Who we are

When we say “we”, “us” or “our”, we mean His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario (or more commonly known as the Government of Ontario).

Acceptable use of this website

We require you to 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

Privacy

Your privacy is important to us! If you provide any personal information to us through this website, we will handle it according to what we say in our Privacy Statement.

Online government services and transactions

We may provide you with access to online government services or transactions through this website. Additional or different terms of use may apply to those services or transactions. You should carefully review the terms and conditions that apply before obtaining the particular service or completing a transaction. Where these Terms of Use are different from those terms and conditions, those terms and conditions will apply to the extent of the difference.

Copyright

Unless we tell you otherwise, the content on this website is protected by Crown copyright. Crown copyright is held by the King's Printer for Ontario. Your ability to use and reproduce content owned by the King's Printer for Ontario is set out on the Copyright Information page.

Copyright ownership in user submitted content is not held by the King's Printer for Ontario, unless we tell you otherwise. You must obtain the prior consent of the copyright holder before doing anything with user submitted content.

Trademark

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

Archive label

This site uses an archive label to identify content that may not be the most recent or accurate version. This content is being maintained online for archival and research purposes. The label will direct people to a more recent or updated version if one is available.

User contributed content

This website allows you and others to submit content to this website. If you choose to submit content, please be civil and respectful. You must not:

  1. mislead us or anyone else as to your identity or the origin of the submitted 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, offensive or otherwise objectionable
    4. incites hatred, racism, bigotry or physical harm of any kind
    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
    8. can result in us being liable to anyone else under any intellectual property rights law

By submitting your content, you agree to give us a right to do what we want with the content that you submit and to permit others to do the same; in both cases, without the need to give you notice, acknowledgement or payment (except in the case of personal information, in which case our right to do what we want with it is subject to terms of our Privacy Statement, other privacy policies and applicable consents). You also agree to waive your moral rights as an author under copyright law in the submitted content.

While we may moderate certain interactive portions of this website, we are not required to, nor should you expect that we will, take action in response to any content posted on this website. 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.

We reserve the right not to post any content that you submit, and to remove, edit or move, at any time, any content submitted and posted on this website which does not comply with these Terms of Use or for any other reason that we determine appropriate.

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 or activity that you undertake on our website and will provide such content and provide information regarding your identity as well as other relevant information.

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 doesn’t 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 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.

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 the Government of Ontario. Social media platforms or other websites are not bound by our Privacy Statement. You should review the privacy policies of any linked website or 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.

Links from other websites and social media platforms

Unless we tell you otherwise, other websites and social media platforms that link to this website or any Government of Ontario 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. Make sure you don’t 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 enquiries 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.

The warranty disclaimer in the paragraph above does not apply to the content of the official copies of Ontario's statutes and regulations available on the e-Laws portion of this website.

Limitation of liability

Under no circumstances will His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario or the members of the Executive Council and their 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 the Government of Ontario has been specifically advised of the possibility of such damage or loss, or if such damage or loss was foreseeable.

General

The Government of Ontario 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 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 in this 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.

Created: September 30, 2014