If you run an activity business in Canada, from a ski hill or zipline to a climbing gym or summer camp, you may be asking two questions: does a waiver signed on a phone or tablet count, and does a waiver protect you at all? This guide covers Canada's e-signature laws and how Canadian courts treat liability waivers, with links to our province-by-province guides.
This guide is general information about Canadian law, with links to the statutes and cases, so you and your lawyer can look into anything that applies to your business.
The short answer. Yes, electronic signatures are valid across Canada. Each province and territory has its own electronic commerce law, and Quebec has its own framework. Courts in the common law provinces generally enforce clear recreational waivers signed by adults, using the Supreme Court of Canada's Tercon framework. Quebec doesn't allow anyone to exclude liability for bodily injury, and in B.C. a court has held that a parent can't waive a child's claims.
Canadian Waiver Law at a Glance
| Electronic signatures | Provincial and territorial electronic commerce or transactions acts; Quebec's Act to establish a legal framework for information technology; PIPEDA Part 2 only for federal laws |
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| What counts as a signature | Information in electronic form that a person created or adopted to sign a record (for example, B.C.'s Electronic Transactions Act) |
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| Main exclusions | Typically wills, trusts created by wills, powers of lawyer and documents creating interests in land; check the provincial act |
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| Waivers of negligence | Common law provinces: generally enforced if clear, under the three-step Tercon test. Quebec: no exclusion of liability for bodily or moral injury (Civil Code art. 1474) |
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| Parents signing for minors | Parent's form still records consent, medical information and acknowledged risks. As a release of the child's claims: not enforceable in B.C. (Wong v. Lok's Martial Arts); unsettled elsewhere |
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Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Canada?
Yes. In Canada, e-signature law is mostly provincial. Each province and territory has its own act, and the Uniform Law Conference of Canada publishes a model Uniform Electronic Commerce Act that these laws share many ideas with.
British Columbia's Electronic Transactions Act is a good example. It defines an electronic signature as "information in electronic form that a person has created or adopted in order to sign a record and that is in, attached to or associated with the record." It says information "must not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely by reason that it is in electronic form," and that where the law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies it. It also says no one has to use electronic records without their consent, though consent can be inferred from conduct.
The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is often cited as Canada's e-signature law, but its Part 2 is narrower than that. Its stated purpose is to allow electronic alternatives "where federal laws contemplate the use of paper." For a private waiver between your business and a customer, the provincial act is what matters.
Quebec
Quebec's Act to establish a legal framework for information technology (CQLR c C-1.1) says the legal value of a document "is neither increased nor diminished solely because of the medium or technology chosen," provided its integrity is ensured. Under section 39, a signature can be affixed by any process that meets article 2827 of the Civil Code, which defines a signature as a name or distinctive mark a person uses to signify consent. For a technology-based document, the signature can be set up against the signer if the document's integrity is ensured and the link between the signature and the document was established at signing.
Exclusions and Evidence
Provincial acts exclude some documents. B.C.'s act, for example, excludes wills, trusts created by wills, powers of lawyer for personal care or finances, and documents that create interests in land. Activity waivers are not on these lists.
On evidence, the Canada Evidence Act (which applies in federal proceedings) puts the burden on the person relying on an electronic document to prove it "is that which it is purported to be," and the best evidence rule can be met by proof of the integrity of the system that recorded or stored it. Provincial evidence laws have similar rules, so keep a reliable record of what was signed, by whom and when.
What This Means for Liability Waivers
An e-signed waiver counts as signed across Canada. What it does for you depends on the province and the facts.
What a Signed Waiver Does
In every province, a signed form is evidence of the risks, rules and safety instructions you explained and the participant acknowledged, and it collects medical information, emergency contacts and a parent's consent before anyone takes part. How much that record matters in a given case depends on the facts. In the common law provinces, a clear release signed by an adult can also go further and bar a negligence claim.
Common Law Provinces: The Tercon Test
In Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia, 2010 SCC 4, the Supreme Court of Canada set out the approach courts use for exclusion clauses: does the clause apply to the circumstances, was it unconscionable when made, and is there an overriding public policy reason not to enforce it? Courts apply this to recreational waivers. In Loychuk v. Cougar Mountain Adventures Ltd., 2012 BCCA 122, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld a zipline waiver, finding no public policy that would justify setting aside a release knowingly signed by someone taking part in an inherently risky recreational activity.
Ontario's Consumer Protection Act
In Schnarr v. Blue Mountain Resorts Ltd., 2018 ONCA 313, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that ski resort waivers were effective for claims against the resort as occupier, because the Occupiers' Liability Act, which allows occupiers to restrict their duty, prevails over the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 for those claims. The 2002 Act says consumer rights under it apply despite any waiver and implies a warranty that services are of reasonably acceptable quality, so commentators note the ruling may not help a business that isn't the occupier of the premises where the injury happens.
Ontario has also passed a new Consumer Protection Act, 2023 (Royal Assent December 6, 2023) to replace the 2002 Act. It comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation, and the government was still consulting on its regulations in 2025, so check Ontario e-Laws for its current status.
Minors
A parent's signed form still records the parent's consent, the child's medical information and the risks and rules the parent acknowledged. Whether it can also release the child's own claims is a different question. In Wong v. Lok's Martial Arts Centre Inc., 2009 BCSC 1385, the B.C. Supreme Court held that the province's Infants Act does not allow a parent to bind a child to a waiver of the child's right to sue. Outside B.C., the question is unsettled, and commentators generally treat parental waivers as unlikely to be enforced against the child.
Quebec
In Quebec, a signed form is evidence that risks, rules and safety instructions were explained, which may matter when a court weighs the facts. It can't release injury claims. Civil Code article 1474 says a person "may not in any way exclude or limit his liability for bodily or moral injury caused to another," and may not exclude liability for material injury caused by intentional or gross fault. Article 1477 adds that a victim's assumption of risk "does not entail renunciation of his remedy."
Our province guides cover the details: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Since the rules differ by province, it is worth having a local lawyer review your waiver.
How WaiverFile Helps Canadian Businesses
WaiverFile doesn't draft waivers, and the wording of your agreement is a job for you and your lawyer. Once your agreement is written, WaiverFile makes it easy for every participant to sign it and keeps a complete, easy-to-find record of each one:
- Sign anywhere. Customers sign before they arrive from their own phone or computer, using a link sent by email or SMS, a QR code or your website, or on-site at a tablet kiosk. The WaiverFile Venue app works offline.
- Your agreement, laid out your way. Use the editor's formatting options (bold, capitals, font size), initial boxes inside the agreement text and required checkboxes for the rules and terms you choose, so each one has its own acknowledgment.
- In English and French. Forms can be offered in multiple languages, including French for Quebec customers.
- A record of what was signed. Each signed waiver stores the signature, the answers, the date and time, and for online signing the IP address and device used. Search any waiver in seconds, or download them in bulk as a ZIP file for any date range.
- Medical questions with extra protection. Required questions capture health conditions and emergency contacts. Records are encrypted in transit and at rest, you choose which staff can see them, and HIPAA features add extra encryption, a log of who viewed health information and health details kept out of emails.
- Families on one form. A parent or guardian can sign for themselves and their children, adding each child by name and date of birth. Minors are flagged at check-in.
Browse our free waiver templates, or set up a free account to try it with your own form.
Sources and Further Reading
- British Columbia Electronic Transactions Act, SBC 2001, c 10
- PIPEDA, Part 2 (Electronic Documents), ss. 31-32
- Uniform Law Conference of Canada, Uniform Electronic Commerce Act
- Quebec, Act to establish a legal framework for information technology, CQLR c C-1.1, ss. 5 and 39
- Civil Code of Quebec, arts. 1474, 1477 and 2827
- Canada Evidence Act, ss. 31.1-31.2
- Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways), 2010 SCC 4
- Loychuk v. Cougar Mountain Adventures Ltd., 2012 BCCA 122
- Commentary on Schnarr v. Blue Mountain Resorts Ltd., 2018 ONCA 313
- Osler, Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, 2023
- Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Bill 142 (Better for Consumers, Better for Businesses Act, 2023)
- Legal 500, Ontario launches consultations on regulations under the Consumer Protection Act, 2023 (comments due February 10, 2025)
- Sound Law LLP, Minors: the special case of liability waivers (Wong v. Lok's Martial Arts Centre, 2009 BCSC 1385)
General information, not legal advice. WaiverFile is not a law firm, and this article is not legal advice. Laws change and courts decide each case on its own facts, so have a local lawyer review your waiver.
Published February 1, 2021 · Updated November 4, 2026