BILL NO. 140
(as introduced)
1st Session, 65th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
4 Charles III, 2025
Private Member's Public Bill
Private Data Protection Act
The Honourable Derek Mombourquette
Sydney–Membertou
First Reading: September 24, 2025
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act to Protect Private Data
1 This Act may be cited as the Private Data Protection Act.
2 In this Act, "crime" includes an offence against a law of the Province.
3 (1) It is a tort, actionable without proof of damage, for a person, wilfully and without a claim of right, to violate the privacy of another.
(2) The nature and degree of privacy to which a person is entitled in a situation or in relation to a matter is that which is reasonable in the circumstances, giving due regard to the lawful interests of others.
(3) In determining whether the act or conduct of a person is a violation of another's privacy, regard must be given to the nature, incidence and occasion of the act or conduct and to any domestic or other relationship between the parties.
(4) Without limiting subsections (1) to (3), privacy may be violated by eavesdropping or surveillance, whether or not accomplished by trespass.
4 (1) An act or conduct is not a violation of privacy if
(a) it is consented to by a person entitled to consent;
(b) the act or conduct was incidental to the exercise of a lawful right of defence of person or property;
(c) the act or conduct was authorized or required under a law in force in the Province, by a court or by any process of a court; or
(d) the act or conduct was that of
(i) a peace officer acting in the course of the peace officer's duty to prevent, discover or investigate a crime or to discover or apprehend the perpetrators of a crime, or
(ii) a public officer engaged in an investigation in the course of the public officer's duty under a law in force in the Province,
and was neither disproportionate to the gravity of the crime or matter subject to investigation nor committed in the course of a trespass.
(2) A publication of a matter is not a violation of privacy if
(a) the matter published was of public interest or was fair comment on a matter of public interest; or
(b) the publication was privileged in accordance with the rules of law relating to defamation.
(3) Subsection (2) does not extend to any other act or conduct by which the matter published was obtained if that other act or conduct was itself a violation of privacy.
5 An action under this Act may only be heard and determined by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
6 An action or right of action for a violation of privacy under this Act is extinguished by the death of the person whose privacy is alleged to have been violated.