Introduction
The Canadian Museum of History is a Crown corporation with responsibility for the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum. The corporation also administers a national investment program, Digital Museums Canada, and presents a virtual exhibition, the Virtual Museum of New France. The term “the Museum” throughout this Privacy Notice refers to the corporate entity and all websites administered by the Museum.
The Museum engages in telling the story of Canada’s history and identity, as well as that of world history and cultures. Some of the Museum’s activities and programs involve the collection of personal information. The Museum is dedicated to a high standard of care for the personal information you entrust with us. Personal information obtained by the Museum is kept securely in line with the Privacy Act. Personal information under our control is accessed, used and shared by employees and Museum representatives (such as volunteers, contracted third parties, etc.) on a strict need-to-know basis (for example, only when necessary to fulfill their specific duties). The Museum does not use personal information to create individual profiles unless otherwise stated. Museum personal information is not rented, sold or traded with third parties.
In keeping with the high standard of care, this Privacy Notice describes how the Museum generally collects, uses and discloses personal information, as well as our website privacy practices.
Questions concerning this Privacy Notice should be directed to: aiprp-atip@museedelhistoire.ca.
For more information about how to protect your privacy online, please visit the website of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Definition of Personal Information
Personal information is information that, on its own or when combined with other information, identifies you. This includes your name, address, email address, preferences, financial information, and other data that can be reasonably linked to you.
When we refer to “you” or “your” in this Privacy Notice, we mean any individual whose personal information we collect.
Web Analytics
The Museum promotes history through its websites under section 9(1)(h) of the Museums Act. To better reach its target audiences, the Museum engages in web analytics, which is the collection, analysis, measurement and reporting of data about web traffic and user visits for the purposes of understanding and improving website usage. Specialty software, including Google Analytics, automatically collects the data listed below from visitors’ computers for the purpose of analyzing traffic patterns to, from and within the Museum’s websites.
- Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using to contact our websites
- Type of browser you are using
- Type of device you are using
- Type of operating system you are using (for example, Windows and Mac OS)
- Date and time you accessed the site
- Pages you have accessed and documents you have downloaded
- Language of the content you accessed
- New or returning visitor
- Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our site, if applicable
- City of residence
The above listed information is then transmitted to analytics partners such as Google. The IP address is de-identified prior to data analysis. The information is then used to evaluate visitors’ use of the websites and compile statistical reports on website activity to help us make our site more useful to visitors. This information is made available to web managers, other designated staff, and/or contracted third parties who require this information to perform their duties.
Information collected for web analytics purposes may leave Canada for processing and become subject to the governing legislation of other countries (for example, the USA Patriot Act).
The data is only used for the purpose for which it was collected, and we make no attempt to link this data, or the IP addresses of the computers that have contacted our websites, with the identity of individuals visiting our site. The software programs are never used to gather specific personal information such as your name, telephone number, or email address.
Data used for Google Analytics is kept for a maximum of 14 months.