conduct of these employees should be considered as that of private citizens.

Additional Information

If you are looking for information about the Agency, please consult our website (publichealth.gc.ca). The usual ways of contacting us for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact Us section of our website.

Please see our Important Notices page for additional information.