Privacy Law
The protection of personal information in Canada is governed by
the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
(PIPEDA) and by substantially similar legislation in certain
provincial jurisdictions.
PIPEDA
Defining Personal Information
Personal information is broadly defined in PIPEDA as
"information about an identifiable individual." Such
information can include, among other things, a person's name,
address, phone number, age, sex, ethnicity, religion, education,
and health and financial information. Certain government-provided
information is also considered personal, such as a person's
social insurance number, provincial health insurance plan number,
driver's licence number, and passport number.