Privacy & Security Consulting in Montreal
Practical privacy and security guidance for organizations in Montreal — turning requirements into processes and risk into action.
Montréal is home to some of Canada's most demanding privacy obligations. Under Québec's Law 25, fully phased in between 2022 and 2024, every private-sector organization handling personal information about Québec residents must appoint a person in charge of personal information protection, publish a privacy policy, implement privacy-by-default in new technology projects, obtain meaningful consent before collecting or sharing data, and report breaches to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec within tight timelines. Law 25's penal fines can reach the greater of twenty-five million dollars or four percent of worldwide turnover — a scale that puts Québec's regime on par with the European GDPR for enforcement teeth.
Federally regulated businesses headquartered or operating in the city — banks, airlines, telecoms — also remain subject to PIPEDA for their commercial activity and for personal information that crosses provincial or national borders, adding a second compliance track that needs to run alongside Law 25.
Privacy Horizon's consulting practice is designed for exactly this environment. Our senior advisors work directly with your leadership team to cut through complexity: mapping your personal information flows against Law 25's specific obligations, identifying the consent and transparency gaps most likely to attract CAI scrutiny, and building the governance structures — documented policies, internal training programs, a designated privacy officer role — that demonstrate good-faith compliance. For organizations with ongoing needs but not enough volume to justify hiring in-house, our Virtual Privacy Officer service provides a senior practitioner on flexible terms, available whenever a decision requires expert judgment. For organizations navigating a merger or acquisition, we bring privacy due diligence into the transaction process so that data liabilities are surfaced and priced before close, not discovered afterward. Whatever the starting point — a gap assessment, a specific remediation, or ongoing strategic support — we provide the hands-on guidance that turns Montréal's demanding privacy requirements into a manageable, repeatable program.
Privacy & security regulation in Montreal
Regulator: Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (CAI)
Montréal organizations must meet Québec's stringent Law 25 requirements, among the most demanding privacy obligations in Canada.
Law 25Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information
Québec's Law 25 substantially modernized the province's private-sector privacy regime. Phased in between 2022 and 2024, it introduced mandatory breach reporting, privacy-by-default, stricter consent and transparency obligations, and significant administrative monetary penalties.
PIPEDAPersonal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
PIPEDA is Canada's federal private-sector privacy law. It sets out ten fair information principles governing how organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activity. It applies wherever a province has not enacted substantially similar legislation — and, even in provinces that have (Alberta, British Columbia, Québec), it continues to apply to federally regulated businesses such as banks, airlines, and telecommunications, and to personal information that flows across provincial or national borders.
What Privacy Consulting includes
Privacy and security shouldn't slow your business down. Our consulting team helps you convert obligations into repeatable processes and risks into prioritized action plans, with senior guidance you can call on as needed.
Privacy & Security Coaching
Hands-on guidance to build a risk-based roadmap and prioritize what matters.
Policy Development
Practical, compliance-ready policies your team will actually use.
Virtual Privacy Officer (VPO)
Privacy program leadership without a full-time hire.
Virtual CISO (vCISO)
Strategic security leadership, posture reviews, and incident readiness.
M&A Privacy Due Diligence
De-risk transactions with a fast review of data practices and red flags.
Custom Training
Role-relevant privacy and security training for your teams.
Law 25 Compliance Built for Montréal's Business Reality
Law 25 is not a single deadline — it is an ongoing operational requirement. Privacy Horizon helps Montréal organizations establish the people, processes, and documentation that the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec expects to see: a designated person in charge of personal information protection, a published and accurate privacy policy, privacy impact assessments for new technology projects, and a functional breach response process. We focus on what the CAI actually scrutinizes, not theoretical risks that rarely materialize in practice.
Virtual Privacy Officer for Sustained Law 25 Oversight
Many Montréal businesses need a senior privacy practitioner — someone who can own the compliance program, respond to incidents, and advise leadership on new initiatives — but do not yet have enough volume to justify a full-time hire. Our Virtual Privacy Officer service fills that gap. Your designated VPO is available when you need them: for regulatory inquiries, contract reviews, product launches, or any situation where privacy expertise needs to be in the room. The arrangement is flexible by design, scaling with your organization's size and pace.
Other services in Montreal
Privacy Consulting elsewhere
What's Protecting Your Business from the Next Threat?
Don't wait for a breach to expose your vulnerabilities. Let Privacy Horizon secure your data, ensure compliance, and build lasting trust.