Are you wondering if it’s okay to open someone else’s mail in Canada? You’re sitting at home with a stack of envelopes on the table, and you flip through the ones addressed to you — bills, fliers, junk. Nothing exciting.

Then you notice an envelope addressed to a name you don’t recognize. Finally, something out of the ordinary. But what do you do with it? Maybe the contents are important? Is it worth forwarding? And how will you know without opening it?

Unfortunately, no matter how breathtaking or banal you think this mail will be, you can’t open it; under the Canada Post Corporation Act, it’s an offence to knowingly open or keep someone else’s mail. Mail theft even carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Rest assured, the situation is rarely that serious; the punishment only applies if you purposely tamper with someone’s mail. If you accidentally open an envelope while going through a stack of your own mail, you’ll likely be fine — just make sure the intended recipient gets their mail.

Why is it illegal?

So why does opening someone’s mail carry such a heavy punishment? If you do receive someone else’s mail today, it’s possible they forgot to update their address, and you’ve received their old magazine subscription — no big deal. Send it on its way.

But some mail is more sensitive. Credit cards and IDs still come in the mail, which has more implications than flipping through a magazine. Now someone’s finances and identity are at risk. While reading that magazine is still technically illegal, it’s unlikely to generate the same attention as credit card fraud or identity theft.

Open someone else’s mail

Well, what about e-mail? Just as you can’t read someone else’s letters, you can’t read their e-mails either. The Criminal Code prevents people from intercepting any private communications, and the punishment is a maximum of five years in prison.

But, like with physical mail, permission matters — if someone gives you their password and asks you to check their e-mail, you’re not committing a crime. However, you could be charged if you use information you found in their e-mail for a purpose they didn’t intend (like a crime).

Opening someone else’s mail with permission

Of course, there are some exceptions — you can open or keep someone else’s mail with their permission. For instance, if your neighbour is on vacation and asks you to hold their mail while away, that’s perfectly legal.

Or perhaps a family member asks you to sort their mail, to separate the junk from the valuable items — also perfectly legal. You probably don’t need written permission in situations like these, but it can never hurt.

If you’re acting on behalf of a deceased person, you may also open their mail. To do so, you must prove to Canada Post that the person has passed away and that you’re their legal representative.

Can you open your employees’ mail?

We’re in the land of rare exceptions, but technically, you can open your employees’ mail in some situations. For example, if the letter is addressed to your business but has your employee’s name on it, you can legally open it.

As always, use discretion. If the mail appears intimately personal or is marked confidential, it might be best to leave it. And moving forward, be open with your employees; you might want to develop a policy for receiving personal mail at work.

Misdelivered Mail

This logic doesn’t apply to your house, though. If mail arrives at your personal address with another name, you can’t open it. Misdelivered mail is a common issue that Canada Post has steps to resolve. But be warned: if you knowingly keep — not just open — somebody’s misdelivered mail, you can be charged.

Under the Canada Post Act, their mail is their property, no matter how boring the contents. Plus, the misdelivered mail could be important — as a good rule, err on the side of caution and be respectful.

Using a false address

If, after taking the necessary steps, you keep receiving mail addressed to someone else — more than an old magazine subscription — you may want to act. Someone may be using your address, and that’s illegal under s380(1) of the Criminal Code. Address fraud could be someone using your address to open a bank account or part of broader identity theft. Neither should go unchecked — call the police if you suspect someone is using your address.

So if you find someone else’s mail among your usual bills and junk, resist that urge to open it — even if it is just a magazine. Under the Canada Post Corporation Act, knowingly tampering with someone else’s mail can carry a 10-year sentence. Your next step should be forwarding the mail to its intended recipient or returning it to the sender.

The rules apply to e-mail, too. You can’t intercept or read any private communications, online or in a letter.

When mail comes to the wrong address

But there are exceptions. As usual, permission is crucial — if someone asks you to gather their mail, you’re probably in the clear. But depending on how well you know the person, you may want to get permission in writing.

In most cases, mail delivered to a business address can be opened by the owner, even if another employee’s name is on it. But this can be tricky, so use discretion and communicate with your employees about receiving personal mail at work.

Even in the age of e-mail and the internet, the morning ritual for many Canadians involves a daily trip to the mailbox to check for all manners of correspondence that still relies upon the federal postal system. Whether you’re waiting for a pay cheque, a new credit card, or one of many monthly bills, receiving letters in the mail is still very much a part of everyday life.

But for people in apartment buildings and condo buildings with multiple mailboxes, the chance to receive a piece of mail that isn’t meant for you is somewhat of a common occurrence. Maybe there’s a letter left in your box that was meant for a neighbour or a previous tenant who has since moved out.

Easy to return to sender

On days when there’s a new stack of letters left in your box, especially in the haze of early morning, it’s an easy and innocent mistake to make to mindlessly open each one without scrutinizing them to make sure you’re the intended recipient.

But once you’ve realized your mistake after ripping open an envelope, you may find yourself wondering what kind of trouble or consequences there are for opening up someone else’s mail. Is opening someone else’s mail a crime?

Can you open someone else’s mail in Canada? What are the laws around unauthorized access to someone else’s private correspondence or bills?

Mail delivery in Canada is, of course, handled by Canada Post. The federal Crown corporation falls under the Canada Post Corporation Act. The legislation sets out a number of mail-related offences that can land people in prison for committing, up to five years in some of the more egregious cases.

Opening someone else’s mail without authorization is prohibited by the act, but it only deals with people who “knowingly” open a piece of mail where you’re not the intended recipient. It also deals with people who delay or detain the mail or “unlawfully and knowingly” abandon it.

Always Follow Federal Law

The key word in most offences under the Canada Post Corporation Act is “knowingly.” For someone to be found guilty, a Crown prosecutor would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone intentionally opened someone else’s mail without permission.

So, opening a letter addressed to someone else that’s mistakenly left in your mailbox won’t likely lead to any charges if it was done accidentally.

Other acts prohibited by the legislation include intentional misdirection or obstruction of mail delivery. In addition, it’s illegal to mail dangerous substances including explosives or any “destructive substance” that is “likely to injure persons or damage property.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s postal legislation also deals with several crimes involving fraud and potential identity theft, perhaps the most common motive behind the stealing of mail and tampering with postage.

You can drop off mail in person if you have time

For example, it’s against the law to remove, deface, or modify a stamp affixed to a letter with “fraudulent intent.” Moreover, it’s illegal to “evade” payment for postage as well as try to pass off a used postage stamp in order to avoid paying for a new one.

The Canada Post Corporation Act also grants the Crown Corporation the “exclusive privilege” to collect, transmit, and deliver letters up to a certain weight in Canada, while also prohibiting other parties from making and selling postage stamps.

In the early 2000s, Canada Post was embroiled in litigation in courts in Ontario in a legal dispute with a so-called “remailer” company called Key Mail Inc.

Open someone else’s mail

The company, Canada Post claimed, was violating the corporation’s “exclusive privilege” as granted by parliament to collect and deliver letters in Canada, regardless of their destination. At the time, remailing services for international letters were said to be syphoning off millions in potential revenues that would’ve otherwise gone to the federal postal service.

The legislation allows Canada Post to exclusively use and authorize the use of the words “post office.” Without Canada Post’s permission, nobody is allowed to use Canada Post’s exclusive marks that may suggest their business is a “post office or a place for the receipt of letters.”

Drop it off at your mail service

In that respect, the federal Crown corporation is quite protective over its trademarks and has clashed over alleged unauthorized use of post-office-related terms by other businesses. In 2001, for instance, Canada Post opposed the registration of “Royal Mail” by a company called The Post Office, which was based in London, England.

The U.K.-based firm had applied to register the “ROYAL MAIL” mark back in 1991 in association with the sale of mail-related supplies including stamps and envelopes, along with mail sorting machines, model postal delivery trucks, ceramic tableware, as well as electronic instruments and software “for use in connection with postal services.”

Ultimately, Canada Post was successful in arguing that the Royal Mail mark wasn’t eligible for trademark registration for its lack of distinctiveness.

But far and above potential trademark issues and people trying to avoid small postage fees, the potential for fraud and identity theft involving the mail is by far the postal service’s main concern.

The problem of mail theft is quite pervasive and serious, especially given the amount of personal information that gets transmitted through the mail to millions of Canadians each and every day. Thieves who steal peoples’ mail can often find a treasure trove of valuable information contained in paper correspondence.

Return to the credit card company

Whether it’s someone’s address, full legal name, date of birth, social insurance number, or other sensitive personal information, the theft of mail is often the first step for an identity thief to start hijacking someone’s life.

With enough personal information, they can apply for credit cards and other services in other people’s names, leading to all kinds of trouble for victims of identity theft down the road.

If it’s a credit card, they will want the credit card returned to them. Most credit card mail says “Do not forward.”

For its part, Canada Post recognizes that mistakes can and do happen every once in a while. Perhaps you’ve received letters meant for another address with similar numbers as yours, or for someone who no longer lives in your unit.

If you do end up receiving someone else’s mail, Canada Post advises people to try and contact the sender of the letter and tell them about their mistake.

Take it to a mailbox

Failing that, it urges people to cross out the receiving address and to write “moved” or “unknown” and take it to a mailbox. The company is compelled by law to deliver any mail to the address listed on any piece of mail, so it can’t guarantee that you will no longer keep receiving unwanted mail meant for a previous tenant.

The question of whether you’re allowed to open someone else’s mail in Canada is answered quite simply with a “no,” but the Canada Post Corporation Act makes it clear that it’s only a crime if you knowingly do so.

Unintentionally opening someone else’s mail by mistake, in other words, won’t get you any serious trouble but it’s obviously best to avoid doing so for the potential headaches it may cause.

Opening someone else’s mail Conclusion

Finally, if there’s an issue at Canada Post and you receive lots of mail addressed to the wrong person, don’t sit on it. Mail tampering isn’t just about opening mail — it’s someone’s property, and you can’t knowingly keep it. Think of how devastating it would be if a bill or personal letter never arrived.

When it comes to mail, the contents don’t matter — treat it all seriously.

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Can you open someone else’s mail in Canada?