By country

Privacy Policy Generator Canada

PIPEDA federally, Quebec Law 25 provincially, and CASL - the strictest anti-spam regime in the world.

Generate your privacy policy Read the privacy policy guide

A Canadian privacy policy has to work at two levels at once: PIPEDA’s principles-based openness requirement federally, and Quebec Law 25’s far more prescriptive disclosure duties provincially. A document written only against PIPEDA will be missing several things Quebec now demands by name.

Canadian privacy runs on PIPEDA federally, with Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec operating substantially similar provincial laws. PIPEDA is principles-based rather than prescriptive: ten fair information principles, a reasonableness standard, and an Office of the Privacy Commissioner that investigates complaints and publishes findings.

Quebec changed the calculus. Law 25 introduced privacy by default, mandatory privacy impact assessments for systems and cross-border transfers, a named person in charge of protection of personal information, data portability, and administrative monetary penalties that reach 4% of worldwide turnover.

The rule most likely to cost a Canadian business money, though, is not a privacy law at all. CASL requires express or narrowly-defined implied consent before any commercial electronic message, imposes strict formatting duties, and carries penalties up to $10 million per violation.

What a privacy policy in Canada has to cover

The designated privacy officer, with title and contact, as Law 25 requires to be published
Purposes identified at or before collection, in the PIPEDA sense of specific rather than categorical
Cross-border transfers, the countries involved, and the Quebec impact assessment position
Access and correction rights, plus Quebec portability and the right to challenge automated decisions
The complaint route to the OPC and to the Commission d’accès à l’information for Quebec residents

If you send marketing email or SMS, the policy should link to how consent was obtained under CASL. The two regimes are separate, but the evidence for both usually lives in the same consent record.

How Canada actually moves personal data

Cross-border storage in the US

PIPEDA permits it with accountability and transparency; Quebec requires a privacy impact assessment concluding the data will receive adequate protection before the transfer happens.

Commercial email and SMS

Every message needs consent, sender identification and a functioning unsubscribe honoured within ten business days. Implied consent from an existing business relationship expires - typically two years from the last purchase.

Cookies and installed software

CASL’s computer program provisions cover software installed on a device, and the OPC treats certain tracking as requiring meaningful consent even though there is no dedicated cookie statute.

Employee data in provincial jurisdictions

PIPEDA covers employee data only for federally regulated works; in Alberta, BC and Quebec, the provincial statutes cover it, which is why one national policy usually needs a provincial annex.

Bilingual disclosure obligations

Quebec’s Charter of the French Language requires French, and in practice equal prominence, for consumer-facing documents including privacy notices.

Third parties the draft will ask you about

Stripe · Moneris · Interac · Canada Post · Shopify · Telus and Rogers · AWS ca-central-1 · Mailchimp · Salesforce

The rules that apply

PIPEDA

Ten principles covering accountability, identifying purposes, consent, limiting collection, use and retention, accuracy, safeguards, openness, individual access and challenging compliance.

Quebec Law 25

Privacy by default, PIAs for information system projects and for transfers outside Quebec, a designated privacy officer whose title and contact must be published, and data portability.

CASL

Consent, identification and unsubscribe rules for commercial electronic messages, plus rules on installing software on someone else’s device.

Provincial private-sector laws

Alberta PIPA and BC PIPA apply in place of PIPEDA for intra-provincial activity, with their own breach and access rules.

Mandatory breach reporting

Breaches posing a real risk of significant harm must be reported to the Privacy Commissioner and to affected individuals, with a record kept of every breach regardless of severity.

What the generated privacy policy contains

Identity and contact details of the controller
Your legal entity, trading name, registered address and a working contact route - plus a representative or DPO where one is required.
Categories of personal data and their sources
What you collect directly, what you observe automatically, and what you receive from third parties such as payment providers or ad platforms.
Purposes and lawful basis, purpose by purpose
A table that pairs each processing purpose with its lawful basis rather than listing all six bases and hoping one fits.
Recipients and sub-processors
The categories of recipient, and for the ones that matter to users - payment, hosting, analytics, support - the named provider.
International transfers and their safeguards
Where data leaves its home jurisdiction, and the mechanism relied on: adequacy, standard contractual clauses, the UK addendum or IDTA.
Retention periods per data category
Concrete periods or the criteria used to set them, which is what regulators ask for first when a complaint lands.
Rights and how to exercise them
Access, rectification, erasure, portability, objection and restriction, with the actual route to make a request and the deadline you work to.
Complaints and supervisory authority
The regulator a user can escalate to, named, with a link - not a generic "your local authority".

Operationalising Canadian compliance

Name a privacy officer and publish the contact
PIPEDA requires accountability with a designated individual; Quebec requires publication of the title and contact details.
Audit your consent records against CASL
Every address needs an identifiable express consent or a live implied-consent basis with a date attached.
Run PIAs where Quebec requires them
System projects involving personal information, and any transfer of personal information outside Quebec.
Set up the breach register
All breaches are recorded; those posing a real risk of significant harm are reported to the OPC and to individuals.
Produce a French version for Quebec
Equal prominence, not a machine translation of a legal document.

Where this usually goes wrong

Treating CASL like CAN-SPAM

CAN-SPAM is opt-out; CASL is opt-in with narrow implied-consent categories that expire. A US-built email programme dropped into Canada is usually non-compliant on day one.

No Quebec privacy officer named

Law 25 requires the role, and requires the title and contact information to be published. The default holder is the most senior person unless the role is delegated in writing.

No privacy impact assessment before a cross-border transfer

Quebec requires the assessment before the transfer, not as documentation afterwards.

English-only notices for Quebec consumers

The Charter of the French Language applies to consumer documentation, and Law 25’s transparency requirement points the same way.

Assuming PIPEDA covers everything

Alberta, BC and Quebec displace it for intra-provincial activity, and health information has separate provincial statutes again.

Frequently asked questions

Does PIPEDA apply to my business?

It applies to organisations that collect, use or disclose personal information in the course of commercial activity, including foreign organisations with a real and substantial connection to Canada. Alberta, BC and Quebec laws displace it for activity wholly within those provinces.

What is Quebec Law 25?

A comprehensive modernisation of Quebec private-sector privacy law that added privacy by default, mandatory impact assessments, a designated privacy officer, portability rights and penalties reaching 4% of worldwide turnover.

Is CASL really stricter than CAN-SPAM?

Substantially. CASL requires consent before sending rather than an opt-out afterwards, regulates the installation of software on devices, and carries penalties up to $10 million per violation for organisations.

Do I need my policy in French?

For Quebec consumers, effectively yes. The Charter of the French Language applies to consumer-facing documents, and Law 25 transparency reinforces it.

Is a privacy policy legally required?

If you process personal data, in almost every market yes. GDPR and UK GDPR require the disclosure at the point of collection, CCPA/CPRA requires a notice at collection plus an annually reviewed policy, and app stores and payment processors require a public policy URL before they will list or onboard you.

Can I copy another company’s privacy policy?

It is both a copyright problem and a compliance problem. A copied policy describes someone else’s data flows, processors and retention periods, so it is inaccurate the moment you publish it - and an inaccurate transparency notice is itself a breach of GDPR Article 13.

How often does a privacy policy need updating?

Whenever your processing changes - a new analytics tool, a new payment provider, a new market - and as a backstop, review it annually. CPRA makes the twelve-month review explicit.

Does PolicifyAI give legal advice?

No. PolicifyAI is a technology provider, not a law firm. The output is a structured, jurisdiction-aware draft that a qualified adviser should review before you rely on it.