Law Enforcement Guidelines
Version 1.0 · Effective July 28, 2026
This page explains how AjaxPickering.ca handles requests from police, government agencies, courts and civil litigants for information about the people who use our site. It is written to be useful to investigators and honest with our members. Both audiences are reading it.
Who We Are And Where To Serve Us
AjaxPickering.ca is operated by iGuides Canada, 40 Old Kingston Road, Ajax, Ontario L1T 2Z7.
Address for service: legal@ajaxpickering.ca
We accept service of Canadian legal process by email at that address. It is monitored on business days. Please do not send legal process through our contact form, to individual staff members, or by direct message on the platform; those routes are not monitored for legal requests and using them will cost you time you may not have.
We Respond To Canadian Legal Process Only
We are a Canadian company with Canadian operations. A subpoena, warrant or production order issued by a foreign court has no force here and we will not act on one. Requests from outside Canada must come through the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act and the International Assistance Group at the Department of Justice.
What We Require
The short version: almost nothing about an account can be disclosed without a court order.
| What you want | What we need |
|---|---|
| Preservation of records (no disclosure) | A demand under Criminal Code s. 487.012, or an order under s. 487.013. We will act on a valid preservation demand promptly. |
| Basic subscriber information: name, email address, account creation date | A production order (s. 487.014) or a warrant. See below. |
| IP addresses, sign-in records, device information | A production order or a warrant. See below. |
| Content: posts, direct messages, photos, listings | A production order under s. 487.014, or a warrant. |
| Transmission data | An order under s. 487.016. |
| Anything requiring a technique not otherwise provided for | A general warrant under s. 487.01. |
| Civil proceedings | A Norwich order or other order of a superior court. A statement of claim is not enough. |
Why IP addresses need an order
In R v Spencer, 2014 SCC 43, the Supreme Court of Canada held that subscriber information linked to online activity attracts a reasonable expectation of privacy. In R v Bykovets, 2024 SCC 6, the Court held that an IP address on its own attracts a reasonable expectation of privacy.
The practical consequence is that we cannot hand over an IP address on request, and a request framed as being made under PIPEDA s. 7(3)(c.1) does not change that: that provision permits disclosure where there is lawful authority, it does not itself create the authority. We will politely decline and ask for an order. This is not obstruction. It is the law as the Supreme Court has stated it, and complying with a request that lacked authority would expose both of us.
Emergencies
Where there is a risk of imminent bodily harm or death, PIPEDA s. 7(3)(e) permits disclosure without an order. Contact legal@ajaxpickering.ca with EMERGENCY in the subject line and a description of the risk, and we will respond as quickly as we can.
Two things to know. We will call your agency back on its published main line to confirm the request before disclosing anything. And where the individual is alive, PIPEDA obliges us to notify them in writing afterwards.
We Verify Every Request
Before we disclose anything we telephone the issuing agency on its own published main line, never a number printed on the document, and confirm the officer, the badge number and the file number. For a court order we confirm the file number with the registry.
We say this publicly because fraudulent emergency data requests on convincing letterhead are the most common way platforms are tricked into disclosing personal information, and they have worked against far larger companies than this one. The delay this adds is small. The delay it prevents is a wrongful disclosure we cannot undo.
What Makes A Request Easy To Answer
- An account identifier we can actually resolve: the profile URL, the @handle, the email address, or the numeric user id.
- A precise date range, in Eastern Time.
- The specific categories of record sought, rather than "all information".
- Your name, badge number, agency, file number and direct contact details.
A request naming a handle with no date range and asking for everything will be answered with questions rather than records, because producing more than the order covers would itself be a breach of our obligations to the member.
What We Hold, And For How Long
We would rather tell you now than have you discover it after an order is issued.
| Record | Retention |
|---|---|
| Sign-in records (IP, method, device) | 24 months |
| Posts, listings, recipes, events | While the account is open |
| Post edit history | 90 days |
| Direct messages | While either participant's account is open |
| Unsent direct messages | Not recoverable. See below |
| Sign-in throttling and token records | 2 to 7 days |
| Identity verification documents | Destroyed when the request is decided. See below |
| Closed account: content | Purged 30 days after closure |
| Closed account: minimal record and abuse reports | 24 months after purge |
| Payment and advertising records | 7 years (Income Tax Act s. 230) |
Two limits worth knowing before you draft
Unsent messages are gone. When a member unsends a direct message the text is destroyed, not hidden. If a preservation demand was already in force covering that conversation when it happened, we will have a copy. If it was not, we do not, and no order can produce what does not exist. s. 487.012 obliges us to preserve what is in our possession when the demand is made, which is why moving quickly matters more here than usual.
Some records live only days. Sign-in throttling data and one-time token records are kept 2 to 7 days. A preservation demand stops the clock from the moment we receive it, but it cannot recover what has already rolled off.
Identity documents are destroyed at decision. When we approve or reject a verification request the uploaded document is deleted immediately. We keep a record that verification happened and what was decided, not the image.
Notice To Our Members
Our default is to tell the member. Canada has no general rule prohibiting a service provider from notifying a subscriber that their information has been sought, and we regard notice as part of treating people fairly.
We will withhold notice where:
- a non-disclosure order under Criminal Code s. 487.0191 applies;
- the order is sealed under s. 487.3;
- notice is prohibited by the Mandatory Reporting Act s. 5;
- a government institution has objected under PIPEDA s. 9(2.1); or
- there is a genuine risk to someone's life or to an active investigation.
Where notice is deferred rather than prohibited outright, we diarise the date the prohibition lapses and give notice then. If you need notice withheld, please obtain the order. Asking us informally not to tell them is not something we can act on.
We May Challenge An Order
Where an order appears overbroad, or seeks records outside the authority relied on, we may apply under Criminal Code s. 487.0193 to vary or revoke it. That application must be made within 30 days of the order and before the compliance date, so please allow reasonable time between service and the return date. It is usually faster for both of us to narrow the scope by agreement.
Costs
We do not charge for routine requests. For requests requiring substantial work we may seek reasonable compensation, consistent with Rogers Communications Inc. v Voltage Pictures, LLC, 2018 SCC 38.
Child Protection
We report child pornography as required by An Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography by persons who provide an Internet service, S.C. 2011, c. 4. Reports go to Cybertip.ca, we notify police where we have reasonable grounds to believe an offence has been committed using our service, and we preserve the relevant data for 21 days. We do not disclose that a report has been made.
Transparency
We publish a summary of the requests we receive. See our transparency report.
What This Page Is Not
Nothing here is a waiver of any right or requirement, an undertaking to produce anything in a particular form, or legal advice. Our obligations are set by law, not by this page, and where the two differ the law governs.
Questions about this page: legal@ajaxpickering.ca. Privacy questions from members go to privacy@ajaxpickering.ca or see our Privacy Policy.
