An Alberta resident has signed up for a health wellness "app" developed by a British Columbia based software provider that stores the data in British…

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is the federal privacy law that applies to private-sector organizations in the course of commercial activities. While Alberta and British Columbia have their own substantially similar provincial privacy laws (PIPA), PIPEDA applies to all interprovincial and international transactions involving personal information. Since the individual is in Alberta and the software provider is in British Columbia, the collection and use of personal information across provincial borders falls under federal jurisdiction, making PIPEDA the applicable legislation.

A. Alberta’s HIA applies to health information held by health custodians in Alberta, which is not the case here.
B. Alberta’s PIPA applies to private organizations operating within Alberta, but PIPEDA governs the interprovincial flow of data.
C. Alberta’s FOIP applies to public bodies in Alberta, not to a private commercial software provider.

1. Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (S.C. 2000, c. 5), Section 4(1)(b). The Act applies to every organization in respect of personal information that is collected, used or disclosed in the course of a commercial activity.

2. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2023). PIPEDA in brief. "PIPEDA applies to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information in the course of a commercial activity... It also applies to all interprovincial and international flows of personal information."

3. University of Alberta, Faculty of Law. Course: LAW 589 - Information and Privacy Law. Course materials on jurisdictional issues in Canadian privacy law, explaining PIPEDA's application to interprovincial data transfers regardless of the existence of provincial legislation.