ARCHIVED - Part 4: Standard on Email - CLF 2.0 Assessment Methodology

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Part 4: Standard on Email

Part 4, R1 – Email Addresses

Part 4, R1.1 – Naming convention

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Situation where applicable: Page contains at least one email address associated with a Government of Canada employee

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the portion of the email address preceding the @ sign for each email address associated with a Government of Canada employee in the order of the employee's given name on the left and family name on the right with a period separating the two names and including any additional characters needed to resolve naming conflicts (such as John.Smith@)?
Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Email account associated with a Government Canada employee

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the portion of the email address preceding the @ sign for the "From" and "Reply-To" email addresses for each email account associated with a Government of Canada employee in the order of the employee's given name on the left and family name on the right with a period separating the two names and including any additional characters needed to resolve naming conflicts (such as John.Smith@)?

Part 4, R1.2 – Domain name

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Situation where applicable: Page contains at least one email address associated with a Government of Canada employee

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the domain name in the .gc.ca sub domain for each email address associated with a Government of Canada employee?
  2. Is the domain name one of the following for each email address associated with a Government of Canada employee:
    1. domain name used for either the "From" or "Reply-To" email address of the email account associated with the Government of Canada employee?
    2. Employee of a unilingual institution:
      1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site?
    3. Employee of a bilingual institution:
      1. Primary domain name of the main institutional site has the same meaning and spelling in both official languages (such as ec.gc.ca):
        1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @ec.gc.ca)?
      2. Primary domain name of the main institutional site is in both official languages with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as tbs-sct.gc.ca):
        1. English page:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual English version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @tbs.gc.ca or @inac.gc.ca)?
        2. French page:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual French version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @sct.gc.ca or @ainc.gc.ca)?
        3. Bilingual or multilingual page provided by an office outside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca)?
        4. Bilingual or multilingual page provided by an office inside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca)?
        5. Page in a language other than English or French provided by an office outside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca)?
        6. Page in a language other than English or French provided by an office inside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca)?
Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Email account associated with a Government of Canada employee

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the domain name in the .gc.ca sub domain used for the "From" and "Reply-To" email addresses of each email account associated with a Government of Canada employee?
  2. Are the domain names the same and one of the following for the "From" and "Reply-To" email addresses of each email account associated with a Government of Canada employee:
    1. Employee of a unilingual institution:
      1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site?
    2. Employee of a bilingual institution:
      1. Primary domain name of the main institutional site has the same meaning and spelling in both official languages (such as ec.gc.ca):
        1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @ec.gc.ca)?
      2. Primary domain name of the main institutional site is in both official languages with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as tbs-sct.gc.ca):
        1. Employee located in a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca)?
        2. Employee located in a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca)?
        3. Employee located in a unilingual English office:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual English version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @tbs.gc.ca or @inac.gc.ca)?
        4. Employee located in a unilingual French office:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual French version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @sct.gc.ca or @ainc.gc.ca)?

Part 4, R2 – Generic email addresses

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Situation where applicable: Page contains at least one generic Government of Canada email address

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the domain name in the .gc.ca sub domain for each generic Government of Canada email address?
  2. Is the portion of the email address preceding the @ sign one of the following for each generic Government of Canada email address:
    1. portion of the email address preceding the @ sign for either the "From" or "Reply-To" email address of the associated generic Government of Canada email account?
    2. Email address associated with a unilingual English office:
      1. elements or acronyms in English only (such as clf@)?
    3. Email address associated with a unilingual French office:
      1. elements or acronyms in French only (such as nsi@)?
    4. English page:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as clf-nsi@); or
      2. elements or acronyms in English only (such as clf@)?
    5. French page:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as nsi-clf@); or
      2. elements or acronyms in French only (such as nsi@)?
    6. Bilingual or multilingual page provided by an office outside of Quebec:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as clf-nsi@)?
    7. Bilingual or multilingual page provided by an office inside of Quebec:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as nsi-clf@)?
    8. Page in a language other than English or French provided by an office outside of Quebec:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as clf-nsi@)?
    9. Page in a language other than English or French provided by an office inside of Quebec:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as nsi-clf@)?
  3. Is the domain name one of the following for each generic Government of Canada email address
    1. domain name used for either the "From" or "Reply-To" email address of the associated generic Government of Canada email account?
    2. Email address associated with a unilingual institution:
      1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site?
    3. Email address associated with a bilingual institution:
      1. Primary domain name of the main institutional site has the same meaning and spelling in both official languages (such as ec.gc.ca):
        1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @ec.gc.ca)?
      2. Primary domain name of the main institutional site is in both official languages with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as tbs-sct.gc.ca):
        1. English page:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual English version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @tbs.gc.ca or @inac.gc.ca)?
        2. French page:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual French version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @sct.gc.ca or @ainc.gc.ca)?
        3. Bilingual or multilingual page provided by an office outside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca)?
        4. Bilingual or multilingual page provided by an office inside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca)?
        5. Page in a language other than English or French provided by an office outside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca)?
        6. Page in a language other than English or French provided by an office inside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca)?

Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Generic Government of Canada email account

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the domain name in the .gc.ca sub domain used for the "From" and "Reply-To" email addresses of each generic Government of Canada email account?
  2. Are the portions of the email addresses preceding the @ sign either the same or different (such as clf-nsi@ and re-clf-nsi@) and one of the following for the "From" and "Reply-To" email addresses of each generic Government of Canada email account:
    1. elements or acronyms with the same meaning and spelling in both official languages (such as service@)?
    2. Email account associated with a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as clf-nsi@)?
    3. Email account associated with a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as nsi-clf@)?
    4. Email account associated with a unilingual English office:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as clf-nsi@); or
      2. elements or acronyms in English only (such as clf@)?
    5. Email account associated with a unilingual French office:
      1. elements or acronyms in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as nsi-clf@); or
      2. elements or acronyms in French only (such as nsi@)?
  3. Are the domain names the same and one of the following for the "From" and "Reply-To" email addresses for each generic Government of Canada email account:
    1. Email account associated with a unilingual institution:
      1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site?
    2. Email account associated with a bilingual institution:
      1. Primary domain name of the main institutional site has the same meaning and spelling in both official languages (such as ec.gc.ca):
        1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @ec.gc.ca)?
      2. Primary domain name of the main institutional site is in both official languages with a hyphen separating the two languages (such as tbs-sct.gc.ca):
        1. Email account associated with a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca)?
        2. Email account associated with a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca)?
        3. Email account associated with a unilingual English office:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of English on the left and French on the right (such as @tbs-sct.gc.ca or @inac-ainc.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual English version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @tbs.gc.ca or @inac.gc.ca)?
        4. Email account associated with a unilingual French office:
          1. primary domain name of the main institutional Web site with the order of French on the left and English on the right (such as @sct-tbs.gc.ca or @ainc-inac.gc.ca); or
          2. unilingual French version of the primary domain name of the main institutional Web site (such as @sct.gc.ca or @ainc.gc.ca)?

Part 4, R3 – Email signature blocks

Part 4, R3.1 – Contact information for individuals

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Not included in the assessment of a Web page

Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Email account associated with a Government of Canada employee

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the signature block for the email account associated with a Government of Canada employee included in the initial email, response, or forward of any email thread involving one or more non-Government of Canada recipients?
  2. Employee located in a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
    1. Are all signature block elements provided in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Telephone | Téléphone")?
  3. Employee located in a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
    1. Are all signature block elements provided in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Téléphone | Telephone")?
  4. Employee located in a unilingual English office:
    1. Is the signature block one of the following:
      1. signature block elements in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Telephone | Téléphone"); or
      2. signature block elements in English only (such as "Telephone")?
  5. Employee located in a unilingual French office:
    1. Is the signature block one of the following:
      1. signature block elements in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Téléphone | Telephone"); or
      2. signature block elements in French only (such as "Téléphone")?
  6. Are the following elements included in the signature block at a minimum:
    1. the sender's given name or initial(s);
    2. the sender's family name;
    3. the sender's organizational information (such as the individual's title, branch, or division);
    4. the "From" email address;
    5. Employee located in a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Telephone | Téléphone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Teletypewriter | Téléimprimeur";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Facsimile | Télécopieur";
      4. the text "Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada";
    6. Employee located in a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Téléphone | Telephone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Téléimprimeur | Teletypewriter";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Télécopieur | Facsimile";
      4. the text "Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada";
    7. Employee located in a unilingual English office:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Telephone | Téléphone" or "Telephone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Teletypewriter | Téléimprimeur" or "Teletypewriter";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Facsimile | Télécopieur" or "Facsimile";
      4. the text "Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada" or "Government of Canada";
    8. Employee located in a unilingual French office:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Téléphone | Telephone" or "Téléphone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Téléimprimeur | Teletypewriter" or "Téléimprimeur";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Télécopieur | Facsimile" or "Télécopieur";
      4. the text "Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada" or "Gouvernement du Canada";
    9. the postal address; and
    10. the institution's applied title?

Part 4, R3.2 – Contact information for a program or service

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Not included in the assessment of a Web page

Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Generic Government of Canada email account

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the signature block for the generic Government of Canada email account included in the initial email, response, or forward of any email thread involving one or more non-Government of Canada recipients?
  2. Email account associated with a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
    1. Are all signature block elements provided in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Telephone | Téléphone")?
  3. Email account associated with a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
    1. Are all signature block elements provided in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Téléphone | Telephone")?
  4. Email account associated with a unilingual English office:
    1. Is the signature block one of the following:
      1. signature block elements in both official languages in the order of English on the left and French on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Telephone | Téléphone"); or
      2. signature block elements in English only (such as "Telephone")?
  5. Email account associated with a unilingual French office:
    1. Is the signature block one of the following:
      1. signature block elements in both official languages in the order of French on the left and English on the right with a vertical bar separating the two languages (such as "Téléphone | Telephone"); or
      2. signature block elements in French only (such as "Téléphone")?
  6. Are the following elements included in the signature block at a minimum:
    1. the program or service name;
    2. the "From" email address;
    3. Email account associated with a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Telephone | Téléphone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Teletypewriter | Téléimprimeur";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Facsimile | Télécopieur";
      4. the text "Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada";
    4. Email account associated with a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Téléphone | Telephone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Téléimprimeur | Teletypewriter";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Télécopieur | Facsimile";
      4. the text "Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada";
    5. Email account associated with a unilingual English office:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Telephone | Téléphone" or "Telephone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Teletypewriter | Téléimprimeur" or "Teletypewriter";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Facsimile | Télécopieur" or "Facsimile";
      4. the text "Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada" or "Government of Canada";
    6. Generic email account associated with a unilingual French office:
      1. the telephone number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 and extension number preceded by the words "Téléphone | Telephone" or "Téléphone";
      2. the teletypewriter number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Téléimprimeur | Teletypewriter" or "Téléimprimeur";
      3. the facsimile number with area code in the format 123-456-7890 preceded by the words "Télécopieur | Facsimile" or "Télécopieur";
      4. the text "Gouvernement du Canada | Government of Canada" or "Gouvernement du Canada";
    7. the postal address; and
    8. the institution's applied title?

Part 4, R3.3 – Visual identifiers

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Not included in the assessment of a Web page

Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Institution's email system supports the incorporation of visual identifiers in an accessible manner

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Are the institutional signature and the "Canada" wordmark included in the signature block?
  2. HTML-format email system:
    1. Are text equivalents provided in the form of alt text for the institutional signature and the "Canada" wordmark?
    2. Email account associated with a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
      1. Is the order of the official languages for the alt text English on the left and French on the right?
    3. Email account associated with a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
      1. Is the order of the official languages for the alt text French on the left and English on the right?
  3. Email account associated with a bilingual office outside of Quebec:
    1. Is the order of the official languages for bilingual institutional signatures English on the left and French on the right?
  4. Email account associated with a bilingual office inside of Quebec:
    1. Is the order of the official languages for bilingual institutional signatures French on the left and English on the right?
  5. Email account associated with a unilingual English office:
    1. Is the order of the official languages for bilingual institutional signatures English on the left and French on the right?
  6. Email account associated with a unilingual French office:
    1. Is the order of the official languages for bilingual institutional signatures French on the left and English on the right?

Part 4, R3.4 – Presentation of signature block

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Not included in the assessment of a Web page

Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Institution's email system supports configuration of the font face, the font size, or the foreground/background colours of any signature block elements

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is a sans-serif font face (such as Verdana or Arial) used for all text included in the signature block?
  2. Is a font size in the range of 10 to 16 points used for all text included in the signature block?
  3. Are the foreground and background colours neutral (such as black and white) for all meaningful information and the associated backgrounds in the signature block?
  4. Is there at least a 4:1 contrast ratio between all meaningful information and the associated backgrounds in the signature block?
Medium priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 50% compliance)
  1. Is there at least a 4.25:1 contrast ratio between all meaningful information and the associated backgrounds in the signature block?
Low priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 75% compliance)
  1. Is there at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio between all meaningful information and the associated backgrounds in the signature block?
References
  1. Email Signature Block Examples
  2. Contrast Analyser (the paciello group)
  3. Effective Colour Contrast (Lighthouse)
  4. Making Text Legible (Lighthouse)
  5. Vischeck: About Vischeck (Vischeck)
  6. G18: Ensuring that a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 exists between text (and images of text) and background behind the text (WCAG 2.0)
  7. G145: Ensuring that a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 exists between text (and images of text) and background behind the text (WCAG 2.0)
  8. Contrast ratio (Glossary)
  9. Meaningful information (Glossary)
  10. Normal text size setting (Glossary)

Part 4, R3.5 – Consistency in application

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Not included in the assessment of a Web page

Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Feasible for the institution's email system administrators to manage the fulfillment of Part 4, Requirements 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Is the fulfillment of Part 4, Requirements 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 managed by the institution's email system administrators rather than by individual employees?

Part 4, R4 – Third-party references

Compliance Criteria – Web page

Not included in the assessment of a Web page

Compliance Criteria – Email system

Situation where applicable: Signature block and message footer for each Government of Canada email account included in the initial email, response, or forward of any email thread involving one or more non-Government of Canada recipients

High priority criteria (failure of a criterion results in 0% compliance)
  1. Are the signature block and message footer free of any references to third-party software and hardware vendors?