terms of use

terms of use

Please read the Moderation Policy and Terms of Use carefully before using any of Destination Canada’s web sites including web sites sponsored by third parties. By using any of the services offered on any of Destination Canada’s web sites, you or the entity or company that you represent (“You” or “Your”) are unconditionally consenting to be bound by and are becoming a party to these terms of use, and any policies or guidelines incorporated herein (collectively, the “Terms of Use”). Your use of the service offered by Destination Canada shall also constitute assent to these Terms of Use. If you do not unconditionally agree to all of these Terms of Use do not use any of the services described herein. If these Terms of Use are considered an offer, acceptance is expressly limited to these terms.

Moderation Policy

Destination Canada encourages you to share your inspiring comments, photos and videos of Canada on our social media sites. We want everyone to be inspired to explore Canada.

Material that is deemed to be inappropriate, however, will be removed at Destination Canada’s sole and absolute discretion, such as:

  • Violent, obscene, profane, hateful, or racist posts, links or images
  • Comments that threaten or defame any person or organization
  • Solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements
  • Comments that suggest or encourage illegal activity
  • Multiple successive off-topic posts by a single user or repetitive posts

Destination Canada does not claim any ownership rights in photos you post on our wall. However, by posting material on our social media sites you hereby grant to Destination Canada, its affiliates, partners, in perpetuity, a world-wide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to publish, display, reproduce, modify, edit or otherwise use your submitted content (in any format or media) and waive all moral rights in and to your submitted content in favour of Destination Canada. This includes the right to use any ideas you submit (including ideas about our products or advertising campaigns) in any manner that we choose, without any obligation to you.

Destination Canada respects intellectual property laws. By posting and/or submitting material to Destination Canada social media sites, you represent that you have the right to share the material in your submitted content, including (without limitation) trade-marks and copyrighted material. Do not post or submit any third party materials unless you have first obtained consent from the owner of such materials.

1. SERVICES. Subject to these Terms of Use, Destination Canada may offer to provide certain services that relate to the promotion of Canada as a tourism destination (the “Services”), as described more fully on Destination Canada’s websites, and microsites, including but not limited to www.canada.travel, www.keepexploring.ca, www.gomediacanada.com, www.media.canada.travel, www.businesseventscanada.ca (collectively the “Sites”), and which are selected by You through the process provided on the Sites, solely for Your own use, and not for the use or benefit of any third party. Services shall include, but not be limited to, any service Destination Canada performs for You, as well as the offering of any content on the Sites, and access to and use of services offered by certain third party service providers through the Sites (“Third Party Service”). Destination Canada may change, suspend or discontinue any or all Services at any time, including the availability of any feature, database, Third Party Service, or content. Destination Canada may also impose limits on certain Services or restrict Your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability. Destination Canada reserves the right, at its discretion, to modify these Terms of Use at any time. Use of the Services by You following such modifications constitutes Your acceptance of the modified Terms of Use. You also certify to Destination Canada that if You are an individual (i.e., not a corporation) You are of legal age in the jurisdiction in which you ordinarily reside to form a binding contract. You also certify that You are legally permitted to use the Services and access the Sites, and take full responsibility for the selection and use of the Services and access to the Sites. These Terms of Use are void where prohibited by law and the right to access the Sites is revoked in such jurisdictions. You shall be responsible for obtaining and maintaining any equipment or ancillary services needed to connect to, access the Sites or otherwise use the Services, including, without limitation, hardware, software, and internet service. You shall be solely responsible for ensuring that such equipment or ancillary services are compatible with the Services. Destination Canada or its licensors retains ownership of all right, title and interest in and to the Service, the Sites, Content (defined below), and any related software or materials and all related intellectual property rights.

2. CANADA SPECIALIST PROGRAM. The objective of the Canada Specialist Program, http://csp.canada.travel (“CSP”), is to educate international travel trade professionals and tourism industry users about tourism offerings in Canada.

In order to qualify as a “Canada Specialist”:

  1. complete training with at least 80% accuracy within one year;
  2. agree to use best efforts to promote and market travel to and tourism within Canada; and
  3. agree to conduct the promotion and marketing of travel to and tourism within Canada with all due care, diligence, cultivate and maintain good relations with customers and potential customers in accordance with best commercial practices, ethical standards and applicable laws.

Once the requirements are fulfilled Destination Canada will provide:

  1. a “Canada Specialist” certificate;
  2. access to online resources about selling Canada as a tourism destination; and
  3. access to promotional partnership opportunities, including e-newsletters, familiarization trips to Canada (excluding residents of Canada) and other opportunities.
  4. Publishing of your contact information to the public through websites, smartphone applications or other means as Destination Canada may make available from time to time in your country.

Destination Canada does not guarantee any revenue or profit as a result of participating in the CSP. Certification as a Canada Specialist is not a substitute for certification or qualification as a travel agent as required by local regulators. Destination Canada may require certified Canada Specialists to participate in continuing training in order to upgrade skills and ensure relevancy of information provided by Canada Specialists to the public.

Certification as a Canada Specialist is not deemed authorization to act on behalf of Destination Canada in any manner or circumstance.

3. CONTENT. The Sites and all content therein are intended solely for the use of end users of the Sites and may only be used in accordance with these Terms of Use. All materials displayed or published on the Sites (including, but not limited to text, graphics, news articles, blog articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, collectively known as “Content”) are protected by copyright and trademark laws. You shall abide by all copyright notices, information, and restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Services. The Sites are protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to Canadian copyright laws and international conventions. Trademarks used and/or displayed on the Sites are the registered or unregistered trademarks or official marks (Canada) of Destination Canada or are trademarks licensed to Destination Canada by the trademark holder. No license to use the trademarks is granted without the express written permission of Destination Canada.

Except where expressly provided You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in this Section), create derivative works based on, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content, software, materials, or Services in whole or in part. You may download or copy the Content, and other items displayed on the Sites for download, for personal use only, provided that You maintain all copyright attribution and other notices contained in such Content. You may store the Content only for personal, noncommercial use. Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal, noncommercial use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from Destination Canada, or from the copyright holder identified in such Content’s copyright notice.

You acknowledge and agree that if You use any of the Services to contribute Content to the Sites, Destination Canada is hereby granted a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable right to fully perform, display, distribute, make derivative works from, and otherwise exploit such Content in any medium now known or hereafter invented (including all related intellectual property rights) and to allow others to do so. You expressly waive, to the fullest extent permitted by law, any moral rights you have in any Content that you have contributed and agree that no rights of attribution shall be enforced by you. You grant these rights free of charge. To the extent You retain any moral rights to the Content under applicable law, You hereby ratify and consent to any action that may be taken with respect to such moral rights by Destination Canada and agree not to assert any moral rights with respect thereto. You warrant, represent and agree that You will not contribute any Content that, in Destination Canada’s sole judgment, is infringing, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, does not comply with Destination Canada’s legislated mandate (Canadian Tourism Commission Act, Statutes of Canada, 2000, chapter 28) or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party. Content submitted by users will be considered non-confidential and Destination Canada is under no obligation to treat Content as confidential or proprietary information. Without limiting the foregoing, Destination Canada reserves the right to use the user generated Content as it deems appropriate, including, without limitation, deleting, editing, modifying, rejecting, or refusing to post it. Destination Canada is under no obligation to offer You any payment for Content that You submit or the opportunity to edit, delete or otherwise modify Content once it has been submitted to Destination Canada. Destination Canada has no duty to attribute authorship of user generated Content to You other than by using Your service User ID (defined below). Destination Canada shall not be obligated to enforce any form of attribution by third parties. Destination Canada reserves the right to remove any Content from the Sites at any time, for any reason including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content or if Destination Canada is concerned that You may have breached these Terms of Use, or for no reason at all.

Destination Canada takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any Content posted, stored or uploaded by You, or for any loss or damage You may suffer as a result, nor is Destination Canada liable for any mistakes, defamation, slander, libel, omissions, falsehoods, obscenity, pornography or profanity You may encounter. Destination Canada is not liable for any statements, representations or Content provided by its users in any public forum, personal home page or any other area of the Sites. Although Destination Canada has no obligation to screen, edit or monitor any of the Content posted to or distributed through the Sites, Destination Canada reserves the right, and has absolute discretion, to remove, screen or edit without notice any Content posted or stored on the Sites at any time and for any reason, and You are solely responsible for creating backup copies of and replacing any Content You post or store on the Sites at your sole cost and expense.

Any use of the Sites in violation of the foregoing violates these Terms of Use and may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of Your rights to use the Sites. In order to cooperate with legitimate governmental requests, subpoenas or court orders, to protect Destination Canada’s systems and users, or to ensure the integrity and operation of Destination Canada’s business and systems, Destination Canada may access and disclose any information it considers necessary or appropriate, including, without limitation, user profile information (i.e. name, email address, etc.), IP addressing and traffic information, usage history, and posted Content. Destination Canada’s right to disclose any such information shall be in accordance with Destination Canada’s privacy policy, the Privacy Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, chapter P-21, the Access to Information Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, chapter A-1, and legislation in the jurisdiction in which You are using the Service.

If You believe in good faith that materials hosted by Destination Canada infringe Your copyright, You must provide Destination Canada with written notification. The procedure outlined below is exclusively for notifying Destination Canada that your copyrighted material has been infringed and is not a final assertion of any rights to the Content that You may have.

Your written notification must include the following:

  1. a clear identification of Your copyrighted work that You claim is being infringed;
  2. a clear identification on the Site(s) of the location of Your copyrighted work;
  3. Your full name, telephone number, email address and physical address and your signature; and
  4. send Your notice to:

Destination Canada
Attention: Legal Services
Suite 800, 1045 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2A9
Tel: (604) 638-8300

Please note that You may be liable for damages if you make a false claim of copyright infringement.

Destination Canada will review and appropriately address all notices that comply with the requirements above.

4. RESTRICTIONS. You are responsible for all of Your activity in connection with the Services and accessing the Sites. Any fraudulent, abusive, or otherwise illegal activity may be grounds for termination of Your right to use the Services or to access the Sites. You may not post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any communication or solicitation designed or intended to obtain password, account, or private information from any user. Use of the Sites or Services to violate the security of any computer network, crack passwords or security encryption codes, transfer or store illegal material, including material deemed threatening or obscene, or engage in any kind of illegal activity is expressly prohibited. You will not run Mail-list, Listserv, any form of auto-responder, "spam" on the Sites, or any processes that run or are activated by You.

5. THIRD PARTY TOURISM EXPERIENCES. Destination Canada is not a booking agent or tour operator. You should be aware that organizations that are featured on Destination Canada’s Sites will have their own terms and rates for booking tourism experiences. When You book any tourism experience with a third party please be sure to check with them for disclosure of all applicable terms, restrictions, rates and fees. It is Your responsibility to verify the information provided by the third party prior to booking a tourism experience.

Destination Canada may include Content provided by third party companies or individuals which may include offers for third party tourism experiences. Destination Canada is not responsible for the accuracy of Content provided by third party companies including without limitation information regarding pricing.

Your business dealings or correspondence with, or participation in promotions of advertisers or any other third party other than Destination Canada, and any terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such third party. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Destination Canada is not responsible or liable for any loss or damage You may incur as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of third party tourism experience offerings on the Sites.

6. PRIVACY POLICY. Please refer to Destination Canada's privacy policy for information on how Destination Canada collects, uses and discloses personally identifiable information from its users . Destination Canada’s privacy policy is hereby incorporated into these Terms of Use.

7. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER. Destination Canada has no special relationship with, or fiduciary duty, to You. You acknowledge that Destination Canada has no control over, and no duty to take any action regarding:

  1. which users gain access to the Sites;
  2. what Content You access via the Sites;
  3. what effects the Content may have on You;
  4. how You may interpret or use the Content; or
  5. what actions You may take as a result of having been exposed to the Content.

You release Destination Canada from all liability for Your having acquired or not acquired Content through the Sites. Destination Canada makes no representations concerning any Content contained in or accessed through the Sites or any content contained in or accessed through a Third Party Service, and Destination Canada will not be responsible or liable for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality or decency of material contained in or accessed through the Sites or any Third Party Service linked to the Sites.

THE SERVICES, CONTENT, AND SITES ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

Destination Canada makes no guaranty of confidentiality or privacy of any communication or information transmitted on any third party web site linked to Destination Canada’s Sites or otherwise in connection with the Services.

Destination Canada will not be liable for the privacy of e-mail addresses, registration and identification information, disk space, communications, third party confidential or trade-secret information, or any other Content stored on Destination Canada's equipment, transmitted over networks accessed by the Sites, or otherwise connected with Your use of the Sites, Services, or Third Party Service.

8. REGISTRATION AND SECURITY. As a condition to accessing or using certain Services, receiving Content or participating in promotional events such as contests, You may be required to register with Destination Canada and select a password and user name (“User ID”). You shall provide Destination Canada with accurate, complete, and updated registration information. Failure to do so shall constitute a breach of these Terms of Use which may result in immediate termination of Your account. You may not (i) select or use as a User ID a name of another person with the intent to impersonate that person; or (ii) use as a User ID a name subject to any rights of a person other than You without appropriate authorization. Destination Canada reserves the right to refuse registration of, or cancel a User ID in its sole discretion. You shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Your password associated with Your User ID.

9. INDEMNITY. You will indemnify all costs and legal fees, and hold harmless, Destination Canada, the federal government of Canada, their affiliates, directors, officers and employees, from (i) any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of Your access to the Sites, (ii) use of the Services, (iii) Your violation of these Terms of Use, or (iv) the infringement by You, or any third party using the Your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity.

10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT SHALL DESTINATION CANADA BE LIABLE TO YOU WITH RESPECT TO THE SITES OR THE SERVICES OR ANY THIRD PARTY WEB SITE OR TOURISM EXPERIENCE (I) FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES DUE TO LOSS OF DATA OR FAILED COMMUNICATIONS, OR (II) FOR ANY AMOUNT IN THE AGGREGATE IN EXCESS OF THE FEES PAID BY YOU TO DESTINATION CANADA.

11. TERMINATION. Destination Canada may terminate or suspend any and all Services and access to the Sites (i) immediately, without prior notice or liability, if You breach these Terms of Use or (ii) upon fifteen (15) days notice for any reason or for no reason. You may terminate Your access to the Services at any time upon written notice to Destination Canada. Upon termination of the Your account, Your right to use the Services, access the Sites and any Content will immediately cease. All provisions of these Terms of Use which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, warranty disclaimers and limitations of liability.

12. MISCELLANEOUS. The failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder. Destination Canada shall not be liable for any failure to perform its obligations hereunder where such failure results from any cause beyond Destination Canada’s reasonable control, including, without limitation, mechanical, electronic or communications failure or degradation. If any provision of these Terms of Use is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that these Terms of Use shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. These Terms of Use are not assignable, transferable or sub-licensable by You except with Destination Canada’s prior written consent. Destination Canada may freely assign these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of British Columbia, Canada and the applicable federal laws of Canada without regard to the conflict of laws provisions thereof. You agree that all claims you may have against Destination Canada arising from or relating to the Sites will be heard and resolved in a court of competent subject matter jurisdiction located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts over you, stipulate to the fairness and convenience of proceeding in such courts, and covenant not to assert any objection to proceeding in such courts. Both parties agree that these Terms of Use are the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding of the parties and supersede and cancel all previous written and oral agreements, communications and other understandings relating to the subject matter of these Terms of Use. Destination Canada may provide You with notices, including those regarding changes to the Terms of Use by email, regular mail or postings on the Sites. Your continued use of the access or use of the Service after communicating that these Terms of Use have been changed will be considered your assent to any such changes.