The GC Notify website is a product of the Canadian Digital Service (CDS), part of Employment and Social Development Canada. The CDS website has its own privacy practices.
GC Notify lets government organizations send email and text messages to staff and members of the public. You can create a GC Notify account if you work in the public service.
Your organization must protect recipients’ personal information
When you send messages through GC Notify, your organization is responsible for:
- Protecting the personal information of recipients.
- Complying with the policies and laws of your organization and jurisdiction.
To learn more, visit our Terms of use.
We collect your personal information
Your personal information includes your name, email address, and mobile phone number. Section 5.1 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act allows us to collect this information. You can read more about this authority in the Standard PIB PSU 915.
If you contact us or create an account, we use your information to reply or confirm that you’re authorized to use GC Notify.
We also log Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The IP address identifies the location of the computer or mobile device that you use to visit GC Notify. We use the IP logs to monitor GC Notify’s network and security. We do not link these logs with your name, email address, or phone number.
We’ll delete your account at your request. Your email address stays in our archives after your account is deleted. For details on where and how we store your information, visit GC Notify’s Security Statement.
We use web analytics
Analytics show how people use our web pages. By studying how people navigate, we can improve GC Notify.
We use Google Analytics for information about:
- Pages people visit, links they select and documents they download.
- Types of operating systems that visit GC Notify.
- Browsers that visit GC Notify and the browser’s approximate location.
- Date and time of visits.
We do not use analytics to collect information that could identify you or your location.
We share some information
We may share information with law enforcement by court order. When you send messages with GC Notify, local laws may affect the information. For example, the USA Patriot Act could apply to information processed by servers in the United States.
We may share general use case information about GC Notify services in public forums, such as blog posts, presentations, and conferences.
If you use other CDS Platform Services, we may share information with those services to improve your experience.
We use technology and services from other organizations. For example, to prevent digital attacks, we share information with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) about when and how you send messages.
We also use some services from the private sector. For the list of services, both public and private, visit Other services used by GC Notify.
We do not:
- Authorize other services to use your information for anything unrelated to GC Notify.
- Sell or rent your personal information.
- Share your personal information for marketing purposes.
We protect your privacy
We handle your information under Part 4 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act, the Access to Information Act, and the Privacy Act.
We also follow Appendix E: Standard on Privacy in Web Analytics of the Directive on Privacy Practices.
To learn how we use technology to protect information, visit GC Notify’s Security Statement.
You have privacy rights
The law requires that we protect your privacy. You have the right to access and review your personal information. Use your GC Notify account to check, correct, or update your information.
You also have the right to raise concerns about how we handle your personal information. To learn more or to make a formal complaint, contact the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Questions?
Last updated: November 15, 2023