Are Online Waivers Legal in Newfoundland and Labrador?

For boat and whale-watching tours, hiking and paddling outfitters, ski hills, gyms, camps, trampoline parks and rentals in Newfoundland and Labrador, a signed agreement does several jobs: it can release claims by adult participants under the Supreme Court of Canada's approach to waivers, it records the risks and rules each guest agreed to, and it collects medical details before anyone sets out. This guide covers e-signatures, how waivers are treated, how premises claims work in a province without an occupiers' liability statute, and where the law on minors stands.

This guide is general information about Newfoundland and Labrador law, with links to the statutes and cases, so you and your lawyer can look into anything that applies to your business.

Waiver Law in Newfoundland and Labrador at a Glance

Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Yes. The Electronic Commerce Act says information "shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability by reason only that it is electronic" (s. 6), and a legal requirement for a signature "is satisfied by an electronic signature" (s. 11). Section 20 confirms an offer or acceptance can be expressed by "touching or clicking on an appropriately designated icon," and a contract can't be denied effect just because electronic means were used to form it. Nobody is forced to use electronic documents, but consent can be inferred from conduct (s. 7).

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Newfoundland and Labrador?

We didn't find a published decision from this province ruling on a recreational waiver, so its courts would look to the Supreme Court of Canada:

• Dyck v. Manitoba Snowmobile Association, [1985] 1 SCR 589: a signed race entry form releasing the organizer, including for negligence, barred the injured racer's claim. The Court rejected arguments that the clause was unfair or unreasonable.
• Tercon Contractors v. British Columbia, 2010 SCC 4: a court asks (1) whether the clause, properly interpreted, applies to what happened; (2) whether it was unconscionable when the contract was made; and (3) whether an overriding public policy should still stop enforcement. The person trying to avoid the clause carries the burden.
• Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts, [1988] 1 SCR 1186: where waivers fail. A resort couldn't rely on a waiver in its entry form because no attempt was made to draw it to the participant's attention, he hadn't read it and he didn't know it existed.

Gross Negligence and Intentional Harm

We found no decision from this province on whether a waiver can cover gross negligence or deliberate harm. Under the third Tercon step, a court can decline to enforce a valid clause for overriding public policy reasons; the Supreme Court gave conduct approaching serious criminality or egregious fraud as examples. Don't count on a waiver to cover anything beyond ordinary negligence.

More Than a Release

A signed agreement does other work here beyond the release itself:

• It's part of showing reasonable care. The province has no occupiers' liability act. Instead, in Stacey v. Anglican Churches, (1999), 182 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 1, the Court of Appeal replaced the old visitor categories with one test: an occupier must take such care as in all the circumstances is reasonable to see that a lawful visitor will be reasonably safe, covering both the premises and activities on them. Your warnings, rules and safety procedures, recorded in a signed agreement, bear on that question.
• It records the risks the guest accepted. A signed description of your activity's risks is evidence of what the guest was told; how much it matters depends on the facts.
• It bears on shared fault. Under the Contributory Negligence Act, liability is divided in proportion to each person's fault (s. 2). A guest's agreement to your rules and staff instructions is part of that picture if they were broken.
• It collects what you need. Health conditions, emergency contacts, consent to first aid, and photo consent, before anyone sets out.

Waivers for Minors in Newfoundland and Labrador

For families, the parent's form is where a parent or guardian approves the child's participation, agrees to your rules, and gives you medical information and emergency contacts. It's also a record that the risks were explained to the adult responsible for the child.

Whether it also releases the child's own claim hasn't been decided. A person reaches the age of majority at 19 (Age of Majority Act, s. 2), so 18-year-olds are still minors here, unlike in Quebec or PEI. We found no decision from this province on whether a parent can waive a child's injury claim in advance. In New Brunswick, the Court of Appeal in Dewitt v. Strang, 2016 NBCA 63, refused to decide that question before trial in a case where a 15-year-old and his father had both signed a "Minor Participant Waiver," and a 2019 MLT Aikins review describes the issue as unresolved in most common-law provinces.

Points to Raise With Your Lawyer

WaiverFile doesn't draft waivers, and the wording of your agreement is a job for you and your lawyer. Based on the cases above, these are points worth raising when preparing an agreement here:

• A clear title showing the document is a release of legal rights.
• Whether the wording covers the claims you mean it to cover. The entry form upheld in Dyck named negligence.
• How the waiver is brought to each guest's attention, with a fair chance to read before the activity. The court in Crocker faulted a waiver no one pointed out.
• A plain description of your activity's real risks, such as weather, cold water and remote locations.
• How the form handles 18-year-olds, who are still minors here.
• Any activity-specific regulations that apply to your operation. We didn't review those for this guide.

How WaiverFile Helps Newfoundland and Labrador Businesses

Once your agreement is written, WaiverFile makes it easy for every guest to sign it and keeps a complete, easy-to-find record of each one:

• Your agreement, laid out your way. Add the agreement text you and your lawyer prepared, and use the editor's formatting options (bold, capitals, font size) to lay it out the way it was written.
• A checkbox or initials where you want them. Add initial boxes inside the agreement text and required checkboxes for the rules, risks and clauses you choose, so each one has its own acknowledgment.
• Signing before the trip. Guests sign ahead from their own phone or computer by email, text, QR code or your website, so nobody is rushing on the dock. Waivers are built into online booking, so you see each guest's status at check-in.
• A record of what was signed. Each signed form stores the signature, the answers, and the date and time, plus the IP address and device for online signing. Add a photo of each signer or their ID if you like.
• Medical questions. Required questions capture health conditions and emergency contacts. HIPAA features add extra protection for health information. (HIPAA is a US law. In Newfoundland and Labrador, private businesses' handling of personal information falls under the federal PIPEDA.)
• Minors flagged by date of birth. A parent adds each child by name and date of birth, and minors are flagged at check-in.
• Sign anywhere, find anything. Use a tablet kiosk on site, and the Venue app works offline where coverage is poor. Search any waiver in seconds, or download them in bulk as a ZIP file for any date range.

Start with one of our free waiver templates, review it with your lawyer, and set up a free account to start collecting signatures.

Sources and Further Reading

• Electronic Commerce Act, SNL 2001, c E-5.2
• Contributory Negligence Act, RSNL 1990, c C-33 (s. 2)
• Age of Majority Act, SNL 1995, c A-4.2
• House of Assembly, Table of Public Statutes (O)
• Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan, Reform of Occupiers' Liability Law in Saskatchewan: Consultation Report (2023) (quotes Stacey v. Anglican Churches of Canada, (1999), 182 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 1, 1999 CanLII 18933 (Nfld. C.A.))
• Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways), 2010 SCC 4
• Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts Ltd., [1988] 1 SCR 1186
• Dyck v. Manitoba Snowmobile Association, [1985] 1 SCR 589
• Dewitt v. Strang et al., 2016 NBCA 63 (New Brunswick)
• MLT Aikins, "Minors: The Special Case of Liability Waivers" (2019)
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Summary of privacy laws in Canada

Published November 4, 2026