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Privacy Notice – Website

Telefilm Canada is committed to providing websites that respect the privacy of visitors. This privacy notice summarizes the privacy practices for Telefilm Canada’s online activities.

All personal information collected by our institution is governed by the Privacy Act. This means that you will be informed of the purpose for which your personal information is being collected and how to exercise your right of access to that information.

Your Privacy and the Internet

The nature of the Internet is such that Web servers automatically collect certain information about a visit to a website, including 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. Web servers automatically log the IP addresses of visitors to their sites. The IP address, on its own, does not identify an individual. However, 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. For this reason, Telefilm Canad considers the IP address to be personal information, particularly when combined with other data automatically collected when visitor requests a Web page such as the page or pages visited, date and time of the visit.

Unless otherwise noted, Telefilm Canada does not automatically gather any specific information from you, such as your name, telephone number or email address. Telefilm Canada would obtain this type of information only if you supply it to us, for example, by email or by filling in a contact form. In such cases, how your personal information is handled will be provided in a Personal Information Collection Statement.

In cases where services are provided by organizations outside of the Government of Canada, such as social media platforms or mobile applications, IP addresses may be recorded by the Web server of the third-party service provider.

Communicating with Telefilm Canada

If you choose to send Telefilm Canada an email or complete a feedback form online, your personal information is used by Telefilm Canada in order to respond to your inquiry. The information you provide will only be shared with another government institution if your inquiry relates to that institution. Telefilm Canada does not use the information to create individual profiles nor does it disclose the information to anyone other than to those in the federal government who need to provide you with a response. Any disclosure of your personal information is in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Emails and other electronic methods used to communicate with Telefilm Canada are not secure unless it is specifically stated on a Web page. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not send sensitive personal information, such as your Social Insurance Number or your date of birth, through non-secure electronic means.

Personal information from emails or completed feedback forms is collected pursuant to section 10 of the Telefilm Canada Act. . Such information may be used for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes and is included in Personal Information Bank Public Communications (PSU 914).

Third-Party Social Media

Telefilm 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. Users who choose to interact with us via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications you use to access them. Telefilm Canada uses Facebook, Google+, Letterboxd, LinkedIn, X, YouTube.

Personal information that you provide to Telefilm Canada via social media account(s) is collected under the authority of section 10 of the Telefilm Canada Act. This information is collected to capture conversations (e.g. questions and answers, comments, “likes”, retweets) between you and Telefilm Canada. It may be used to respond to inquiries, or for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. Comments posted that violate Canadian law will be deleted and disclosed to law enforcement authorities. Comments that violate our rules of engagement will also be deleted. The personal information is included in Personal Information Bank Outreach Activities (PSU 938).

Improving your Experience on Telefilm Canada Websites

Digital Markers (including cookies)

A digital marker is a resource created by the visitors’ browser in order to remember certain pieces of information for the Web server to reference during the same or subsequent visit 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 is viewed on a site which helps website administrators ensure visitors find what they are looking for.

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

You may adjust your browser settings to reject digital markers, including cookies, if you so choose. However, it may affect your ability to interact with Telefilm Canada’s website.

Web Analytics

Web analytics is the collection, analysis, measurement, and reporting of data about Web traffic and visits for purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. Information in digital markers may be used for the purpose of web analytics to remember your online interactions with Telefilm Canada’s website.

Telefilm Canada uses Google Analytics® to improve its web site. When your computer requests a Telefilm Canada Web page, our institution collects the following types of information for Web analytics:

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

Telefilm Canada uses Google Analytics® and the information collected is disclosed to Google Inc., an external third party service provider. Your IP address is anonymized prior to being stored on the service provider’s servers in order to help safeguard your privacy. The information collected is de-personalized by irrevocable truncation of the last octet of the IP address.

Data collected for Web analytic purposes goes outside of Canada to the USA. and may be subject to the governing legislation of that country, among others the Patriot Act.

Information used for the purpose of Web analytics is collected pursuant to the Telefilm Canada Act. Such data may be used for communications and information technology statistical purposes, audit, evaluation, research, planning and reporting. For more information on how your privacy is safeguarded in relation to web analytics, see the Standard on Privacy and Web Analytics.

Behaviour Analytics

Telefilm Canada uses Hotjar  to ensure that the design and user experience of our websites are performing according to expectations and offer the best possible experience to online visitors. Hotjar is a technology service used for tracking Telefilm Canada’s websites and providing it with related metrics and analytics which help better understand online users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.). When you access a Telefilm Canada web page, Hotjar collects the following types of information to generate three kinds of heatmaps – which aggregate data points from hundreds of visitors in one report – for behaviour analytics:

  1. how visitors scroll through our websites (scroll map), in order to identify appropriate changes to improve user experience;
  2. the buttons, links, images and so on, clicked or tapped by visitors to our websites (click map), in order to identify content potentially being ignored by users and help implementing appropriate layout improvements;
  3. where visitors move their mouse as they navigate through a webpage (move map) in order to see what captures their attention and provide the basis for working hypotheses towards future site developments.

Hotjar does not store the personal information of site visitors:

  • Site visitors are assigned a unique user identifier, so that Hotjar can keep track of returning visitors without relying on any personal information, such as the IP address.
  • IP addresses of visitors are always suppressed before being stored. All connections to Hotjar are made via IPv4. Hotjar sets the last octet of IPv4 addresses to 0 to ensure the full IP address is never written to disk. (For example, if a visitor’s IP address is 1.2.3.4, it will be stored as 1.2.3.0.) The first three octets of the IP address are only used to determine the geographic location of the visitor.
  • All on-page numeric text, on-page email addresses, as well as keystroke data on allowed input fields, are suppressed before any data points are stored on Hotjar’s servers.

Data collected through Hotjar for behaviour analytics purposes is stored within Canada. The data collected to generate heatmaps is retained for 365 days from the date of creation ; after 365 days, the data is deleted from Hotjar servers, including backups, and cannot be retrieved. For more information on how Hotjar safeguards your privacy in relation to behaviour analytics, see Hotjar’s support site, privacy FAQs, Data Retention Policy and Privacy Policy.

Information used for the purpose of behaviour analytics is collected pursuant to the Telefilm Canada Act. Such data may be used for communications and information technology statistical purposes, audit, evaluation, research, planning and reporting.

Protecting the Security of Telefilm Canada Websites

Telefilm Canada employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. This software receives and records the IP address of the computer that has contacted our website, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected.

This information is collected pursuant to section 161 of the Financial Administration Act. The information may be shared with appropriate law enforcement authorities if suspected criminal activities are detected. Such information may be used for network security related statistical purposes, audit, evaluation, research, planning and reporting and is included in Personal Information Bank Security Incidents (PSU 939).

Inquiring about these Practices

Any questions, comments, concerns or complaints you may have regarding the administration of the Privacy Act and privacy policies regarding Telefilm Canada’s web presence may be directed to our Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator by email to ATIP-AIPRP@telefilm.ca, by calling 1-800-567-0890 or writing to:

Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator
Telefilm Canada
360 St. Jacques Street, Suite 600
Montréal, Quebec H2Y 1P5

If you are not satisfied with Telefilm Canada’s response to your privacy concern, you may wish to contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by telephone at 1-800-282-1376.