Are e-signatures legal in Canada and the US?
In most cases, yes. An electronic signature can generally satisfy a legal requirement for a signature in both countries. The harder question, and the one that decides disputes, is whether you can show that it was really the person who signed.
Canada
Canada has no single national e-signature law. At the federal level, Part 2 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) recognizes electronic signatures for federal purposes, and a separate category called a "secure electronic signature" is defined in regulations for specific uses.
Each province and territory has its own legislation, for example the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 in Ontario, the Electronic Transactions Act in British Columbia, and the Act to establish a legal framework for information technology in Quebec. In general these laws allow an electronic signature to meet a signature requirement where the law does not say otherwise.
The United States
Federally, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN, 2000) gives electronic signatures and records the same legal effect as paper ones for most transactions. Most states have also adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), and New York has its own statute. The details vary by state.
What is commonly excluded
Neither country treats every document the same way. Typical exclusions include wills and certain trust documents, some family law documents, certain court notices, and in some places particular real property documents or powers of attorney. The list differs by province and by state, so check the rules for your document type.
What makes a signature hold up
- Intent: the signer meant to sign and to be bound.
- Consent: where the law requires it, the signer agreed to do business electronically.
- Association: the signature is tied to the specific document that was signed.
- Attribution: you can show who made the signature. This is where most disputes are won or lost.
- Retention: the signed record is kept in a form that can be reproduced accurately later.
Why evidence matters more than the logo on the tool
Because the law usually accepts the signature itself, a challenge tends to be about the facts: who was it, and how do you know? An identity check before signing, together with a record of the time, IP address, device and order of events, is the kind of evidence that answers that question.
Where Trust Ledger fits
Trust Ledger is built for the attribution and retention parts. It verifies the signer before the signature, writes the signature into the document, and keeps an append-only record of every step. It does not decide the legal validity of your document, and nothing on this site is legal advice. See e-signature with identity verification and the ledger for how the record works.
A note on this guide
This guide is general information, not legal advice. What counts as a valid signature depends on the document, the jurisdiction and the facts, so check your own matter with a lawyer.