BC Court Finds No Identifiable Class In Mall-Directory Camera Privacy Class Action

In Cleaver v The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited, 2025 BCSC 910, the BC Supreme Court refused to certify a class proceeding alleging privacy breaches of biometric data, concluding that the plaintiffs had failed to establish an identifiable class. In 2018, the defendant Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited (Cadillac Fairview) installed cameras equipped with third-party Anonymous Video Analytics software (the Software) in Canadian mall directories to estimate visitor counts and basic age and gender demographics. Warnings that visitors may be recorded and reference to an online privacy policy were posted at mall entrances, but there was no warning on directory screens.

The application for certification was dismissed, however, because there was no basis in fact that the Software recorded facial images or used them to create biometric and personal information about class members. This meant there was no identifiable class, no basis in fact for the proposed common