Data Room for Class Actions in Canada (2026)

How it works in Canada

Class actions in Canada are governed province by province. Ontario has the Class Proceedings Act, 1992, which was amended in 2020 to tighten the certification test. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and others have their own acts, and Quebec uses an authorization process under the Code of Civil Procedure. National classes are common, and parallel actions in Ontario, Quebec and BC are often coordinated through consortium counsel.

Before certification, rooms hold pleadings, expert affidavits and evidence for the certification motion. After certification, the volume of productions grows quickly, especially in securities, product liability and privacy breach cases. Defence counsel may run separate rooms for co-defendants and insurers. Expert economists and actuaries need large data extracts for damages models, and those extracts often carry personal information. Joint defence agreements set how co-defendants share material, and the room has to reflect who signed them.

At settlement, a court-approved administrator receives class lists, claim forms and proof of loss. That data often includes banking details and health or employment information, so the administrator, class counsel and the defendant need tightly separated areas and a clear plan for deletion once distribution ends. Distribution can run for a year or more, with cheques reissued and late claims assessed, so the claims area often outlives the litigation rooms that came before it.

Best data rooms for class actions

Our five criteria, re-weighted for this use case, plus a small bonus for providers built around it.

1 Ellty ~C$211/mo
9.1 Visit Ellty
2 iDeals Quote
8.9
3 Datasite Quote
8.9
4 Intralinks Quote
8.8
5 Firmex Quote
8.6
6 Ansarada Quote
8.6
7 SmartRoom Quote
8.5
8 Drooms Quote
8.4
9 Box ~C$21/user/mo
8.1
10 DealRoom Quote
8.0

Privacy 31%Workflow 18%Control 23%Usability 15%Cost 13%

What goes in the data room

Class actions: index

01
01 Pleadings and consortium agreements
Claims in each province, carriage orders and counsel cooperation agreements.
02
02 Certification or authorization record
Motion records, affidavits and the certification or authorization decision.
03
03 Expert evidence
Economist, actuarial or scientific reports, with access by named expert.
04
04 Defendant productions
Volumes produced after certification, numbered and searchable.
05
05 Representative plaintiff records
Documents from the named plaintiffs, kept separate from class member data.
06
06 Notice program
Court-approved short and long form notices in English and French, publication plan and proof of publication.
07
07 Settlement agreement and approval
Signed agreement, approval order, fee approval and distribution protocol.
08
08 Claims data (administrator only)
Class lists, claim forms and supporting proof, limited to the administrator’s team.
09
09 Reports to the court
Administrator status reports and final accounting, with redacted versions for filing.
10
10 Opt-outs and objections
Opt-out forms, objections and responses filed before the approval hearing.

Canadian rules that apply

Provincial class proceedings acts

Ontario’s Class Proceedings Act, 1992, the BC Class Proceedings Act and the acts in other common law provinces set certification, notice and settlement approval rules. In Quebec, the Superior Court authorizes class actions under the Code of Civil Procedure. Settlements require court approval everywhere.

Court-supervised settlement administration

Judges approve the administrator, the claims process and the distribution protocol. Administrators report to the court, so the room should show who accessed claimant files and when, and support redacted reports for public filing.

Privacy law for claimant data

Claim forms are personal information under PIPEDA or the provincial equivalent, and Quebec Law 25 adds a privacy impact assessment before data leaves Quebec. Breaches with a real risk of significant harm must be reported to the OPC and affected people.

Features to insist on

Data room	Bulk upload	Activity log	In-room redaction	2-step login	Single sign-on
Ellty	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
iDeals	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Datasite	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Intralinks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Firmex	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Ansarada	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
SmartRoom	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Drooms	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Bulk upload. Upload an entire set of nested folders at once, with the index numbers kept as they were.
Activity log. Per-user history of opens, prints and downloads with timestamps, which you can export for the closing binder.
In-room redaction. Hide social insurance numbers, pay figures or client names on the platform itself, without keeping two versions of the file.
2-step login. Logins need a one-time code or authenticator approval on top of the password.
Single sign-on. Staff log in with the company directory (Okta, Microsoft Entra ID and similar) instead of a separate password.

How to set it up

1
Map the parties and courts
List every action, court and counsel group, including parallel Quebec authorization proceedings. Build groups to match, so Ontario consortium counsel and Quebec counsel can share common productions while keeping their own work product separate from the start.
2
Set up the certification record
Load pleadings, affidavits and expert reports for the certification or authorization motion. Restrict expert drafts to class counsel; only final, sworn versions go into folders shared with the defence. Date each upload.
3
Plan for production volume
Agree formats, numbering and load files with the defence before productions start. Use bulk upload with folder structure preserved, and test search on a sample volume so counsel can find documents across tens of thousands of records before the first deadline.
4
Prepare bilingual notice material
National classes need notices in English and French. Store each approved version with its order so the administrator and media buyers use the exact text the court approved, in both languages.
5
Ring-fence claimant data
Give the administrator a separate area for class lists and claim forms. Turn on two-factor login, restrict downloads and log every view. Run a privacy impact assessment if Quebec claimant data will be stored outside Quebec.
6
Report and close
Generate access reports for the administrator’s final report to the court. After distribution and any holdback period, delete claimant data under the settlement terms and keep only what the order requires.

Common mistakes

Storing claim forms in the same space as litigation productions, so defence counsel can see class member banking details.
Posting a draft notice instead of the court-approved bilingual version.
No plan for deleting claimant data after distribution, leaving personal information exposed for years.
Ignoring Quebec Law 25 when a national administrator stores Quebec class member data outside the province.

FAQ

Who usually runs the data room in a Canadian class action?

Before settlement, class counsel and defence counsel each tend to run their own production rooms, sometimes sharing one platform under a protocol. After settlement, the court-approved administrator controls the claims area and reports to the judge on how claimant data was handled.

Does a class action room need to be bilingual?

If the class includes Quebec residents, notices, claim forms and instructions must be available in French. The room itself does not need a French interface, but folders holding notice and claim material should carry both language versions so nothing goes out in only one.

What happens to claimant data when the case ends?

The settlement agreement or distribution order usually says how long the administrator keeps records and when they are destroyed. Export what the court requires for the final report, then delete the rest and get written confirmation from the provider. Keep that confirmation with the final report.

Data room for class actions in Canada