French in Quebec is a legal requirement
The Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 96 in 2022, requires commercial advertising in Quebec to be in French. Another language may appear alongside it where French is markedly predominant, and catalogues, brochures and websites must be available in French. Since 1 June 2025, a trade mark in another language can stay on a product only if it is registered with no French version on the register, generic or descriptive words in it must be translated, and outdoor signs showing such a mark need French text that clearly dominates. The Office québécois de la langue française enforces the rules. Text inside a generated scene, such as a shop sign or a slogan on a T-shirt, is part of the ad, so it needs the same care.
Quebec's ban on advertising aimed at children
Section 248 of Quebec's Consumer Protection Act prohibits commercial advertising directed at children under 13, and the Supreme Court of Canada upheld it in 1989. Whether an ad is aimed at children depends on the product, the way it is presented and when and where it appears. Generated cartoon mascots, animated characters and bright play scenes are exactly the features that make an ad read as child-directed, so a campaign that runs freely elsewhere in Canada can be unlawful in Quebec. Outside Quebec, broadcast advertising to children follows the Broadcast Code for Advertising to Children, administered by Ad Standards, which also runs the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards and pre-clears ads in several regulated categories.
The Competition Act and environmental claims
The Competition Act bans materially false or misleading representations, judged on their general impression, and the Competition Bureau enforces it. Changes in 2024 tightened the rules on environmental claims, requiring claims about a product's benefits to be backed by adequate and proper testing and claims about a business's environmental record to follow an internationally recognised methodology. Bill C-15, which received Royal Assent in March 2026, removed that methodology requirement and ended private cases over claims about a business, while product claims still need proper testing. Generated copy tends to add environmental adjectives no one asked for, so they belong on a banned list unless substantiated. A realistic generated demonstration of a product feature needs the same evidence as a filmed one.
Privacy: federal law and Quebec's Law 25
Federally, PIPEDA governs personal information in the private sector, and British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec have their own laws. Bill C-27, which would have replaced PIPEDA and created an AI act, died when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025. A new privacy bill, C-36, introduced in June 2026, includes rules on explaining automated decisions but no AI act, so Canada still has no federal AI law. Quebec's Law 25 is the strictest regime in practice. It treats biometric information as sensitive, requires express consent for it, and requires a privacy impact assessment before personal information is sent outside Quebec. A voice model or digital twin built from a Quebec presenter's recordings sits squarely inside those rules, so plan storage and consent before the recording session.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.