Help

The Service Canada Web site has been designed to provide you with easy access to the information you need, for the services you want. If you need help using our site, this page will provide you with the following information:

Organization of the Web Site
Navigational help
Alternative Formats and Plug-ins
Page Tools
Increasing Text Size
Multimedia
Contact Us

Organization of the Web Site

Information on the Service Canada Web site is organized in a variety of ways to make it easy for you to find information about Government of Canada programs and services.

Audience

If you identify with an audience listed on the home page, select the category that best describes your situation. You will be presented with a list of programs and services for which you may be eligible. From the left navigation bar, you may select a more specific subject related to your audience.

Subject

If you are interested in programs and services related to a specific subject, you can browse our list of subjects from the left navigation bar on the home page. The subjects include:

1. Education and Training 
2. Employment 
3. Health 
4. Housing 
5. Immigration 
6. Income Assistance 
7. Legal Assistance 
8. Personal Documents 
9. Savings Plans 
10. Special Events 
11. Starting a Business 
12. Travel 

A to Z Services Index

The A to Z Services Index is an alphabetical listing of Government of Canada programs and services found on the Service Canada Web site. You can search for programs and services by name or keyword. Simply select a letter and choose a program title or a keyword. For example, if you're looking for the Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension, you can select "C" for "Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension" or you can select "S" and look under "Seniors".

Online Services

Service Canada offers links to multiple online services that allow you to do everything from apply for benefits to change your address to calculate your retirement income. Online services are tailored to the audience or subject you select.

Other Useful Sites

Service Canada also offers a list of other useful sites tailored to each audience and subject. This list provides links to information-based Web sites offered by other federal government departments or agencies.

Navigational Help

Our Web site has been designed to provide you with different ways to find information. This page provides navigational information allowing you to quickly locate the information that you are looking for.

Top Navigation (black navigation)

Français/English

You can switch between the two official languages at anytime, anywhere on the site. Some exceptions do apply - please read our disclaimer on Official Languages.

Home

Use this button to return to the Service Canada's homepage.

Contact Us

Use this button to obtain information on how to contact Persons with Disabilities Online. With the contact us page, you will be provided with our telephone numbers and our hours of operation.

Help

You are currently on the Help page.

Search

This page features an easy search area where you can type in your search criteria.

Canada.gc.ca

Use the Canada.gc.ca button to visit the Canada Site (Canada.gc.ca), the main website of the Government of Canada.

Sub-top navigation / Preferences

Breadcrumb

Breadcrumbs are indicators of the location of the page currently in use. For example, this Help page has "Home" as a breadcrumb since a link to this page can be found on the Home page.

Left-hand Navigation

About Us

Use this button to view Service Canada's mission statement, its partners, information contained on the site, its commitment to accessibility and its plan for future development.

Services by subject

Navigate the Web site through these categories of services.

A to Z services index

All of the information that appears on this site is available through the A to Z index. Everything can be found in alphabetical order under the full name of a program, service or department. For example, if you are looking for the Canada Child Tax Benefit, this information could be found under C.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section presents the most popular researched information in a question-answer format. The Frequently Asked Questions change with time, according to what is more frequently researched on this site.

Publications and Reports

Compilation of government publications and reports related to different topics.

Newsroom

Information centre regarding different news items.

Your Comments Matter

Share your thoughts about this Web site through this section.

Page tools

The entire site can be read through the Read Me Tool.

Proactive Disclosure

This option will take you to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's Government-Wide Reporting page.

Right-hand navigation

Online Services and Forms

Access online services such as My Service Canada Account or apply to certain programs in this section.

Find a Service Canada office

Search the nearest Service Canada Centre by postal code, province or territory.

Features

Certain programs and/or services are highlighted in this section.

Other Useful Sites

For your convenience, other useful sites are listed here.

Search

Our search engine offers quick access to information through bilingual (French or English) keyword or phrase searches.

We are currently working on improving our search tool and will be launching a new version in the coming months.

Alternative Formats and Plug-ins

Information throughout the Service Canada Web site is provided in HTML as the primary format. In some cases, other software formats are provided as alternatives. To open these alternate formats, you may need to download and install one or more of the following on your computer:

Word Processing Software

Media Players (for viewing interactive content)

• Flash 
• Quicktime 
• RealPlayer 
• Windows Media Player 

Zip files

ZIP - Zip files compress data and therefore save time and space, and make downloading software faster. To open a Zip file , double click it in your browser and choose "Unzip or install from an existing Zip file" in the WinZip Wizard. If you do not have Zip software on your computer, you can download many free versions.

• WinZip 
• 7-Zip 

Page Tools

Printable Version

If you select "Printable Version" on any page, it will take you to a printable version with the same content but without any of the navigation menus from the top, left and right of the page.

Read to me

You do not need to download any extra programs or plug-ins to use this service. You will only need the following:

1. a soundcard with speakers or headphones
2. a Web browser with the ability to play sound

To be able to use the "highlight-and-read" function, you need to be using a Web browser that supports JavaScript.

Increasing Text Size

To increase the text size on our Web pages, you can click on one of the suggested text size at the top of each pages, labelled small / medium / large.

You may also change the settings in your Web browser. Just follow the instructions below based on the browser you are using or see your browser's help for details.

Internet Explorer

1. Select "View" in the menu bar.
2. Select "Text Size".
3. Select "Larger" or "Largest".

Mozilla Firefox

1. Select "View" in the menu bar.
2. Select "Text Size".
3. Select "Increase".
4. To increase the text size further, continue selecting "Increase".

Opera

1. Select "View" in the menu bar.
2. Select "Zoom".
3. From the menu, select the size with which you would like to view the Web site.
4. To increase the text size further, increase the percentage.

Netscape

1. Select "View" in the menu bar.
2. Select "Text Size".
3. From the menu, select the size with which you would like to view the Web site.

Client-side CSS for enhancing accessibility

The design of the Web pages on this Web site are flexible enough to allow you to configure the visual presentation to meet your accessibility needs by using a client-side Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file.

Most browsers provide the ability to specify a client-side CSS file, which would be applied to every Web page on this Web site that you visit. To take advantage of this feature, perform the following steps:

1. How to create a client-side CSS file, and
2. How to configure your browser to use the client-side CSS file

Multimedia

For more information about the technical requirements needed to operate the Media Centre, please visit our Multimedia Help page.

Contact us

If you are still unable to locate the information on the service you are looking for, please contact us.