The City of Kitchener owns and operates a variety of websites for the purposes of providing information and services to citizens, staff, businesses, investors, visitors and other stakeholders. It is essential that the City's websites provide users with information and services that are accurate, up-to-date, visually pleasing, easy-to-read and easy-to-find.

In addition to information and services pertaining to The Corporation of the City of Kitchener and its enterprises, the city's websites may also contain information that a reader should reasonably expect to find on municipal government websites, including but not limited to information from or links to other orders of government, community groups which receive support from the city, Kitchener-based professional organizations, service clubs and paid advertisers.

All content (text and visual) on the website should contribute to a professional and unified corporate brand.

Purpose

To establish the parameters under which the city will post content from a third-party organization on any of its municipally owned and operated websites.

Scope

This policy applies to any website owned and operated by the City of Kitchener:

  • www.kitchener.ca
  • MyKitchener portal
  • www.kitchenermarket.ca
  • www.kitchenercemeteries.ca
  • www.kitchenerutilities.ca
  • www.theaud.ca
  • www.kitchenergolf.ca
  • www.engagekitchener.ca

Policy content

Posting external links

The City of Kitchener will consider posting external links on its websites if the link is directed to the website of:

  • An official government website (municipal, regional, provincial, federal).
  • A government-funded agency or board.
  • A City of Kitchener affiliated organization.
  • An organization receiving a City of Kitchener community grant (Tier One or Tier Two).
  • Service clubs operating in the City of Kitchener who perform service work that benefits Kitchener residents.
  • A charitable organization with a registered charitable number and operating within the City of Kitchener.
  • A business improvement area.
  • A major community tourist attraction as determined solely by the City of Kitchener.
  • A professional association.
  • A business, organization or association with an agreement under the Municipal Partnership Program.
  • A company that has tendered to do with the city.
  • Artist-in-residence, and artists commissioned by the City of Kitchener to create and/or display public art.
  • Regulatory authorities (e.g. Ontario Energy Board, TSSA)

The city will not consider posting external links on its websites to:

  • Personal websites.
  • Business websites that are not part of an advertising agreement with the city.
  • Political parties (unless as part of an advertising agreement as per the regulations of the city's municipal advertising policy).

Notwithstanding the criteria listed above, the city reserves the right to post, or refuse to post any external links on its website or to delete links already posted on its site at any time, without notice.

Removing external links

External links will be removed by the city without notice if, but not limited to, any of the following conditions apply:

  • The site's original information has been altered and the context of the information has changed;
  • The site no longer meets the conditions listed above for acceptable external links;
  • In the city's sole opinion, the information on the site becomes inaccurate and/or not trustworthy;
  • Page formatting, lengthy download items or intrusive advertising make accessing information difficult;
  • The link returns a "not found" error for more than 72 hours;
  • The link promotes, exhibits, illustrates or manifests hate or obscene/pornographic/sexual content of any kind;
  • The site and content does not comply with municipal, provincial or federal legislation.

Requesting an external link

Requests to add an external link to the city's website, according to the criteria listed above, are to be submitted by email for consideration.

External link policy enforcement

All sites may be reviewed by city staff to ensure that, in the sole opinion and discretion of the city, they meet and are in keeping with the above criteria.

Enforcement of the above linking policy and the decision on whether or not to add, remove or deny an external link on the city's website will be made by the manager of corporate communications, in consultation with the director of corporate communications and marketing, or his/her designate.

Community calendar postings

City of Kitchener staff will post information regarding activities, programs, meetings, events and festivals organized by the city and its Enterprises on its website calendar. The city reserves the right to post any additional events to its website calendar it deems to be in the community's interest.

Criteria for publishing events on the community calendar

Members of the public may submit event information for inclusion on the city's website calendar if that event is open to the general public, occurs within the boundaries of the Region of Waterloo and meets one of the following criteria:

  • Organized or funded by another order of government.
  • Organized by a government-funded agency or board.
  • Organized by a City of Kitchener affiliated group.
  • Organized by an organization identified as eligible for a City of Kitchener community grant (Tier One or Tier Two).
  • Funded in full, or in part, by the City of Kitchener.
  • Sponsored by the City of Kitchener.
  • Organized by a charitable organization with a registered charitable number and operating within the City of Kitchener.
  • Organized by a service club operating within the City of Kitchener performing work that benefits Kitchener residents.
  • Organized by a business improvement area for general promotional purposes.
  • Located in a facility owned or leased by the City of Kitchener.

Events submitted by the public will not be published on the city's website calendar if they:

  • Are commercial in nature and, in the city's sole opinion, are attempting to advertise, promote or sell products or services of an individual or an individual business.
  • Promote, exhibit, illustrate or manifest hate or obscene / pornographic / sexual content of any kind.
  • Do not comply with municipal, provincial or federal legislation.
  • Promote an individual religion or religious service.
  • Events deemed by the city to be political in nature will not be posted after the writ has been dropped for a federal or provincial election, or after the first day of a municipal election year.
  • Notwithstanding the criteria listed above, the city reserves the right to post, refuse to post, or remove, any event from its website calendar at any time, without notice.

Submitting an event to the community calendar

Requests from a member of the public to add an event to the city's website calendar must be submitted directly through the calendar itself.

To be considered for publication, an event submission must be accompanied by a name and contact information of an individual from the event organizing committee. Anonymous postings of events will not be published.

Policy enforcement of community calendar

All events submitted by a member of the public for publication on the city's website calendar will be reviewed by city staff to ensure that, in the sole opinion and discretion of the City of Kitchener, the event meets or is in keeping with the intent of the above criteria.

Decisions on whether or not to add, remove or deny the posting of an event to the city's website calendar will be made by the city's manager of corporate communications, in consultation with the director of corporate communications and marketing, or his/her designate.

Disclaimer

The City of Kitchener does not endorse or make any representation or warranty, expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, quality or reliability of information contained on externally linked websites or posted on its community calendar that has been submitted by a member of the public.

Advertising

All advertisements placed on a municipally owned and operated website must comply with the city's municipal advertising policy.