November 4, 2026 - Xavier Flanagan, Founder

How to get a copy of your medical records in Canada

Your doctor owns the paper or the computer your records sit on, but you have a legal right to the information in them. That has been settled in Canada since 1992, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in McInerney v. MacDonald that patients are entitled to see and copy their own medical records.

Today that right is written into provincial law. Health care in Canada is run by the provinces, and so are the rules for health records, so the details depend on where you were treated. This article covers Ontario and British Columbia in detail, and points you to the rules everywhere else.

The short version

You can ask any doctor, clinic, hospital or lab that treated you for a copy of your records.
In Ontario and BC they must answer within 30 days, and can take up to 30 more only in specific situations and only if they tell you.
Most can charge a fee limited to their costs, and must estimate it first. Some, such as BC hospitals, cannot charge you for your own records.
If they refuse or ignore you, you can complain to your province’s information and privacy commissioner.

Ontario

In Ontario the law is the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, usually called PHIPA. It covers what it calls health information custodians: doctors, nurses, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, labs and most other health care providers.

How to ask: in writing, to the provider that holds the records, with enough detail for them to find what you want.
Deadline: as soon as possible, and no later than 30 days after they receive your request. They can extend that once, by up to 30 more days, if the records are extensive or they need to consult someone, and they must tell you within the first 30 days.
Fees: a provider can charge only after giving you an estimate, and the fee cannot be more than reasonable cost recovery. A provider can also waive the fee.
If they refuse: they must tell you why. You can complain in writing to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario within six months of the refusal. If they simply do not answer in time, the law treats that as a refusal, so the same complaint applies.

British Columbia

In BC it depends on who holds your records.

Doctors’ offices, private clinics and other private practices fall under the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). They must answer within 30 days, where days do not count Saturdays or holidays, so about six weeks in practice. They can extend by up to 30 more in specific situations, and can charge only a minimal fee, with a written estimate first.
Hospitals and health authorities fall under BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. They must respond within 30 days, extendable by up to 30 in specific situations, and they cannot charge you for your own personal information. Each health authority has a privacy or records office that handles requests.

Either way, if you are refused or ignored, you can ask the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia to review it.

Everywhere else

Every province and territory has its own rules, and most have a law written specifically for health information, such as Alberta’s Health Information Act. Your provincial or territorial information and privacy commissioner’s website explains them, and the commissioner is also where you complain.

In Quebec, the Act respecting health and social services information, in force since July 1, 2024, covers hospitals and private clinics alike. You get an answer within 30 days, no answer counts as a refusal, access and a copy are free, and you can ask the Commission d’accès à l’information to review a refusal within 30 days. (This article is also available in French for Quebec.)

In some provinces, a private clinic may also be covered by the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Your commissioner’s office can tell you which law applies.

How to make the request

Ask the right office. At a hospital it is usually Health Records or the privacy office. At a clinic, ask the front desk.
Check your provincial portal first. Many provinces now let you see lab results and some reports online. Download what is there before you ask for the rest.
Write it down. Say what you want (everything since a given year, or a specific hospital stay) and that you would like an electronic copy if they can provide one.
Ask for the fee up front. They have to estimate it before they charge you.
Note the date. The deadline runs from when they receive your request.

Common situations

A family doctor who has retired or closed. Doctors must keep records for years even after closing. In Ontario it is at least 10 years after the last entry, or 10 years after a child turns 18, and a closing doctor must tell the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario where the records are. Your provincial college can usually tell you who holds them.
Records for a child or a parent. A parent or guardian can usually ask for a young child’s records, and someone legally authorized to act for an adult, such as a substitute decision-maker or an estate trustee, can ask on their behalf. Older children may control their own records, and the rules depend on the province. In Ontario, a parent can usually act for a child under 16, except about treatment or counselling the child agreed to on their own.

Asking for mental health records? Our guide to getting your mental health records in Canada covers when access can be refused, province by province.

Why the records are only half of it

Your history is spread across a family doctor, walk-in clinics, specialists, hospitals and labs, and often more than one province. Each one gives you its part, as PDFs, scans or paper.

That is where exora fits. Upload the records you get back, from any provider, and it reads them, pulls out your medications, conditions, results, procedures and immunizations, and lays them out in plain language. Every fact links back to the page it came from, so you can always check it.

exora does not connect to your providers’ systems or request records for you. You get them, using the rights above, and exora puts them together. The provincial laws above govern your providers; how exora handles your copy is set out in our privacy policy, and how it is protected on our security page.