If you’re located in Canada, we strongly recommend using a VPN to:
- Protect your internet privacy from mass surveillance and data collection.
- Bypass Canadian internet censorship.
- Protect yourself from hackers, cybercrime, and online security threats.
- Stream entertainment content unavailable in Canada.
Let’s expand on each point in more detail below:
1. A VPN Protects Your Privacy in Canada
Canada is one of the least privacy-friendly countries in the West. Below are three quick reasons why:
- The Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-11) requires Canadian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Bell, Access Communications, and Cable Axion to log every internet user’s identity and activity for up to six months.
- The Anti-Terrorism Act (2015) allows the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to collect and store mass surveillance data from citizens for reasons of “national security.”
- Canada is part of an intelligence-sharing agreement called Five Eyes, which was conceived so that the US, Australia, the UK, and New Zealand could share data about its citizens, conveniently avoiding domestic privacy laws.
It’s also important to know that, as a result of Bill C-11, if a copyright holder complains to an ISP about copyright infringement, the ISP can forward the complaint to its customer and enforce a penalty.
Using a VPN protects you against unwarranted snooping by hiding your internet activity.
By encrypting your web traffic and changing your IP address, ISPs can no longer log, sell, or share your data with government agencies.
A VPN for torrenting in particular will also help share files anonymously, and avoid DMCA notices from your ISP or copyright trolls.
2. A VPN Protects You from Canadian Web Censorship
Internet censorship happens in Canada, too. In 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada approved a corporation’s effort to censor international websites.
Moreover, Canadian media companies like Bell Media and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) often exert pressure to block websites they don’t like.
Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act and introduced in June 2023, has also raised censorship issues.
This bill now requires Google and Facebook to pay for listing and showing news articles from certain Canadian publications. This has meant that both Google and Facebook have been forced to remove these articles from their platforms.
As things stand, if you’re in Canada, you won’t be able to access news articles from Canadian publishers via Google Search or Facebook.
3. A VPN Enhances Your Internet Security
Cybercrime happens everywhere, whether it’s ransomware, man-in-the-middle attacks, data breaches, or phishing attacks.
A VPN goes a long way to protect your web security especially over public WiFi.
A VPN encrypts your internet data transfers that makes it much harder for hackers and cybercriminals to capture your data.
A VPN protects you against the many dangers of public WiFi.
4. A VPN Bypasses International Streaming Geo-blocks
You can use a VPN to stream movies and TV shows that aren’t available in Canada or access Canadian streaming sites overseas, like CBC Gem, CTV, Crave, and TSN.
Streaming sites offer different content based on the country you’re in. A VPN gives you an IP address that can unblock that content.
Although Canada’s Netflix catalog features almost 7,000 titles, its content is different from the US, UK or Japanese libraries.
If you want to stream American Netflix, Japanese Netflix, Hulu, or any other platform/region outside Canada, you’ll need a VPN.
The best streaming VPNs can unblock most popular geo-restricted platforms like Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, Paramount+, Discovery Plus, and more.
