Checking a coach or course in Canada: your rights and the public records
Canada splits this between federal and provincial law, and the result still leaves the product unguarded. The Competition Act covers false and misleading representations, drip pricing has been written into the Act since 2022, and a 2024 reform put the burden of proving an inflated "was" price onto the seller. A useful rule for coaching: a performance claim has to be backed by adequate and proper testing done before the claim is made. What no rule does is force a coach to prove the method works before selling it.
What the law covers, and the gap it leaves. Section 52 of the Competition Act is the criminal route for false claims and section 74.01 the civil one, alongside each province's consumer-protection law. The 2022 and 2024 reforms tightened drip pricing and reference pricing. None of it requires pre-sale disclosure of typical student outcomes.
The advertising and earnings rules. A performance or earnings claim needs adequate and proper testing carried out before it is published, not after. Influencer promotions are expected to carry clear ad disclosure under the advertising standards guidance updated in 2025.
Check the public record. There is no single national search. Use Corporations Canada for federally incorporated businesses, the relevant provincial registry for the rest, and SEDAR+ for public-company filings. The limit: with a federal register plus thirteen provincial and territorial ones and no unified search, records are scattered, and sole proprietors are invisible. A missing record is a question, not a verdict.
If it teaches investing. Trading, crypto and investing courses fall to the provincial securities regulators, and a "this is not advice" disclaimer does not exempt a seller. A 2025 staff notice set out how the regulators view finfluencers. If it is really investment advice, check your provincial regulator and stop.
If it goes wrong. Pay by credit card for chargeback rights, and note that British Columbia has a statutory route to reverse charges on a failed future-performance contract. In Quebec, a seller generally cannot take full payment up front for a course costing more than one hundred dollars. Complain through your provincial consumer-protection office, such as consumerprotectionontario.ca, consumerprotectionbc.ca, or opc.gouv.qc.ca in Quebec.
Then run the method that works on any seller: proof you did not make yourself.
Common questions
- Why is checking a Canadian seller's record so awkward?
Because there is no single national search. Use Corporations Canada for federally incorporated businesses, the provincial registry for the rest, and SEDAR+ for public-company filings. With one federal register plus thirteen provincial and territorial ones, records are scattered and sole proprietors are invisible. A missing record is a question, not a verdict.
- Does Canadian law test a coach's earnings claims?
A performance or earnings claim has to be backed by adequate and proper testing carried out before the claim is made, not after, under the Competition Act, and drip pricing and inflated "was" prices are also caught. But no rule forces a seller to prove the method works or to disclose typical student outcomes before you buy.
Sources
- Section 52 is the criminal route and section 74.01 the civil route for false or misleading representations, and a performance claim must rest on adequate and proper testing carried out before the claim is made. · Competition Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34)Checked 4 June 2026
- Federally incorporated businesses can be searched on Corporations Canada, with provincial registries covering the rest. · Corporations CanadaChecked 4 June 2026