Are Online Waivers Legal in Prince Edward Island?

For PEI tour and paddling operators, bike and boat rentals, gyms, camps, trampoline and play parks, and event organizers, a signed agreement does several jobs: it can release claims by adult participants, it's how an occupier gives the notice PEI's Occupiers' Liability Act expects, and it records the risks, rules and medical details for every guest. This guide covers e-signatures under PEI law, how courts treat liability waivers, what else a signed agreement does, and the rules for minors.

This guide is general information about Prince Edward Island 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 Prince Edward Island at a Glance

Are Electronic Signatures Legal in Prince Edward Island?

Yes. The Electronic Commerce Act says information "shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely by reason that it is in electronic form" (s. 4), and s. 19 says a contract can't be denied legal effect just because an electronic document was used to form it. Where a statute requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies it (s. 9).

One PEI detail: the Act's definition of "electronic signature" (s. 1) is more demanding than in most provinces. It lists four characteristics: uniquely linked to the signer, capable of identifying the signer, created by means the signer can keep under their sole control, and linked to the data so any later change is detectable. Section 9 deals with signatures required "under any enactment," and no statute requires a signature on a private waiver, so the general rules in ss. 4 and 19 are likely the more relevant ones. We found no PEI case on the point, so it makes sense to keep good evidence of who signed and what they signed.

Are Liability Waivers Enforceable in Prince Edward Island?

We didn't find a published PEI decision ruling on a recreational waiver, so PEI 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 an injured racer's claim.
• Tercon Contractors v. British Columbia, 2010 SCC 4: courts ask whether the clause applies to what happened, whether it was unconscionable when made, and whether an overriding public policy should prevent enforcement.
• Crocker v. Sundance Northwest Resorts, [1988] 1 SCR 1186: where waivers fail. The resort couldn't rely on a waiver it made no attempt to draw to the participant's attention, which he hadn't read and didn't know existed.

Gross Negligence and Intentional Harm

We found no PEI decision on whether a waiver can cover gross negligence. The Occupiers' Liability Act says that even for risks a visitor willingly assumes, the occupier still owes a duty not to create a danger with deliberate intent to harm and not to act with reckless disregard of the person (s. 4(1)). Under Tercon, a court can also refuse to enforce a clause for overriding public policy reasons, with conduct approaching serious criminality or egregious fraud given as examples.

More Than a Release

A signed agreement does other work on PEI beyond the release itself:

• It's how an occupier gives notice. PEI's Occupiers' Liability Act lets an occupier restrict or exclude its duty of reasonable care (s. 3(3)), and an occupier that does so "shall take reasonable steps to bring such restriction, modification or exclusion to the attention of the person to whom the duty is owed" (s. 5(3)). A signed agreement is a direct record of those steps. A contract also can't restrict the duty owed to someone who isn't a party to it (s. 5(1)), so a signature from each participant, not just the person who booked, matters.
• It records the risks the guest accepted. The duty doesn't apply to risks willingly assumed (s. 4(1)). 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. 1). 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 takes part.

Waivers for Minors in Prince Edward Island

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. The age of majority on PEI is 18 (Age of Majority Act, s. 1). We found no PEI decision on whether a parent can waive a child's injury claim in advance. The nearest Atlantic authority is Dewitt v. Strang, 2016 NBCA 63, where New Brunswick's Court of Appeal left the question for trial, and a 2019 MLT Aikins review describes it 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 and statutes above, these are points worth raising when preparing a PEI agreement:

• A clear title showing the document gives up legal rights.
• Whether the wording covers negligence and describes the real risks of the activity.
• How the agreement is brought to each guest's attention, which s. 5(3) requires and the court in Crocker found missing.
• Who signs: each participant (or a parent), given s. 5(1).
• How signers are identified and the signed version is kept, given PEI's electronic signature definition.

How WaiverFile Helps PEI 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.
• Every participant signs. Waivers are built into online booking, so each guest signs as part of the booking, and staff see waiver status per guest 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 of their driver's license with the tablet camera.
• Medical questions. Required questions capture health conditions and emergency contacts. HIPAA features add extra protection for health information. (HIPAA is a US law. On PEI, 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. Guests sign ahead by email, text, QR code or your website, or on a tablet kiosk, 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, RSPEI 1988, c E-4.1
• Occupiers' Liability Act, RSPEI 1988, c O-2
• Contributory Negligence Act, RSPEI 1988, c C-21 (s. 1)
• Age of Majority Act, RSPEI 1988, c A-8
• 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