Special considerations for older Canadians dealing with financial institutions, long-term care, health records, and substitute decision-makers.
This page provides legal information, not legal advice. Consult a qualified privacy lawyer or CIPP/C-accredited privacy professional before taking action on access requests, breach response, complaints to a Privacy Commissioner, or Federal Court applications.
Last verified: September 2026
TL;DR
Seniors have the same privacy rights as any adult Canadian, but common situations (banking with powers of attorney, long-term care residents, and substitute decision-makers) raise specific privacy issues. Financial elder abuse is a growing concern that intersects with privacy law.
Banking and powers of attorney
When you grant a power of attorney (POA), the attorney can usually access your financial information to carry out the authorized tasks. Banks must confirm the POA is valid.
Revoking a POA also revokes the attorney's ability to access your information going forward.
Long-term care and retirement homes
Health privacy laws apply to long-term care homes. Family members typically need the resident's consent (or legal authority) to access health information.
In Ontario, the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 (which replaced the Long-Term Care Homes Act in 2022) and PHIPA set standards for resident records.
Substitute decision-makers
If a senior cannot make decisions due to incapacity, a substitute decision-maker takes on privacy rights too. Most provinces have mental health and substitute decisions statutes that determine who can act and under what rules.
Protection against financial elder abuse
Banks are increasingly trained to recognize financial elder abuse. PIPEDA s.7(3)(d.3) allows an organization to disclose personal information without consent to a government institution, or to the individual's next of kin or authorized representative, where it reasonably believes the individual is a victim of financial abuse and the disclosure is made to prevent or investigate it.