Legal options and reporting in Canada

Most harassment is handled through blocking, filtering and platform reporting. Some behaviour, however, is serious enough that the law can help: threats, stalking, extortion, sharing intimate images, hate and false statements that damage your reputation. This lesson gives an overview of the criminal, civil and platform options in your country, how to report and how to prepare evidence. Laws change and differ between provinces or states, so treat this as a starting point.

For advice about your situation, contact a lawyer, a legal clinic or a victim services organization. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

Three routes: criminal, civil and platform

There are three main routes for dealing with serious online harassment. Criminal law deals with offences against society, investigated by police and prosecuted by the state; the goal is to stop and punish the offender. Civil law lets you sue someone, or apply for an order, to stop the behaviour or get compensation; you or your lawyer bring the case. Platform processes apply the platform's own rules, removing content or accounts; they can act quickly but cannot punish offline behaviour. Many cases use more than one route at once.

Criminal law

In Canada, criminal law is federal and set out mainly in the Criminal Code. Several offences can apply to online harassment.

• Criminal harassment (section 264): repeatedly communicating with, following or watching someone, or engaging in threatening conduct, in a way that causes them reasonably to fear for their safety or the safety of someone they know. It applies to online conduct and can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
• Uttering threats (section 264.1): threatening to cause death or bodily harm, to damage property or to harm an animal, by any means, including posts and messages.
• Non-consensual distribution of intimate images (section 162.1): knowingly publishing or sharing an intimate image of a person without their consent, added in 2015. As of mid-2026, Parliament was considering Bill C-16, which would expressly extend the offence to sexual deepfakes; check whether it has been passed.
• Extortion (section 346): threatening someone to obtain money or anything else, which covers sextortion.
• Indecent and harassing communications (section 372) and hate propaganda (sections 318 to 320), which can apply to some abusive messages and public incitement of hatred.
• Identity fraud (section 403): impersonating someone to gain an advantage or cause disadvantage, which can apply to some impersonation scams.

Police can investigate, gather information from platforms through legal processes, lay charges and, in urgent cases, act quickly to protect someone. Police responses to online harassment vary: some services have specialized cybercrime or hate crime units, while others are less experienced. A clear, organized evidence package makes it much easier for police to understand and act.

Civil options

Civil law in Canada is mostly provincial, so options vary by province. Common civil routes include:

• Peace bonds (Criminal Code section 810): a court order requiring someone to keep the peace and follow conditions, such as no contact, when you fear they will cause harm. Although it is in the Criminal Code, it is not a conviction.
• Defamation: suing for false statements that damage your reputation. Defamation law favours plaintiffs more in Canada than in the US, but lawsuits are expensive and can draw more attention to the false claims. Ontario and British Columbia have anti-SLAPP laws that allow early dismissal of suits that target expression on matters of public interest.
• Privacy torts: Ontario courts recognize intrusion upon seclusion (Jones v. Tsige, 2012) and public disclosure of private facts, and British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador have privacy statutes allowing lawsuits for privacy violations. Quebec protects privacy and image rights under the Civil Code and Charter.
• Provincial intimate image laws: several provinces, including Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, have laws that let victims seek removal orders and damages when intimate images are shared without consent. British Columbia's Intimate Images Protection Act, in force since January 2024, lets people apply to the Civil Resolution Tribunal for fast orders to stop distribution.

Platforms and intermediaries

Canada does not yet have a law requiring platforms to remove harmful content within set times. The proposed Online Harms Act, Bill C-63, would have created a Digital Safety Commission and duties for large platforms, but it died when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025. The federal government said it planned new online safety legislation, so check the current status. In the meantime, platforms remove content under their own rules, and courts can order removal in civil cases.

Copyright tools can help in some situations. If someone reposts your videos or photos on impersonation accounts, or uses your content without permission, you may be able to file a copyright takedown notice with the platform, which is often faster than an impersonation report.

In Canada, copyright works under a notice-and-notice system for internet providers, but most large platforms also offer their own takedown forms that apply worldwide.

Image abuse and young people

If an intimate image of anyone under 18 is involved, report it to Cybertip.ca, Canada's national tipline run by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, and to police. Its NeedHelpNow.ca service helps young people get images removed and offers guidance on sextortion. For adults, the free StopNCII.org tool lets people create digital fingerprints of intimate images so participating platforms can block them without the images being shared.

If you are being sextorted, do not pay and do not send more images. Paying rarely stops the threats. Stop responding, keep the messages, report the account and get support from a trusted adult or a support service.

Preparing to report

Whether you go to the platform, police or a lawyer, a well-organized evidence package makes a big difference. It should include:

• A short summary: who is involved (usernames, real names if known), what happened, when it started and how it has escalated.
• A timeline in date order, drawn from your evidence log.
• Screenshots showing content, usernames, dates, times and URLs, with original files kept safe.
• Links to posts and profiles, noting where content has been deleted.
• Records of reports made to platforms and their responses.
• A description of the impact on you, such as fear, changes to your routine, lost income or costs.

Ask the police for a report or incident number and the name of the officer. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can ask to speak to a supervisor or a specialized unit. Victim services organizations can help you understand the process and support you through it.

Many provinces have victim services programs and free or low-cost legal clinics. Law societies run lawyer referral services that can arrange a short initial consultation.

Weighing the options

Legal action can be powerful but also slow, expensive and stressful. Before choosing a route, think about what you want to achieve: safety, removal of content, an apology, compensation, accountability or deterrence. Criminal reports cost nothing but leave decisions to police and prosecutors. Civil suits give you more control but cost money and time. Platform processes are fast but limited. For threats and stalking, safety comes first: report to police and plan for physical safety, covered in Lesson 10.

Hate and identity-based harassment

When harassment targets someone because of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or another protected characteristic, more options may apply. Hate propaganda offences in the Criminal Code cover public incitement and wilful promotion of hatred against identifiable groups, and courts can treat evidence of hate as an aggravating factor when sentencing for other offences. Many police services have hate crime units. Human rights legislation generally deals with discrimination in employment, housing and services rather than online abuse by strangers, so it is less often useful for harassment by anonymous accounts.

Even when a hateful message does not meet the threshold for a crime, reporting it to the platform and logging it creates a record that may matter if the behaviour escalates.

Anonymous harassers

Many harassers use anonymous or throwaway accounts. That does not always mean nothing can be done. Police can ask platforms for account information through legal processes, and in civil cases courts can order platforms or internet providers to disclose information about an anonymous user. These processes take time and may involve cooperation across borders, since many platforms are based in other countries. Your evidence log, with exact usernames, URLs and timestamps, is what makes such requests possible.

Looking after yourself during legal processes

Legal processes can be long and emotionally draining. You may need to retell what happened several times, review abusive material and wait months for outcomes. Ask a trusted person to help with paperwork and meetings, use victim services where available and keep up the support routines from Lesson 11. It is also fine to decide that a legal route is not worth the cost to your wellbeing; choosing not to pursue a case is a legitimate decision.

Crossing borders

Online harassment often crosses borders. The harasser, the platform and the target may all be in different countries, each with its own laws. Police in your country can usually investigate offences that affect you there, but obtaining information from foreign platforms or acting against people abroad can be slow and sometimes impossible. Platforms' own rules apply worldwide, which is one reason platform reporting remains important even when legal options exist. If you work across Canada and the US, be aware that what is legal speech in one country may be an offence in the other, and get advice from a lawyer in the relevant place when stakes are high.

Keep copies of everything you send to platforms, police and lawyers, along with their replies and reference numbers. A single folder with the evidence log, the summary, the timeline and all correspondence makes it easier to follow up, change lawyers or escalate a case later.

Whatever route you choose, focus first on safety and on stopping the harm, and then on accountability. The two often go together, but when they conflict, safety should come first.