Cookie Policy

This Cookie Policy explains how Civic Answer Hub (Civic Answer Hub Limited) uses cookies on our website. We use cookies to improve your browsing experience, understand how you interact with our services, and provide personalized content relevant to your needs.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device when you visit a website. They allow websites to recognize your device and remember information about your visit, such as your preferences and login status. Cookies are essential for many modern web services and help create a seamless browsing experience.

When you access our government services portal, we may place cookies on your device to enhance functionality and provide better support. These cookies do not contain personally identifiable information unless you voluntarily provide it through our services.

Types of Cookies We Use

We use several types of cookies to support our multilingual FAQ chatbot and virtual help desk services:

• Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for core website functionality, such as maintaining your session, processing your requests, and ensuring security. Without these cookies, our services may not work properly.
• Performance Cookies: We use these cookies to understand how visitors use our site, including which pages are visited most frequently and how long users spend on each page. This helps us optimize our services.
• Preference Cookies: These cookies remember your choices, such as your preferred language (English or French) and other settings you select during your visit.
• Analytics Cookies: We use analytics cookies to collect anonymous data about site usage patterns, helping us improve our content and services for all visitors.

Why We Use Cookies

Cookies serve important purposes on our platform. They enable us to deliver personalized support through our bilingual virtual help desk, remember your language preferences across sessions, and maintain security for your interactions with government services. Cookies also allow us to track service performance and identify technical issues affecting user experience.

Additionally, we use cookies to provide analytics that help us understand which government services are most frequently accessed and what information residents seek. This data helps us improve our FAQ chatbot's responses and ensure our platform meets Ottawa residents' needs effectively.

Managing Cookies

You have full control over cookies on your device. Most web browsers allow you to manage cookie settings, including the ability to accept, reject, or delete cookies. However, disabling cookies may impact the functionality of our services.

Google Chrome: Click the menu icon (three dots) in the top-right corner, select Settings, then Privacy and Security. Choose Cookies and other site data to manage your cookie preferences. You can allow all cookies, block third-party cookies, or block all cookies entirely.

Mozilla Firefox: Open the menu (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner, select Settings, then Privacy & Security. Under Cookies and Site Data, you can choose to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or accept only from sites you visit.

Apple Safari: Open Safari preferences by clicking Safari in the menu bar and selecting Preferences. Go to the Privacy tab and adjust your cookie settings. You can block cookies from third parties, all websites, or allow cookies from websites you visit.

Important Note: If you disable cookies, you may not be able to access certain features of our chatbot service, including session persistence, language preference storage, and personalized assistance. Some government portal functions may also be limited. We recommend allowing cookies to ensure the best experience with our bilingual virtual help desk.

Third-Party Services

Our platform may include third-party services such as analytics tools and content delivery networks. These services may place their own cookies on your device to provide their functionality. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these third-party services to understand their cookie practices.

Updates to This Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, regulations, or our service offerings. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated date. We recommend reviewing this policy periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.