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Coverage

Class actions

Canada — provincial class proceedings and the Quebec authorisation regime

NationalCADerived or secondary source

Canada

Rule id
collective.ca
Version
1.0.0
In force from
January 1, 1993
Last read against its sources
August 5, 2026
Countries bound
Canada

In plain language

What this regime says.

Canadian class actions are provincial, opt-out for residents of the certifying province, and commonly certified as national classes. Quebec has the lowest threshold and the best costs protection.

Who is covered

Everyone within the class definition in the certification or authorisation order.

What you get

A share of an approved settlement or judgment, normally after filing a claim. No statutory figure.

Where claims go wrong

  • Assuming a class certified in another province excludes you. National classes are the norm.
  • Missing the claims deadline after settlement approval, which is separate from the opt-out date.
  • Overlooking Quebec, where the authorisation threshold is low and a public fund can finance the action.
The official claim route

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
  1. Class Proceedings Act, 1992, S.O. 1992, c. 6 (Ontario)Class Proceedings Act, 1992 (Ontario)URL verified 2026-08-05s.5 — certification requirements; s.5(1.1), added with effect from 1 October 2020, adds a predominance and superiority test that materially raised the Ontario threshold; s.9 — a class member may opt out in the manner and within the time specified in the certification order
  2. Code of Civil Procedure (Quebec), arts. 571-604Code of Civil Procedure, CQLR c. C-25.01 (Quebec)URL verified 2026-08-05Book VI, Title III — the class action. Authorisation is required before the action proceeds and the threshold is deliberately low; the representative plaintiff is not exposed to the ordinary costs rules, and the Fonds d'aide aux actions collectives can finance the action

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

What it entitles you to, beyond money

  • You are in by default — and you can leaveClass members resident in the certifying province are included automatically and may opt out in the manner and within the time the certification order specifies. National classes commonly include residents of other provinces on an opt-out basis too, though some certification orders make non-residents opt in — read the certification order rather than assuming.s.5 — certification requirements; s.5(1.1), added with effect from 1 October 2020, adds a predominance and superiority test that materially raised the Ontario threshold; s.9 — a class member may opt out in the manner and within the time specified in the certification order
  • Your own individual claim is still thereCollective redress is an alternative route, not a replacement. Unless you are bound by a judgment or a settlement in a collective action, your individual claim under the ordinary law survives, and for a small sum it is usually the faster route. Check the other regimes in this result.

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

"We can file your class-action claim for you — for a percentage"

high likelihood

A claims-filing service, a "settlement recovery" app or a law firm that is not class counsel contacts you offering to handle the claim, taking 15-40% of whatever arrives. Some buy the claim outright for a fraction of its value. Others harvest the personal data on the form.

What answers it

Filing is free, it is done on the administrator's own website, and it takes minutes. Class counsel are already paid out of the settlement — you do not retain anyone and you do not owe anyone a percentage. Several administrators now reject bulk third-party filings outright, and some settlement agreements void claims submitted by an aggregator, so using one can cost you the whole claim rather than a slice of it. The only address you should be entering your details into is the official settlement website named in the notice, which is also the only place that can tell you the real deadline.

"Up to $X" is read as an entitlement

high likelihood

The notice, the press coverage and the aggregators all quote the maximum per-claimant figure. It is read as an entitlement.

What answers it

"Up to" is a cap, not a promise. Almost every consumer settlement is a fixed fund divided among valid claims, so the per-claimant payment falls as the claims rate rises and is calculated only after the claims period closes, after the administrator validates claims, and after fees and costs come out. A settlement quoted at "up to $100" routinely pays single digits. That is not a reason to skip filing — the form is free and takes minutes — but it is a reason not to plan around the headline number.

Where to take it next

  1. Check the register of live collective actionsThis is the authoritative list of actions that have actually been brought. Search the trader's name. If an action is listed, the register entry will tell you the class or group definition, which is what decides whether you are covered.Collective actionofficial page
  2. Report it to Competition Bureau Canada / provincial consumer protection officesCollective actions start as patterns in a regulator's or consumer body's complaint data. A single report is free, takes minutes, and is the only mechanism by which a case like yours becomes a case at all. It does not give you money and should not be mistaken for a claim.Regulatortypically 60 daysofficial page
  3. Run your own individual claim in parallelDo not wait for a collective action. They take years, most never certify, and the individual routes in this result run on their own limitation periods that keep expiring while you wait. If a collective action later covers the same loss you simply give credit for anything already recovered.Claim directtypically 30 days

The same claim type elsewhere

Class or group settlement — are you inside the class definition?GLOBALSupranational — party states varyFed. R. Civ. P. 23Confidence: highBelgium — action en réparation collective (Code de droit économique, Book XVII)BENational — BelgiumCode de droit économique / Wetboek van economisch recht, Livre XVII, Titre 2 (arts. XVII.35 et seq.)Confidence: lowEuropean Union — Representative Actions Directive (EU) 2020/1828EUSupranational — 27 countriesDirective (EU) 2020/1828 on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumersConfidence: highFrance — action de groupeFRNational — FranceAction de groupe — Code de la consommation, arts. L623-1 et seq., as reformed in 2025Confidence: lowGermany — Abhilfeklage and Musterfeststellungsklage (VDuG)DENational — GermanyVerbraucherrechtedurchsetzungsgesetz (VDuG)Confidence: mediumItaly — azione di classe (arts. 840-bis et seq. c.p.c.)ITNational — ItalyCodice di procedura civile, arts. 840-bis to 840-sexiesdecies (Legge 12 aprile 2019, n. 31)Confidence: mediumNetherlands — WAMCA collective damages actionsNLNational — NetherlandsWet afwikkeling massaschade in collectieve actie (WAMCA)Confidence: mediumPoland — group proceedings (postępowanie grupowe)PLNational — PolandUstawa z dnia 17 grudnia 2009 r. o dochodzeniu roszczeń w postępowaniu grupowymConfidence: low

Other rights in the same countries

Alberta — unclaimed property (Unclaimed Personal Property and Vested Property Act)CA-ABSub-national — CanadaUnclaimed Personal Property and Vested Property Act, SA 2007, c. U-1.5Confidence: mediumAlberta — residential security deposit (Residential Tenancies Act, SA 2004, c R-17.1)CA-ABSub-national — CanadaResidential Tenancies Act, SA 2004, c R-17.1Confidence: lowBritish Columbia — unclaimed property (Unclaimed Property Act, SBC 1999, c. 48)CA-BCSub-national — CanadaUnclaimed Property Act, SBC 1999, c. 48Confidence: mediumBritish Columbia — residential security deposit (Residential Tenancy Act, SBC 2002, c 78)CA-BCSub-national — CanadaResidential Tenancy Act, SBC 2002, c 78Confidence: lowCanada — Canada Post delivery guarantee and claimsCANational — CanadaCanada Post Corporation Act and the Canada Post Terms and ConditionsConfidence: lowCanada — drip pricing under the Competition ActCANational — CanadaCompetition Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34), ss. 52, 74.01 and 36Confidence: mediumCanada — payment card codes of conduct, provincial consumer protection and OBSICANational — CanadaCode of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in CanadaConfidence: mediumCanada — provincial consumer protection acts and the federal Competition ActCANational — CanadaLoi sur la protection du consommateur, RLRQ c. P-40.1 (Quebec)Confidence: medium

Does this one reach your facts?

The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.

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Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.