Motion picture ratings in Canada are mostly a provincial responsibility, and each province has its own legislation regarding exhibition and admission. For home video purposes, a single Canadian Home Video Rating System rating consisting of an average of the participating provincial ratings is displayed on retail packages, although various provinces may have rules on display and sale, especially for the R and A categories.
There are currently four film classification offices rating commercially released movies in Canada, each an agency of a provincial government:
The province of Saskatchewan retains its own classification board, Saskatchewan Film Classification, but it has used ratings provided by British Columbia since 1997 for almost all commercially distributed films.[2] Similarly, the Manitoba Film Classification Board was dissolved in 2018 and now uses the ratings assigned by British Columbia.[3][4] Film distributors pay additional fees to Consumer Protection BC for certification in other provinces; they can also pay for certification in one or more provinces if they do not plan on distributing their film in British Columbia, although films to be shown only in Saskatchewan are still rated by that province's film classification office.[5] The Ontario Film Review Board was abolished in 2019, and as of 2020, Ontario no longer requires films to be rated; instead, film exhibitors must provide information related to the film's content and viewer discretion.[6][7]
By law, the film ratings in Alberta are also applied in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.[8]
There is no compulsory film ratings system in Newfoundland and Labrador, but Maritime Film Classification Board ratings are voluntarily used by some theatres.[9]
Yukon also does not have a compulsory rating system; the two Landmark Cinemas commercial theatres in Whitehorse "assign the average of film classification for Canada."[10]