Frequently Asked Questions

Technical help

For information on browsers, plugins and streaming media, please visit the CBC.ca Video Help page at http://www.cbc.ca/video/help.html

Where are Wayne & Shuster, the Olympics and Mr. Dressup?

The internet is a relatively new medium, and care must be taken to bring present audiovisual content without depriving the various content creators of their rightful income. CBC is currently negotiating internet rights with many different organizations, including trade unions, artists and writers, so that we may include on this site excerpts from Canada's best radio dramas, television serials and specials. For the moment, the CBC Digital Archives website focuses primarily on interviews, news and current affairs programs to which we hold or have obtained copyright.

Can I use material from your site?

You may use content of this site within the framework of educational, non-commercial use. This content remains the property of CBC and under no circumstances may you use this content in any form on another website. Copyright restrictions dictate that clips cannot be downloaded. You may, however, provide HTML links to pages on our site.

Can I buy items from the Archives?

CBC archival material can be obtained for professional or commercial use. Of course, the Archives are considerably more vast that the selected items presented on this site. If you wish to purchase archival material, please visit our Contact Us page.

How do you select topics and clips?

Topics and clips are chosen by CBC staff to represent a range of themes of historical importance to Canadians. In addition to focusing on significant moments, events and figures, an effort has been made to represent a range of time periods (1920s to 2000s) and regions of Canada.

How often is the site updated?

The CBC Digital Archives site has over 13,000 clips in English and French. We update the content of the site at least once a week.

Why are the English and French sites different?

CBC and Radio-Canada have separate archival facilities housing material from their respective radio and television programs. (CBC's national English Archives are mostly held in Toronto, while those of Radio-Canada are mainly in Montreal. There are also several regional archives.)

Web site staff in Toronto and Montreal have worked together to select topics, then selected clips from their individual archives and have written copy to accompany them. As a result, many topics appear on both sites and cover roughly the same material, but clips and text will differ.

What if I can't find a story I'm interested in?

If you can't find a particular story by browsing our categories, try our search function. We are regularly adding new clips and topics, so new subjects will be posted every week.

For more recent news stories (Jan 17, 2001 to present) try visiting CBC News Online.

In some situations you can consult CBC archivists directly (sometimes for a fee.) Visit our Contact section for information.

Who owns this stuff?

Most of the images, audio, video and text on this site is the property of CBC and Radio-Canada, or have been acquired with permission for use on this site. If you have a copyright question or request, please contact us.

Can I link to your site?

You may link to the home page or internal pages of the CBC Digital Archives website, but may not link directly to images or media clips, copy any of the material, or give the appearance that any of our content is a part of any other website.

What's available for educators?

The CBC Digital Archives website has extensive educational material geared towards students in Grades 6 through 12. For more, visit our For Teachers section.

How does CBC/Radio-Canada protect my privacy?

The CBC respects the privacy of its Internet users and will protect that privacy as vigorously as possible. CBC's policies and practices are available online at http://www.cbc.ca/aboutcbc/discover/privacy.html

This privacy statement is applicable to all CBC websites.

How do I contact you?

See our Contact information section.