Twitter Protocol

Health Canada uses  Twitter, a free micro-blogging platform offered by an American company, as one tool in its efforts to communicate clearly, quickly and in an interesting manner to Canadians.

The Department currently holds one Twitter account:

 @HealthCanada (English) /  @SanteCanada (French)

New accounts may be created for different needs within the organization and will be listed from this page when made available.

Table of Contents

• Content of Tweets
• Frequency of Tweets
• Following
• Followers
• Availability
• @Replies and Direct Messages
• Media Requests
• Retweeting of Health Canada Posts
• Accessibility
• Privacy
• Official Languages
• Links to Other Websites
• Other Health Canada Staff Tweeting
• Additional Information

Content of Tweets

If you follow us, you can expect regular broadcasts (tweets) covering some or all of the following:

• Consumer product recalls, health advisories and warnings;
• Press releases and ministerial announcements;
• Public health messages and social marketing campaign announcements.

We may also occasionally retweet (RT) content from other users we think may be of interest to our followers. Provided the content is available in both official languages, we will generally aim to honour requests from the following:

• Other government departments;
• Our partnering organizations;
• Our stakeholders and other non-profit organizations.

Some automation, such as RSS feed-generated content, may be broadcasted, but this will not dominate our Twitter postings.

Frequency of Tweets

Followers can expect up to 5 tweets a day. Be advised that there may be some periods where we have fewer postings than others (for example holidays and weekends) or no postings at all.

Following

At this time, Health Canada only follows other Government of Canada institutions and organizations which we believe are relevant to the mandate of our work - specifically, as it relates to the health and safety of Canadians. This could include following Twitter accounts of non-profit organizations, associations and other governmental agencies.

Health Canada's decision to follow a particular Twitter account does not imply endorsement of any kind.

Followers

Similarly, the appearance of a Twitter user as a follower of a Health Canada account does not imply endorsement.

We will take steps to remove or block a follower if that follower does not abide by  Twitter's terms of service.

Availability

We aim to update and monitor our Twitter account during regular office hours between 8:00 A.M. - 5 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Monday to Friday.

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

@ Replies and Direct Messages

We welcome feedback and ideas from all our followers. All @Replies and Direct Messages (DMs) will be read and any emerging themes or helpful suggestions will be passed to the relevant people in the Department.

Although we are not able to reply individually to all the messages we receive via Twitter, possible responses to @Replies and Direct Messages will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

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.

Retweeting Health Canada Posts

Users may retweet (RT) material posted to the Health Canada accounts provided that the content is not changed and proper credit is given.

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. If you have any problems accessing any information on the site,  an accessible version of Twitter is available or visit this website for fully accessible content.

Twitter, as a third party network, is not bound by Government of Canada policies for web accessibility.

Privacy

Twitter is not a Government of Canada website, however, it is a third-party service provider for Health Canada. Users are encouraged to read the privacy policy of all such service providers, including Twitter.

Information shared with Health Canada Twitter accounts is subject to the  Access to Information Act.  However, the Access to Information requestor will likely choose to access the information directly via the social media site.

Users are strongly advised not to post personal information, such as 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. Please note that Health Canada does not intend to collect any personal information that may be submitted via Twitter.  Should you have any questions about your privacy rights as explained in this notice, please contact the departmental Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Coordinator.

Official Languages

Health Canada respects the  Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products are available in both French and English, of equal quality. Tweets will be posted simultaneously in both official languages - in English on the  @HealthCanada account, and in French on the  @SanteCanada account. @Replies that require a response will be answered in the official language of origin. 

However, 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.

Twitter.com is available in multiple languages including English and French. To change your settings in Twitter, select either "English" or "French" from the language selection menu available in your account settings.

Links to Other Websites

Links to websites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided solely for the convenience of users. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. The Government of Canada does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.

Other Health Canada Staff Tweeting

Some Health Canada staff tweet under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with Health Canada, their tweets do not represent the official position of the Department, and should be considered the product of each individual as a private citizen.

Additional Information

If you are looking for information about the Department, please consult our website. The usual ways of contacting us for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact Us section of our website.

If you have questions about this policy, please contact the Social Media Team.

Please see Health Canada's Important Notices page for additional information.