How do I get my file from my employer, my insurer or a company?
Short answer
In Quebec, any person carrying on an enterprise who holds personal information about someone must, at that person's request, confirm that it exists and communicate it to them, allowing them to obtain a copy (s. 27 of the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector); the answer must be given in writing within 30 days after the request is received (s. 32).
In detail
The request must be made in writing by a person who establishes their identity (s. 30). Section 33 provides that access to personal information is free of charge, although reasonable fees may be charged for transcription, reproduction or transmission — in which case the enterprise must tell you the approximate amount before proceeding.
Section 32 adds a useful rule: if the enterprise fails to answer within 30 days, it “is deemed to have refused the request”. Silence therefore amounts to a refusal, which opens a recourse. Section 34 also requires any refusal to be reasoned, to state the legal provision relied on and to indicate the recourses available.
Where there is a refusal or no answer, section 42 allows any interested person to file with the Commission d'accès à l'information (Quebec's access-to-information and privacy commission) an application to examine a disagreement concerning access to or rectification of personal information. Article 40 of the Civil Code also allows you to have inaccurate, incomplete or equivocal information corrected, or to file written comments in the record.
What to document
A dated copy of your written request, proof that it was sent, the date it was received, the date the 30 days expire, and the answer you received (or the absence of one). Those dates are what trigger the recourse before the Commission d'accès à l'information.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
- Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, ss. 27, 30, 32 to 34 and 42 (Légis Québec)
- Civil Code of Quebec, arts. 37 and 40 (Légis Québec)
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.