Canada
Canada As a federal state with law-making powers shared between federal and provincial/territorial governments, Canada has both federal and provincial/territorial privacy laws that govern the private and public sectors (as of November 2025, there are over 30 different privacy laws federally, provincially and territorially in Canada). Canada's two federal privacy laws are: the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, SC 2000, c 5 (PIPEDA); and the Privacy Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. P-21 (the Privacy Act). Currently, three provinces have legislation that is deemed substantially similar to PIPEDA: Introduction
the Information Protection Act, SA 2003 c P-6.5 (Alberta); the Personal Information Protection Act, SBC 2003, c 63 (British Columbia); and Personal an Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector, CQLR c P-39.1 , as amended by Law 25, an Act to Modernize Legislative Provisions as regards the Protection of Personal Information. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the Commissioner) oversees PIPEDA and the Privacy Act. The Commissioner is an independent agent of Parliament and heads the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (the OPC). While PIPEDA regulates the private sector and generally applies across Canada, the Privacy Act is a limited statute in that it applies only to federal government institutions and Crown corporations. This chapter will highlight the key provisions of PIPEDA, as the principal legislation for private sector privacy law in Canada. The chapter will not address provincial privacy laws, public sector privacy laws, or personal health information laws at the federal or provincial levels.
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