Avoid sending personal information by email. For security reasons, never include personal coordinates in an email message, especially your file number or social insurance number.

If you decide to send personal information by email nevertheless, we will use only the information required to reply to your message.

Collection and use

In keeping with the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information, when the Department asks you for personal information, it must begin by ensuring that it necessary to collect this information. The person contacting you must identify himself or herself and tell you:

• the name and address of the public body for whom the information is being collected;
• why this information is being collected;
• the categories of person who will have access to this information;
  the compulsory or optional nature of the request;
• the consequences for the person in question or, if applicable, for a third party, of refusing to answer the request;
• the rights to access and rectification provided for by law.

The personal information collected is accessible only to persons authorized to receive it within the Department. These persons will use it only when required to carry out their job duties. Personal information is not shared with other bodies except under the conditions stipulated in the Act.

Rights to access and rectification

In keeping with the Act, you may request a copy of the administrative documents held by the Department or a copy of the personal information that the Department has collected regarding you. The Act applies to all of the documents that the Department holds to carry out its duties regardless of their form: written, graphic, sound, visual, computerized or other.

To obtain a copy of the documents that interest you, you must request them from the Department officer responsible for access to documents and the protection of personal information. The request must be specific enough to enable the Department to locate these documents. Your requests should be addressed to:

If you see that personal information regarding you is inaccurate or incomplete or if you believe that it has been unrightfully collected, kept or shared, you can ask that it be rectified or destroyed.

The officer responsible must answer within 20 days of receiving the request for access or rectification. In some cases, a 10-day extension may apply. In keeping with the Act, the officer responsible may refuse access to all or part of a document. Should this occur, the officer responsible's decision will indicate the reason for the refusal and inform the person requesting it of his or her recourses.

Note – You need not cite the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information to obtain information, ask questions or advise us of a change. Simply go to one of the customer service outlets indicated in the page "Contact us".