Are Online Waivers Legal in Ontario?

For Ontario ski hills, trampoline parks, climbing gyms, camps, adventure parks, tour operators, event organizers and rental shops, a signed agreement can release claims by adult participants, give the notice the Occupiers' Liability Act expects, and record the risks, rules and medical details for every guest. This guide covers e-signatures, how Ontario courts treat waivers, how the Consumer Protection Act fits in, and what to know about participants under 18.

This guide is general information about Ontario 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 Ontario at a Glance

Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Ontario?

Yes. Ontario's Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 gives electronic information and documents legal recognition, and says "a legal requirement that a document be signed is satisfied by an electronic signature" (s. 11(1)). It doesn't require anyone to use electronic documents without their consent (s. 3(1)), so keep a kiosk or paper option for the occasional guest who prefers it.

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Ontario?

Generally, yes, for adults. Ontario courts apply the Supreme Court of Canada's framework from Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia, 2010 SCC 4: does the clause cover what happened; was it unconscionable when made; and if valid, is there an overriding public policy reason not to enforce it? The Supreme Court upheld a recreation release in Dyck v. Manitoba Snowmobile Association, [1985] 1 S.C.R. 589. Ontario trial courts have done the same: in Levita v. Crew, 2015 ONSC 5316, as described by McCague Borlack LLP, a signed waiver was a complete defence for a recreational hockey league whose release listed contact with other players among the risks.

Waivers can still fail if they aren't brought to the signer's attention. Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts Ltd., [1988] 1 S.C.R. 1186, came out of an Ontario ski resort's inner-tube race. The resort couldn't rely on the waiver because it was signed along with the entry form, was not drawn to the participant's attention, and was never read.

Schnarr v. Blue Mountain Resorts and the Consumer Protection Act

For a while, Ontario businesses worried that the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 made recreation waivers useless. That Act implies that services will be of a reasonably acceptable quality and says consumers' rights apply despite any waiver to the contrary (ss. 7(1) and 9). Two lower court judges held that ski resort waivers were void, in whole or part, because of those sections.

The Court of Appeal reversed both in Schnarr v. Blue Mountain Resorts Limited, 2018 ONCA 313. Mr. Schnarr had signed Blue Mountain's "Release of Liability Agreement, Waiver of Claims, Assumption of Risk and Indemnity Agreement" online when he bought a season pass. The court found that applying the CPA this way would "fundamentally undermine the purpose" of the Occupiers' Liability Act, which expressly lets an occupier restrict its duty. Because the two statutes conflicted, the more specific Occupiers' Liability Act prevailed, and both skiers were bound by their waivers, whether their claims were framed in negligence or breach of warranty. Schnarr involved businesses that occupied the premises where the injuries happened.

Gross Negligence and Intentional Harm

Canadian courts have not drawn a bright line at "gross negligence" the way many US states do. Under the third Tercon question, a court can refuse to enforce a valid waiver for overriding public policy. In Loychuk v. Cougar Mountain Adventures Ltd., 2012 BCCA 122, the BC Court of Appeal described the kind of conduct that has met that bar: a business that knew it was putting the public in danger with a substandard product or service, or was reckless about it.

More Than a Release

A signed agreement does other work in Ontario beyond the release itself:

• It's how an occupier gives notice. Under the Occupiers' Liability Act, an occupier that restricts its duty "shall take reasonable steps to bring such restriction, modification or exclusion to the attention of" the person (s. 5(3)). A signed agreement is a direct record of those steps.
• It records the risks the guest accepted. The duty doesn't apply to risks willingly assumed (s. 4(1)). The Supreme Court held in Waldick v. Malcolm, [1991] 2 S.C.R. 456, that this preserves the common-law defence of voluntary assumption of risk, which requires acceptance of the legal risk as well as the physical one. A signed agreement is evidence on both; how much it matters depends on the facts.
• It bears on shared fault. Under the Negligence Act, where the guest's own fault contributed, the court apportions damages by degree of fault (s. 3). A guest's agreement to your rules and staff instructions is part of that picture.
• It collects what you need. Health conditions, emergency contacts, consent to first aid, and photo consent, before anyone takes part.

Waivers for Minors in Ontario

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 is a separate question. The age of majority in Ontario is 18 (Age of Majority and Accountability Act, s. 1), and contracts generally can't be enforced against a minor. Ontario law firm commentary reports no Ontario decision deciding whether a parent's pre-injury waiver binds a child, and describes enforcement as unlikely. In BC, a court held that a parent cannot waive a child's right to sue (Wong v. Lok's Martial Arts Centre, 2009 BCSC 1385), based on BC's Infants Act. In New Brunswick, the courts declined to decide the question before trial (Dewitt v. Strang, 2016 NBCA 63).

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 Ontario agreement:

• The title and warning. The Blue Mountain waiver in Schnarr had a bold heading in a yellow box with a red border telling the customer to "PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!" and warning that signing gave up legal rights.
• How the agreement is brought to each guest's attention before the activity. The court in Crocker faulted a waiver folded into an entry form, and the Occupiers' Liability Act requires reasonable steps (s. 5(3)).
• Whether the wording covers the claims you mean it to cover, including your own negligence and both tort and contract claims.
• Whether you are the occupier of the premises where the activity happens, since Schnarr turned on the Occupiers' Liability Act, and how the Consumer Protection Act, 2023 may apply once in force.
• How the form handles participants under 18.

How WaiverFile Helps Ontario 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 online, before arrival. Guests sign from their own phone or computer by email, text, QR code or your website. Waivers are built into online booking, so guests sign as part of booking and 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 Ontario, private businesses' handling of personal information falls under the federal PIPEDA.)
• Families on one form. 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, even offline in the Venue app. 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, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 17
• Occupiers' Liability Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.2 (ss. 3-5)
• Negligence Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. N.1 (s. 3)
• Consumer Protection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. A
• Consumer Protection Act, 2023, S.O. 2023, c. 23, Sched. 1 and Bill 142 status
• Age of Majority and Accountability Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.7
• Schnarr v. Blue Mountain Resorts Limited, 2018 ONCA 313
• Tercon Contractors Ltd. v. British Columbia (Transportation and Highways), 2010 SCC 4 (Supreme Court of Canada case page)
• Lexpert: Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts Ltd., [1988] 1 S.C.R. 1186
• Loychuk v. Cougar Mountain Adventures Ltd., 2012 BCCA 122 (quotes Dyck v. Manitoba Snowmobile Association)
• McCague Borlack LLP: "The Best Defence Is Sometimes Not the Best Offence: The Value of a Well Drafted Waiver" (2015, on Levita v. Crew, 2015 ONSC 5316)
• Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan, Consultation Report on Occupiers' Liability (2023) (discusses Waldick v. Malcolm, [1991] 2 S.C.R. 456)
• McCague Borlack LLP: Do Parents Know Best? (parental waivers, 2017)
• McLeish Orlando LLP: Three Common Misconceptions About Waivers (2018)
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Summary of privacy laws in Canada

Published November 4, 2026