How do I ask for a copy of my file?

1. Keep a dated copy of the letter. That is what proves the starting date, and the time limit runs from the organization’s receipt of the request — not from the day you sent it.
2. Keep proof that you sent it. A sent email (with a read receipt if you can), a registered mail slip, a tracking number, or a screenshot of the portal. Without proof that you sent it, there is no time limit to enforce.
3. Have your identification ready, but do not send it unasked. The law requires you to establish your identity (s. 30 P-39.1; s. 94 A-2.1). The letter offers to provide it on request: sending a copy of your papers off the bat to a department you do not know is not necessary.
4. Write to the right place. The law designates a person in charge of the protection of personal information in every enterprise and every public body. That is who the request must be addressed to. Many organizations publish that address in their privacy policy.
5. Note the date it was received, if you know it. An acknowledgement, a confirmation email, a delivery record. A public body must in any event give you written notice of the date it received your request (s. 97 A-2.1).

There is no artificial intelligence and no database here: only statutes read and copied out, and a rule for choosing between them that fits on one line.

1. The holder picks the Act. A private-sector enterprise falls under the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (CQLR, c. P-39.1). A Quebec public body falls under the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information (CQLR, c. A-2.1). A federally regulated organization falls under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (S.C. 2000, c. 5). The Civil Code of Québec (arts. 37 to 41) applies on top, in every case where somebody establishes a file on you.

2. The legal basis is written from there. The letter cites the section that creates the right (s. 27 P-39.1; s. 83 A-2.1; s. 8 and clause 4.9 of Schedule 1 of the federal Act), the one that says who to address the request to (s. 30 P-39.1; s. 94 A-2.1), and the one that fixes the time limit for replying. If you answer “I am not sure”, it relies on all three and asks to be redirected: that is more honest than the wrong section.

3. The time limit printed is the organization’s, never yours. 30 days in the private sector (s. 32 P-39.1), 20 days extendable by 10 for a public body (s. 98 A-2.1), 30 days extendable by 30 federally (ss. 8(3) and 8(4)). Those limits run from receipt. If you write the date of receipt on the sheet, the tool shows the due date that follows and shows its arithmetic; otherwise it leaves the line blank for you to fill in by hand.

4. What the tool refuses to calculate. Your own deadline for going to the Commission d’accès à l’information after a refusal or a silence. That one is yours, and a wrong date could cost you the recourse. So the sheet shows the rule and its section, with the link to the Commission — never a countdown.

Who to send it to: the organisation’s “responsable de l’accès”. That is often the hardest part, and there is an answer: the Commission d’accès à l’information publishes a directory of public bodies with the name and contact details of the person responsible for access. Look yours up there rather than writing to a general reception desk — a letter addressed to the right person starts the clock properly. Commission d’accès à l’information, verified 1 August 2026.

The Commission also publishes its own model letters — “Demande d’accès à vos renseignements personnels dans un organisme public” and “… dans une entreprise privée”, in PDF and DOCX. We are not hiding them: if an official template suits you better, use it. What this tool adds is fitting the letter to your situation, printing the follow-up sheet, and sending nothing anywhere. Forms and model letters.

5. The work is done on your device. The page contains no external script, opens no connection and records nothing. You can cut your internet off before filling it in: it will work just the same.

• Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (CQLR, c. P-39.1) — s. 27 (confirmation, communication and copy; intelligible written transcript; structured technological format), s. 30 (request in writing, identity, addressed to the person in charge, assistance), s. 32 (written reply within 30 days; failing which, deemed refusal), s. 33 (access free of charge; reasonable charge announced in advance), s. 34 (reasons for a refusal, provision relied on, remedies and their time limit), ss. 42 and 43 (application to the Commission to examine a disagreement, within 30 days) — Légis Québec.
• Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information (CQLR, c. A-2.1) — s. 83 (right to be informed and to obtain the information), s. 94 (request in writing addressed to the person in charge of protection of personal information), s. 97 (written notice of the date of receipt, time limits and recourse), s. 98 (20 days, extendable by not more than 10 on written notice), ss. 100 and 101 (reasons for a denial, text of the provision, notice of the review proceeding and its time limit), s. 102 (failure to reply = deemed denial), s. 135 (review by the Commission, within 30 days); and, for a request for a document that is not about you, ss. 42, 43 and 47 — Légis Québec.
• Civil Code of Québec — art. 37 (serious and legitimate reason for establishing a file), art. 38 (examine free of charge, cause a copy to be made for a reasonable cost, intelligible transcript), art. 39 (limits on denying access), art. 40 (rectification, deletion, filing written comments), art. 41 (the court settles any difficulty) — Légis Québec.
• Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (S.C. 2000, c. 5) — s. 4 (application, including to the employees of a federal work or undertaking), ss. 8(1) to 8(8) (request in writing, assistance owed, 30 days, extension, deemed refusal, cost, reasons for a refusal, retention), s. 9(1) (information about a third party, duty to sever), ss. 11(1) and 11(3) (complaint to the Commissioner, within six months), clause 4.9 of Schedule 1 — Justice Laws Website.
• Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec — Quebec’s access-to-information and privacy regulator (its name is used in English as well): forms for an application for review and for the examination of a disagreement, and official model letters for citizens.
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada — Accessing your personal information (businesses), and how to report a concern.

Texts consulted and sections checked one by one on Légis Québec and on the Justice Laws Website on July 31, 2026. Statutes change: the official source always prevails over us.

1. Which regime applies depends on who holds the file, and the line is not always clean. A private school, a health authority, a federally regulated employer, a professional order: the borderline cases exist. When in doubt, choose “I am not sure”: the letter says so and asks the organization to redirect you. We do not decide it for you.
2. Access can lawfully be refused. Information that concerns a third party, professional secrecy, an ongoing investigation: the law provides exceptions. A refusal must nevertheless give its reasons and indicate the provision relied on (s. 34 P-39.1; ss. 100 and 101 A-2.1; s. 8(7) of the federal Act). The letter changes none of that; the recourse, however, exists. And where information about a third party can be severed, the rest must be released to you (s. 9(1) federally).
3. The time limits printed are the ones the organization owes you, with their section: 30 days in the private sector (s. 32 P-39.1), 20 days plus 10 for a public body (s. 98 A-2.1), 30 days plus 30 federally (ss. 8(3) and 8(4)). The tool does not calculate your own deadline for going to the Commission d’accès à l’information: a time limit applies — 30 days from the refusal or from the expiry of the time limit to reply (s. 43 P-39.1; s. 135 A-2.1), six months federally (s. 11(3)) — and a wrong date could cost you the recourse. We show the rule, the wording and the link to the regulator, never a countdown. Both Quebec Acts also allow the Commission to release someone from being late for a good reason: if you think the time has run out, write anyway rather than give up.
4. The letter is a template. Read it, complete it, correct it, sign it. It does not cover requests made on behalf of somebody else (a child, a represented person, an estate), which carry extra conditions. And it does not replace a request for rectification: if information is inaccurate, incomplete or equivocal, article 40 of the Civil Code is what applies, and you can also file your written comments.