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.
Communications
Under section 9(1)(h) of the Museums Act, the Museum engages with the public through email and social media. This exchange involves the sharing of personal information by you, the website user.
Emails and other electronic methods used to communicate with us are not secure unless it specifically says so. It is not recommended that you send sensitive personal information, such as your Social Insurance Number or your date of birth, through non-secure electronic means.
Whenever we collect personal information from you through email and social media, and whenever personal information is created as a result of your interactions with us through email and social media, we have to comply with the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act.
More information about the Museum’s handling of your personal information for communication purposes can be found in the standard personal information banks PSU 914 Public Communications and PSU 938 Outreach Activities.
Contact Us Webpage
The Museum receives your feedback through the Contact Us pages of its websites. The Museum collects your name, email address, subject and comments for the purpose of responding to inquiries. The information you provide will be shared with the Museum staff and contractors best suited to answer your question. The information will only be shared with third parties if absolutely necessary for responding to your question.
Social Media
The Museum’s use of social media serves as an extension of its presence on the internet. Social media accounts are public and are not hosted on Museum servers. Users who choose to interact with the Museum via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications used to access them. The Museum uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Personal information that you provide to the Museum via social media accounts is collected to capture conversations, questions and answers, comments, and “likes” between you and the Museum. It may be used to respond to inquiries, or for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. Should you participate in contests on the Museum’s social media platforms, the Museum will capture only the essential information required for the successful completion of the contest. We can make the content of social media interactions publicly available if we have obtained participant consent in advance. Comments posted that violate the Museum’s Social Media Code of Conduct or Canadian laws will be deleted and may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities.
When you interact with Government of Canada official social media accounts, your social media profile information may be recorded as per the practices of the social media platform. However, you have the right to refuse to give us any additional personal information when you interact with us on social media. There will be no legal or administrative consequences, but you might not be able to take part in a particular activity.
You can ask to access personal information that you have given us or that may have been created when you have interacted with us through our social media accounts. We don’t collect and retain this information with the intention of it being retrievable, so if you ask to access to it, please give the date and time of the interaction and any other details that could help us to retrieve it. To access this information, you can fill out a personal information request form.