Social Media Notice

The Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada (OCI) was established in 1973 and, as per the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, is mandated to act as the independent Ombuds for individuals under the custody or supervision of Correctional Service Canada (CSC). 

The primary function of the OCI is to investigate and bring resolution to individual complaints under its jurisdiction. The OCI also has the responsibility to review and make recommendations on CSC’s policies and procedures associated with the areas of individual complaints to ensure that systemic areas of concern are identified and appropriately addressed.

The OCI's use of social media, specifically LinkedIn, serves as an extension of its presence on the Web and is intended to share information with people about our office, our work, special announcements and future career opportunities at the OCI. While we aim to share information beyond the usual Web experience, our complaint process remains the same. Our presence on LinkedIn does not replace the traditional process for contacting the office related to a complaint or submitting a complaint. The appropriate steps are outlined on our website at:

• Making a Complaint to the Office of the Correctional Investigator | OCI | BEC.

Content

The Policy and Research team manages the following bilingual account on behalf of the OCI:

• LinkedIn - Office of the Correctional Investigator Canada / Bureau de l'enquêteur correctionnel Canada

If you follow the OCI on LinkedIn, you can expect our posts to cover some or all of the following:

• Annual Reports

• Findings and recommendations related to investigations and review of systemic issues

• Relevant statistics

• Appearances by the Correctional Investigator and other staff before Parliamentary Committees

• Participation by the Correctional Investigator at national and international events

• The Ed McIsaac Human Rights in Corrections Award

• Links to:
  • Speeches/addresses by the Correctional Investigator

  • annual or special reports

Frequency

We use our social media account as an alternative method of sharing the content posted on our website and of interacting with our stakeholders. By following our social media account ("following," "liking" or "subscribing"), you can expect to see information about the programs and services we provide.

We understand that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your messages are welcome at any time. You should expect to see new content posted during regular office hours only, between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday to Friday (excluding holidays and weekends). Messages submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and responded to as soon as possible, during regular business hours.

The servers of social media platforms are managed by third parties, and as such our social media account is subject to downtime that may be out of our control. We accept no responsibility for the platform becoming unresponsive or unavailable.

Links to other websites

Where appropriate, we may include, in our posts, links to websites not operated by the OCI or the Government of Canada. These links are provided solely for the convenience and interest of users. As is customary in different organizations, the OCI is not responsible for the accuracy, timeliness or reliability of the content on these sites. The OCI offers no guarantees in this regard and is not responsible for information contained on these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.

Official Languages

The OCI respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products of equal quality are available in English and French. All our posts are therefore available in both official languages. Users should be aware that some links will direct them to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act, and that these sources are available only in the language in which they were written.

Following

The fact that the OCI opts to follow a user does not mean that it supports that user, or their views. We follow accounts that we consider relevant to our mandate and our work.

Similarly, the OCI does not systematically support all users who follow the OCI on LinkedIn. We will take steps to remove or block a follower only if it is clear that the follower is a "bot" or is not respecting message etiquette.

Messages

All messages sent to the OCI through this platform will be reviewed by our staff and responded in a timely manner. 

We do not provide advice or guidance with respect to complaints on any social media platform. Always contact our office via official channels: 

• Making a Complaint to the Office of the Correctional Investigator | OCI | BEC       

• Contact Us | OCI | BEC 

The OCI does not tolerate offensive, disrespectful or abusive messages about an individual or organization. We do not discriminate against any opinions, but we reserve the right to block senders of messages that: 

• are contrary to the principles of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

• are racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, defamatory, insulting, threatening, or otherwise discriminating or hurtful to an individual or group

• put forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations

• are aggressive, vulgar, indecent, rude, abusive, coarse, violent, obscene or pornographic in tone or content

• are offensive, defamatory, disparaging or include defamatory statements to an individual or an organization

• are not sent by the author and/or posted by anonymous or robot accounts

• are put forward for phishing or spamming purposes

• are written in a language other than English or French

• are solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency

• contain announcements from labour or political organizations

• contain personal information about you or any other person

• contain any names, products or services, logos, slogans, mascots, artwork, or promotion of any brand, product or service of any company or entity, or any material protected by copyright or trademarks

• are unintelligible or irrelevant

• encourage or suggest illegal activity

• are repetitive or spamming of threads

• are not related, in the moderators’ opinion, to the work of the OCI

In brief, be respectful and ensure that your messages are relevant to the OCI and its work.

Any individual who does not adhere to these terms of use may be blocked by the OCI. These individuals may also be reported to LinkedIn if they do not adhere to the service provider's terms of use.

Other important remarks:

• We cannot enter into discussions concerning party politics or ongoing investigations.

• We do not respond to requests for media interviews or questions of a personal nature.

• We do not receive complaints through social media.

• You participate at your own risk, taking personal responsibility for your messages to the OCI, your username and the information provided. To protect your own privacy and that of others, please do not include telephone numbers or email addresses in your messages.

• We do not consider messages concerning the work or professional activity of persons employed by the OCI.

Comments

The OCI’s LinkedIn account is used to share information with the public. Commenting on posts may be disabled as a standard practice.

Please share your questions and feedback through the following official channels:

Mail:
Office of the Correctional Investigator
P. O. Box 3421, Station "D" Ottawa ON K1P 6L4

Fax: 613-990-9091

Email: Organization-Organisation@oci-bec.gc.ca 

Toll-Free number: 1-877-885-8848

We strive to respond through these channels in a timely manner.

Submitting a complaint / Information related to a complaint

If you wish to submit a complaint to the OCI or are looking for more information related to an existing complaint, please follow the traditional process outlined here:

• Making a Complaint to the Office of the Correctional Investigator | OCI | BEC.

The OCI does not process complaints received through social media.

Media requests

For all media-related requests, please adhere to our traditional communication channels.

Accessibility

As a third-party service provider, LinkedIn is not bound by the Web accessibility policies of the Government of Canada. For detailed information about accessibility and LinkedIn, please refer to the following:

• Accessibility

Copyright

Information posted by the OCI is subject to the Canadian Copyright Act. 

For further information, see the Terms and Conditions | OCI | BEC section of our website.

Privacy

LinkedIn is a third-party social network and online platform used by the OCI to communicate with the public. LinkedIn account holders who use the service are bound by LinkedIn’s User Agreement and this includes the OCI. We encourage users to read LinkedIn’s User Agreement and Privacy Policy, as well as the user agreements, terms of service and privacy policies for all social networking services they use. LinkedIn’s Privacy Policy is separate from the OCI’s privacy policy, and our use of LinkedIn is not an endorsement of LinkedIn’s Privacy Policy or practices.

The OCI does not collect any personal information via LinkedIn. When you “like” one of our posts, that information is displayed under the post and is visible to LinkedIn users visiting our page. LinkedIn also provides us with information on our visitors and followers, and on the numbers of impressions, clicks, interaction and engagement our posts garner, but this information is provided in aggregate form. The OCI may use this information for statistical or analytical purposes and to help us provide content of interest to the public.

Information shared with the OCI via social media is subject to the provisions of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. This means that the information you share through the OCI's LinkedIn account can be captured, stored, consulted and disclosed in response to a request under either of those Acts.

To protect your own privacy and that of others, the OCI recommends that you not include personal information in your messages. Personal information includes home addresses, 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.

OCI staff on social media

Some OCI employees have accounts on LinkedIn. Despite their professional affiliation with the OCI, their posts do not represent the official position of the Correctional Investigator. They are the personal product of private citizens.

Contacting the OCI

The traditional methods of contacting the OCI for official correspondence are detailed in the Contact us section of our website.

To submit a complaint, please consult:

• Making a Complaint to the Office of the Correctional Investigator | OCI | BEC.