Intrusion upon seclusion is a privacy tort recognized in Ontario by the Court of Appeal in Jones v Tsige, 2012 ONCA 32, which allows a person to recover for the intentional or reckless invasion, without lawful justification, of their private affairs in a manner that a reasonable person would regard as highly offensive. In the health context it is most relevant to the unauthorized access to or snooping in patient records.
The tort is significant because it permits a remedy, including modest symbolic damages, even without proof of economic loss, which is often absent in a privacy breach. It operates alongside the regulatory regime under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, overseen by the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and it has featured in proposed class actions arising from large-scale unauthorized access to health information.
Posts tagged Intrusion upon Seclusion analyze Ontario decisions applying the privacy tort in the healthcare and patient-records context.
A cosmetic surgery clinic recorded patients in consultation rooms and the operating room without telling them. In J.C. v Jugenburg, 2026 ONSC 3061, the court awarded $21.5 million in aggregate damages and $1 million in punitive damages, and clarified how intrusion upon seclusion applies inside the doctor-patient relationship.
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