Terms and Conditions

By accessing this website, you are agreeing to these Terms of Use. Therefore, we suggest that you review them carefully.

If you can’t access them or any link provided as part of these Terms of Use, please contact us at info@ontariohealth.ca.

Any reference to “we”, “us” or “our” in the text below refers to Ontario Health, an agency of the Ministry of Health.

Website Terms of Use

Acceptable use of this website

We require that you follow several simple rules when accessing or using this website. You must not:

  1. use this website in violation of any law, rule or regulation
  2. interfere with or disrupt this website or any of our computer systems, servers, networks, databases, software, hardware or equipment used by or for this website
  3. interfere with the use or enjoyment of this website by others
  4. introduce code which is disruptive or harmful
  5. attempt to gain unauthorized access to our computer systems, servers, networks, databases, software, hardware or equipment, including to: user-restricted areas of this website; logins and passwords of others; or personal information and personal accounts of others

Copyright

Unless we tell you otherwise, the content on this website is protected by Canadian and other national and international copyright, trademark and other laws. You must receive our prior authorization in writing before you use or reproduce anything from this website, unless you are using the content for personal use.

Trademark

The official symbols of the Government of Ontario and Ontario Health, whether registered or unregistered, may not be reproduced, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, without our prior authorization which you must receive in writing from us.

Links to other websites and social media platforms

You may see links on this website to other websites and some widely-used social media platforms. We have included them because they may be of interest to you. Just to be clear, providing a link to them does not mean that we endorse or recommend them to you.

Also, since these other websites and social media platforms are controlled and maintained by other people, we cannot be sure that the link will still work when you click on it or that the service or content is useful, appropriate, virus-free or reliable. Therefore, you need to decide for yourself whether you want to follow any link or agree to receive or rely on any service or content that is made available to you.

Links to former agency websites controlled by Ontario Health

You may see links on this website to pages on former agencies’ websites that are now controlled by Ontario Health (referred to as “Subsites”). These Terms of Use apply to any pages on those Subsites that you access through the links on ontariohealth.ca. However, if you access pages on a Subsite directly, you must comply with that Subsite’s terms of use.

Your privacy and third party sites

Important Privacy Information: Any information that you provide to or through a social media platform or other website is not collected or controlled by Ontario Health. Social media platforms or other websites are not bound by our Terms of Use. You should review the privacy policies of any linked website or social media platform before providing any information, personal or otherwise. Others may not comply with the same privacy laws, policies and practices that we do. Please be careful.

When you visit our websites, we will not collect your personal information unless you choose to use and/or receive online services that require it.

Collection, use and disclosure 

This Privacy Statement explains our current practices regarding what information Ontario Health may collect, use, and secure when you visit our website.  

Collection 

We may only collect personal information that is specifically authorized by law, or where the collection is necessary to provide you with a program or service. 

Use 

We may only use personal information for the purpose it has been collected, or for a consistent purpose, unless another use is specifically authorized by law. 

Disclosure 

We may only disclose personal information where we have legal authority to do so, or where the disclosure is for the purpose that we collected the information such as providing you with a program or service. 

What kind of information is collected? 

When you browse or download information from Ontario Health’s website our servers automatically collect limited amounts of standard information for traffic monitoring and statistical purposes. The information is analyzed for operational trends, performance, and for ways to improve our sites. We cannot identify you from this information. 

We collect the following standard types of information: 

  • Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the computers being used to access our site 

  • Operating systems and the types and versions of browsers used to access our site 

  • Internet Service Providers used by visitors to our site 

  • Dates and times users access our site 

  • Pages visited 

  • Keywords users enter into our search engine 

  • Names and sizes of files requested 

Ontario Health’s computer systems use hardware and software to anonymously monitor unauthorized attempts to upload or change information on its website, disrupt service, or otherwise cause damage. As a general practice, we make no attempt to link this information with the identity of individuals visiting our sites. If an attempt to damage our site has been detected, we can take further actions. 

Cookies 

Ontario Health’s website uses cookies. A cookie is a small text file sent from a Web server and placed on your computer’s hard drive. A cookie is generally used to enhance your browsing experience. You can choose to set your browser to detect and reject cookies, to accept cookies from all sites, or to prompt you whenever a site wants to send you a cookie. If you choose, they may be used to 'remember' your password and make it easier and faster to log-in to certain sites. Check your browser’s "Help" files to learn how to do this. If you choose to refuse cookies, you may not be able to access some of the interactive features on our websites. 

Cookies used by Ontario Health do not give us access to anything on your hard drive and cannot do anything to your computer. Cookies used by us are encrypted for security purposes to make any information in the cookie unreadable to anyone except our agency. Ontario Health uses two types of cookies: session cookies (temporary) or persistent cookies (longer-term/continuing use). 

Session Cookies 

These may be used to support online feedback/discussion, forms and registration and 'e-commerce/shopping cart' transactions – they are used only during your online session and expire when you close your browser. Without session cookies, moving around our website could be much slower. 

Persistent Cookies 

These are different from session cookies because they are stored on your computer’s hard drive for some length of time – they are usually used if you want us to remember information about your Web preferences (e.g. large font) and passwords for automatic log-in purposes. 

Analytics 

In order to serve you better, we use web analytics services including Google Analytics and Webtrends to help analyze the use of our websites. These tools use cookies to collect and generate information about your visits to our sites (including your IP address) that is transmitted to their servers anonymously for processing. We study patterns of website activity so we can improve the visitor experience to our sites. 

The use of these tools does not allow us or our analytics service providers to identify individuals. 

You can opt-out of analytics activity by setting your browser to notify you when a cookie is sent and block analytics cookies if desired. Please consult your browser’s “Help Menu” for instructions. Visiting our website with analytics cookies disabled will have no significant impact on your browsing experience. 

Who to contact for more information 

Questions or comments regarding the collection of personal information by Ontario Health, may be directed to: 

info@ontariohealth.ca

*Inquiries submitted to Ontario Health by email may not be secure. Please do not include personal health information including health card numbers in your correspondence.

Security 

Ontario Health’s security practices are continually evolving to ensure that the integrity and confidentiality of information and systems are maintained. We use up-to-date security safeguards to protect our networks and websites from misuse, alteration, copying, disclosure, destruction, monitoring or unauthorized sharing of information and damage. The safeguards deployed by us include the use of security software and encryption protocols and involve physical, technical and procedural controls to protect information behind the firewall. 

Links from other websites and social media platforms

Unless we tell you otherwise, other websites and social media platforms that link to this website are not associated with us or endorsed by us.

Disclaimer of warranty / Limitation of liability

We cannot make this website as current, informative and interactive as possible without the important legal disclaimers of warranty and liability set out below. Please do not skip this section.

Warranty disclaimer

Use of this website and its contents is at your own risk. This website and all of its content are provided "As Is". You must not rely on any content published on or linked to this website without first making your own inquiries to verify it is accurate, current and complete. We do not make, and expressly disclaim, any representations, warranties, covenants and conditions, express or implied, arising out of operation of law, course of performance, course of dealing, usage of trade or otherwise, including any express or implied warranties and conditions of: merchantability; merchantable quality; fitness for a particular purpose; non-infringement; safety; quality; freedom from defects or that defects will be corrected; uninterrupted, virus-free or error-free use of this website; or accuracy, currency, reliability, completeness or appropriateness relating to the content of this website.

Limitation of liability

Under no circumstances will Ontario Health and its directors, employees, agents and independent contractors have any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage whatsoever (including without limitation direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary or other damages, and including without limitation to any loss of profit, costs, expenses, harm to business, business interruption, reputation, loss of information or programs or data, loss of savings, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of tangible or intangible property, legal fees or legal costs, wasted management or office time or damages of any kind whatsoever), whether based in contract, tort, negligence or any other legal basis, arising out of or in connection with this website, any linked website or linked social media platform (including without limitation any damages suffered as a result of the use, inability to use, failure of, or any omissions or inaccuracies in, this website, any linked websites or linked social media platforms, or any of the services or content of the foregoing), even if Ontario Health has been specifically advised of the possibility of such damage or loss, or if such damage or loss was foreseeable.

General

Ontario Health reserves the right to supplement, remove or modify these Terms of Use at any time without notice. Please check this website regularly for any changes. If you continue to use this website following a change to these Terms of Use, you will be deemed to have accepted the changes.

If any term or condition set out here is held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions will continue in full force.

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and deemed to be entered into by you in the Province of Ontario.

Social Media Terms of Use

These Terms of Use apply to you when you communicate with Ontario Health through social media websites so please read them carefully. Some of our social media accounts may have more detailed terms of use, or different hours of operation. Please check each account’s ‘bio’ or ‘about’ page (for example) for more information about these terms.

What you can expect from our online updates

Our accounts vary in terms of frequency and content, but usually publish a few times a day on weekdays (but not usually on holidays observed in Ontario). We’ll publish helpful information and link you to more detailed information and resources when available. Some accounts do not respond to public replies (e.g. an @-reply on Twitter or a comment in a Facebook status update thread) or direct messages.

Things to consider

  • Accounts will be monitored during normal business hours, unless otherwise specified — during this time we will try to respond to your questions where appropriate.
  • Comments which do not follow our Terms of Use or one or more of the following rules may be removed, and users that ignore these comment policies may be banned.
  • For any matter that is confidential, or too complicated for posting to the public, please contact us via the web feedback form on our website.
  • Depending on the volume of posts received, we cannot commit to responding to everyone.
  • Don’t forget that the social media service providers (such as Twitter or Facebook) also have additional or different terms of use. You should carefully review the terms and conditions that apply to you before obtaining the particular service.
  • Although we will work hard to help you, we can’t guarantee that we will understand your question completely or answer it accurately. By contacting us through a social media site, you acknowledge that any response we provide to you through the same site:
    • is intended to provide helpful information or resources
    • is not considered to be definitive advice or guaranteed to solve your issue

Commenting policy

  • Stay on topic. We encourage focused, thoughtful comments and discussion which respond or relate to a particular topic, new initiative or upcoming event. Comments which are not related to our content or attempt to derail the conversation may be removed.
  • Be respectful. If you choose to post content, please keep in mind that you must not:
  1. mislead us or anyone else as to your identity or the origin of the posted content, or falsely claim to represent a person, organization or entity
  2. post or transmit any message, content or link to content that:
    1. you either do not own or do not have the necessary rights to post or transmit;
    2. is in violation of any law, rule or regulation or any third party right, or promotes illegal activity or conduct that would contravene any law, rule or regulation or third party right;
    3. is abusive, hateful, homophobic, discriminatory, malicious, aggressive, threatening, violent, sexist, harassing, inflammatory, indecent, tortious, defamatory, knowingly false, misleading, deceptive, vulgar, obscene, offensive, scandalous, sexually explicit, profane;
    4. incites hatred, racism, bigotry, discrimination or physical harm of any kind against any individual or class of individuals based on a protected ground in the Ontario Human Rights Code, including: ancestry, colour, race, citizenship, ethnic origin, place of origin, creed, disability, family status, marital status, gender identity, gender expression, sex (including pregnancy and breastfeeding) or sexual orientation.
    5. is unsolicited or unauthorized, such as unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional material, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letter," "pyramid scheme," or any other form of solicitation (commercial or otherwise);
    6. is in breach of any confidence;
    7. includes personal data or information about others; or
    8. can result in us being liable to anyone else under any intellectual property rights law.

We may not respond to posts that violate any of these rules and we may notify the social media service provider of your violation. If we suffer costs or damages as a result of your violating these rules, we expect you to cover our costs and damages.

While we may moderate posts, we are not required to, nor should you expect that we will, take action in response to any content posted on our page or feed. The views expressed by others represent their own views and are not endorsed or approved by us, nor do we endorse or approve any events or other activities posted by a user.

Ontario Health supports an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and respectful work environment, free of discrimination and harassment. Ontario Health employees moderate our social media sites and their contents. Any conduct that is discriminatory or harassing will be removed and the user may be banned from future use of Ontario Health channels.

We reserve the right not to keep any content that you post on our page or feed, and to remove, edit or move, at any time, any content posted which does not comply with these Terms of Use or which is otherwise objectionable in light of prevailing community standards.

We will cooperate with law enforcement officials and comply with any court order with respect to any claim or investigation due to any content posted and will provide such content and provide information regarding your identity as well as other relevant information.

  • Avoid posting personal or confidential information. Our social media accounts are publicly accessible and posts are visible to the public. Therefore, please don’t post any personal information about you or anyone else!

Do not solicit personal information from other users. All or part of any posts containing personal or confidential information (e.g. a person’s home address, health card number) may be removed.

To the extent that we collect any personal information through a social media website, we will handle it according to what we say in our Privacy Statement.

If you choose to communicate with Ontario through a social media channel, please note that we don’t have any control over the social media channel and therefore we have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which those organizations collect, use, disclose, secure or otherwise treat your personal information. You should review the privacy policies of any social media platform before providing any personal or other information. Others may not comply with the same privacy laws, policies and practices that we do! Please be careful.

  • Use informative links. If you provide external links for citations or advancing discussion through additional information, do not post links to advertising or solicitation content, spam/malware or other irrelevant material.

Links to other websites

We may display links to other websites because they may be of interest to you. Just to be clear, providing a link to them doesn’t mean that we endorse or recommend them to you.

Also, since these other websites are controlled and maintained by other people, we can’t be sure that the link will still work when you click on it or that the service or content is useful, appropriate, virus-free or reliable. Therefore, you need to decide for yourself whether you want to follow any link or to agree to receive or rely on any service or content that is made available to you.

Warranty disclaimer

Use of our social media sites and their contents is at your own risk. They and all of their content are provided "as is". You must not rely on any content published on or linked from our social media sites without first making your own inquiries to verify it is accurate, current and complete. We do not make, and expressly disclaim, any representations, warranties, covenants and conditions, express or implied, arising out of operation of law, course of performance, course of dealing, usage of trade or otherwise, including any express or implied warranties and conditions of: merchantability; merchantable quality; fitness for a particular purpose; non-infringement; safety; quality; freedom from defects or that defects will be corrected; uninterrupted, virus-free or error-free use of our social media site; or accuracy, currency, reliability, completeness or appropriateness relating to the content of them.

Limitation of liability

Under no circumstances will Ontario Health or its directors, employees, agents and independent contractors have any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage whatsoever (including without limitation direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary or other damages, and including without limitation to any loss of profit, costs, expenses, harm to business, business interruption, reputation, loss of information or programs or data, loss of savings, loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of tangible or intangible property, legal fees or legal costs, wasted management or office time or damages of any kind whatsoever), whether based in contract, tort, negligence or any other legal basis, arising out of or in connection with our social media sites, any linked website or linked social media platform (including without limitation any damages suffered as a result of the use, inability to use or failure of, or any omissions or inaccuracies on, our social media sites, any linked websites or linked social media platforms, or any of the services or content of the foregoing), even if Ontario Health has been specifically advised of the possibility of such damage or loss, or if such damage or loss was foreseeable.

General

Ontario Health reserves the right to supplement, remove or modify these Terms of Use at any time and from time to time without notice. Please check this website regularly for any changes. If you continue to access our social media sites following a change to these Terms of Use, you will be deemed to have accepted the changes.

If any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use is held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions will continue in full force.

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and deemed to be entered into by you in the Province of Ontario.

Last Updated: September 27, 2022