Is a screenshot accepted as evidence?
Short answer
A screenshot can be filed in evidence in Quebec, but it is worth exactly what its integrity is worth: the party contesting it has to show, on a balance of probabilities, that the integrity of the document has been affected (s. 7 of the Act to establish a legal framework for information technology).
In detail
A screenshot is a technology-based document. It therefore benefits from the same rule as the original message: you do not have to prove in advance that it is reliable, but it can be challenged. Article 262 of the Code of Civil Procedure expressly allows a party to contest “the origin or integrity” of a document; that party must then state its grounds.
The usual weakness of a screenshot is not whether it is admissible, it is that it is partial. A series of cut-off images makes it look as though messages were removed. Overlapping your screenshots — so the last message in one image is the first message in the next — shows that the thread is continuous.
A screenshot does not replace the source. Article 2860 of the Civil Code provides that the content of a writing is proved by the original or by a copy that legally replaces it; for a technology-based document, the function of an original is fulfilled by a document that meets the requirements of section 12 of the Act to establish a legal framework for information technology. Keeping the device or the original export is therefore still useful.
What to document
Screenshots that overlap so the continuity of the thread is visible, the date the screenshot was taken, the device used, and above all the original, unaltered message kept as is. If you export the conversation, keep the export file untouched.
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Official sources
- Act to establish a legal framework for information technology, ss. 5 to 7 and 12 (Légis Québec)
- Code of Civil Procedure, art. 262 (Légis Québec)
- Civil Code of Quebec, art. 2860 (Légis Québec)
Related questions
- Can I record a conversation without telling the other person?
- Will the court accept my audio or video recording?
- Can I record a conversation between two other people?
- Can I film or photograph someone to prove what they are doing?
- How to present photos as evidence?
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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.