Canada's fax usage closely mirrors patterns seen in the United States, with healthcare, legal, government, and financial sectors continuing to rely on fax as a core channel for secure document transmission. While everyday business communication has shifted to email and digital platforms, fax remains deeply embedded in industries where regulatory compliance, patient privacy, and verifiable delivery are non-negotiable.
Healthcare is the single largest driver of fax usage in Canada. Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and physicians' offices routinely use fax to share patient records, referrals, lab results, and prescriptions. Provincial privacy legislation -- including Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), and Alberta's Health Information Act (HIA) -- imposes strict requirements on how personal health information is transmitted. Fax has long been considered a compliant method under these frameworks, and many healthcare providers continue to treat it as their default. Initiatives like Canada Health Infoway are working to modernise health information exchange, but the transition has been slow, particularly among smaller practices and rural providers with limited resources for technological upgrades.
The legal profession is another major user. Canadian law firms, courts, and legal aid offices use fax for contracts, court filings, affidavits, and client correspondence. Faxed documents carry legal weight in Canadian courts, and the transmission confirmation serves as proof of delivery -- a feature that remains important for deadline-sensitive filings. Notaries, immigration consultants, and real estate professionals also rely on fax for document exchange where a verifiable record of transmission is expected.
Government agencies at the federal and provincial levels maintain active fax lines for official correspondence. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) accepts fax for various tax-related submissions, and Service Canada, provincial ministries, and municipal offices use fax for processing applications, permits, and official requests. For citizens and businesses navigating Canadian bureaucracy, fax often remains the most direct route for submitting time-sensitive documents.
Financial institutions -- banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and mortgage lenders -- round out the picture. Fax is used for transmitting loan documents, account forms, claims, and compliance-related correspondence, where secure delivery and an auditable paper trail are expected by regulators.
For anyone sending a fax to Canada from abroad, the country code is +1 (shared with the United States), followed by the 10-digit phone number with no leading zero to drop. For detailed formatting instructions, see our guide on how to send an international fax online.
JustFax Online makes it easy to send a fax anywhere in Canada. Upload your document -- PDF, PNG, JPEG, or TIFF -- enter the recipient's fax number, and send. No account, no subscription, no app required. You pay a flat rate for the first four pages, with additional pages priced separately. If delivery fails after all retry attempts, you are not charged. To get started, see our step-by-step guide to sending a fax online.