Terms of Use for Social Media for Redistribution 2022
The Constitution of Canada requires that federal electoral districts be reviewed after each decennial census to reflect changes and movements in Canada's population.
The current federal redistribution process began in October 2021. Ten independent, non-partisan commissions, one for each province, will conduct the work.
The procedures used in the redistribution of federal electoral districts are set out in the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act. For more information on this process, see redistribution2022.ca.
Social media accounts for Redistribution 2022
The Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act gives the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer the ability to provide administrative support services to assist the 10 electoral boundaries commissions (hereinafter "commissions") in fulfilling their mandate under the Act. The section of the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer that operates under the name of Elections Canada provides, among other things, administrative support to the commissions in their communication efforts. As a result, the social media accounts for Redistribution 2022 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (collectively referred to as "social media accounts") are administered by Elections Canada.
Please note that the social media accounts are not on Government of Canada websites. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are third-party service providers. This means that when you use the social media accounts, you are also subject to the terms of use of the third party involved.
We invite you to read the terms of use of Twitter, the terms of use of Facebook and the terms of use of Instagram.
Content
The social media accounts are used as supplementary ways to share information.
Elections Canada does not endorse any content that other users post on the social media accounts. While we try to make sure that the content posted is accurate, Elections Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, timeliness, or reliability of content posted by other users.
Complaints about the commissions or the redistribution process
The social media accounts are not channels for filing or responding to formal complaints. If you wish to make a formal complaint, please contact your province's commission.
Unacceptable content
The 10 commissions will work separately in each province to draw the boundaries in a non-partisan and impartial manner. To preserve the commissions' impartiality and functional independence, the content posted on their social media accounts must not be politically partisan. Content that suggests a political affiliation, bias or designation, or favours one political party over another, may be deemed unacceptable.
Elections Canada will not respond to questions or comments that are partisan or relate to politically partisan issues, except when we deem it necessary to do so in order to correct factually inaccurate information. Elections Canada reserves the right to remove content deemed incompatible with the commissions' mandate. If you post unacceptable content on the social media accounts, Elections Canada may block you to prevent you from adding further posts.
The term "post" includes questions, comments, "likes," retweets, videos, articles, links to websites and any other messages that provide feedback or content related to the social media accounts.
In addition, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are third-party service providers, which means you are subject to their respective terms of use when interacting with the social media accounts.
Elections Canada reserves the right to block a user and remove any content posted on the social media accounts that violates the Facebook, Twitter or Instagram terms of use or is deemed unacceptable by Elections Canada. Unacceptable content includes content that:
- is politically partisan, such as content that suggests a political affiliation, bias or designation or favours one political party over another
- is racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting or threatening
- puts forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations or is otherwise defamatory
- is offensive, aggressive, vulgar, indecent, rude, abusive, coarse, violent, obscene or pornographic
- is posted by someone other than its author or is posted anonymously by a robot account
- constitutes solicitation or an advertisement or endorsement of any financial, commercial or non-governmental organization or any political party
- is posted for advertising, phishing or spamming purposes
- gives the impression that it originates from the commissions
- impersonates any person or misrepresents its author's identity or affiliations
- contains personally identifiable information about others
- infringes a third party's copyright or trademark rights
- is unintelligible or irrelevant to the commissions
- encourages or suggests illegal activity
Availability
Posts are welcome on the social media accounts at any time, although Elections Canada will exercise discretion in determining whether to respond.
Elections Canada will monitor and update the social media accounts during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday to Friday). Any monitoring or updating outside these hours is likely due to an emergency.
Because the servers of social media platforms are managed by a third party, the social media accounts may be subject to downtime that is out of Elections Canada's control. Therefore, Elections Canada accepts no responsibility for platforms becoming unresponsive or unavailable. Should this occur, please visit redistribution2022.ca for information or write to mediassociaux-socialmedia@redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca.
Official languages
Elections Canada complies with the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products of equal quality are available in both English and French. However, please note that some information from external sources is not subject to the Official Languages Act.
Because of the nature of social media, content will vary between the English and French accounts, particularly with respect to posts from users. If Elections Canada chooses to respond to a post, it will do so in the official language in which the post was written. However, if a post received in one language requires a general response that concerns both English and French communities, the response will be provided in both official languages. When responding, Elections Canada may decide that it is necessary to translate the initial comment or question so that users will understand it. Users grant Elections Canada the right to translate into the other official language any comment or question they post on the social media accounts.
Accessibility
Elections Canada is committed to maintaining a high standard of accessibility. However, social media platforms are provided by third parties that are not bound by the Government of Canada's policies on Web accessibility. If you have any problems accessing information posted on the social media accounts, please visit redistribution2022.ca for alternative versions and more information.
Privacy
The social media accounts are hosted by third-party service providers that are beyond the control of Elections Canada and the Government of Canada. You are invited to read the privacy policies of Twitter, the privacy policy of Facebook and the privacy policy of Instagram to understand how these third parties use and protect your personal information.
To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, Elections Canada recommends that you avoid posting personal information on the social media accounts. Personal information includes home addresses, telephone numbers, photographs containing images of identifiable individuals, and any other information that may be considered personal as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act.
If you do post personal information on the social media accounts, you agree that Elections Canada may collect, use or disclose it. Elections Canada may collect and retain some of the personal information and conversations you post on the social media accounts. Elections Canada may use the information to respond to enquiries, monitor trending issues, document decisions on posts that violate the terms of use, or for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. "Conversation" includes questions and answers, comments, "likes," retweets and other interactions where you provide feedback on content that Elections Canada has posted or where Elections Canada gives you information based on content you have posted.
The social media accounts are managed by Elections Canada in accordance with the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act. The Act gives Elections Canada the authority to carry out activities in support of the communication services of the commissions. Elections Canada's activities in this area are subject to the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act. Personal information obtained by Elections Canada in the course of these activities will be retained in the standard personal information bank PSU 914 Public Communications. Under the Privacy Act, you have the right of access to, and correction and protection of, your personal information.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns or complaints about your privacy rights as explained in these terms of use, please contact the Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator at AIPRP-ATIP@elections.ca; or 819-939-1237 (in the National Capital Region) or 1-800-463-6868; or the following address:
Manager and Coordinator
Access to Information and Privacy
Elections Canada
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0M6
If you are not satisfied with Elections Canada's handling of your enquiry, you have the right to file a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or by telephone at 1-800-282-1376.
Copyright/permission to reproduce
Information posted by Elections Canada is subject to Canada's Copyright Act.
Copyright infringement may be reported to third-party providers as per their terms of use.
Links to other websites and advertisements
Links to websites that are not under Elections Canada's control may be posted on the social media accounts of the commissions. These links are provided solely for your convenience and may not be subject to policies or legislation applicable to the commissions.
Elections Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the content on those websites. Elections Canada does not offer any guarantee in that regard, is not responsible for the information found through those links, and does not endorse those websites or their content.
Some social media platforms sell advertising space to clients who want to promote a particular message. Advertisements in any form whatsoever, including, without limitation, links, banners or "sponsored stories" that appear on the social media accounts of the commissions, are not controlled or managed by Elections Canada. Elections Canada is not responsible for those advertisements and does not endorse those platforms' businesses, products, services or content.
Elections Canada will monitor and moderate the Redistribution 2022 Twitter pages from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) to ensure that all posts comply with these terms of use.
Elections Canada may follow other accounts that are relevant to the commissions and their activities. The fact that Elections Canada follows the accounts of other persons and organizations does not mean that it endorses any of their content or activities.
The appearance of anyone as a follower of the Redistribution 2022 Twitter accounts does not imply that Elections Canada endorses the content posted by that follower.
Elections Canada will monitor and moderate the Redistribution 2022 Facebook pages from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) to ensure that all posts comply with these terms of use.
The appearance of anyone as a follower of the Redistribution 2022 Facebook accounts does not imply that Elections Canada endorses the content posted by that follower.
Comments and messages
Elections Canada has disabled the comment and video response functions on the Redistribution 2022 Facebook accounts.
Elections Canada will monitor and moderate the Redistribution 2022 Instagram pages from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) to ensure that all posts comply with these terms of use.
The appearance of anyone as a follower of the Redistribution 2022 Instagram accounts does not imply that Elections Canada endorses the content posted by that follower.
Contact information
The social media accounts are managed by Elections Canada, whose headquarters are located at:
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0M6
For more information about the commissions, please visit redistribution2022.ca. Various ways to contact the commissions are listed on the Contact Us page.
Media enquiries
Media enquiries should be directed to media@redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca.