Electronic signatures in Canada

In short

Every province and territory has an electronic commerce statute under which a legal requirement for a signature is satisfied by an electronic signature, with listed exclusions. The main law: PIPEDA Part 2 and provincial electronic commerce Acts.

What the law says

Canada splits the subject between federal and provincial law. Federally, Part 2 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) provides for electronic documents and signatures in dealings with federal bodies and under federal statutes; it defines an electronic signature as "a signature that consists of one or more letters, characters, numbers or other symbols in digital form incorporated in, attached to or associated with an electronic document", and a stricter "secure electronic signature" for the cases where regulations require one.

Contracts between private parties are governed by provincial law, and every province and territory has an electronic commerce or electronic transactions statute based on the UNCITRAL model (for example Ontario's Electronic Commerce Act, 2000). They share the principle that a legal requirement for a signature is satisfied by an electronic signature, and they share a list of excluded documents that typically includes wills and codicils, trusts created by wills, powers of attorney for personal care or property, negotiable instruments and some documents of title and land transfers. Quebec's regime is in its Act to establish a legal framework for information technology and the Civil Code. Check the province whose law applies.

What AiresDocs provides

A simple electronic signature for every signer, with an evidence package: unique signing links sent to named addresses, explicit consent, an append-only event log and SHA-256 hashes of the original and final contract, checkable on a public verification page. It is not a qualified electronic signature or a notarisation service. What courts look for, and how each piece of evidence maps to it, is in How electronic signatures work.

Sources

• Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Part 2, Electronic Documents (Justice Laws Canada)
• Ontario Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 (e-Laws)

If a link stops working or the law changes, email support@airesdocs.com and we will update this page; changes are dated in the changelog.