A Cross-Canada Map of Advance Care Planning Laws

Advance care planning is provincial. There’s no single national form or “advance directive” that works everywhere. Each province and territory has its own legislation, its own terminology, and its own rules about who can be named, how documents are witnessed, and what happens if you haven’t made a plan.

That’s why the same idea — choose your decision-maker, record your wishes — wears a different name depending on where you live. This page maps the territory so you can find your jurisdiction and get to the specifics.

The same idea, different names

Across the country, advance care planning almost always involves two things: a document that names a decision-maker, and a way to record your wishes. What changes is the vocabulary.

* Not covered by Tiller at launch (more on this below).

The terms differ; the purpose doesn’t. Wherever you are, the goal is to make sure the person deciding your care knows what you’d want.

A note on accuracy: This table is a high-level orientation, not legal advice. Terminology and requirements change, and several jurisdictions use more than one instrument. Always confirm the current rules for your province or territory before completing a document.

What’s consistent everywhere

A few principles hold across the country, even as the details vary:

• Naming a decision-maker is optional but powerful. If you don’t, a default decision-maker steps in under provincial law, which may not be who you’d choose.
• Your documents only cover personal/healthcare decisions. Finances are handled separately (an enduring or continuing power of attorney for property), and your property after death is handled by a will.
• Witnessing matters. Most jurisdictions require witnessing of some kind, with restrictions on who can witness. Getting this step wrong is the most common reason a document fails when tested.
• Wishes carry weight even outside a formal document. Many jurisdictions require that your known wishes be considered when others decide for you, so recording them clearly is valuable regardless of which forms you complete.

What’s different, and worth checking

• The number of documents. Some provinces fold everything into one instrument. B.C. notably uses two (a Representation Agreement and an Advance Directive).
• Capacity thresholds. B.C.’s Section 7 Representation Agreement, for instance, is accessible at a lower capacity threshold than most instruments.
• Witnessing specifics. The number of witnesses and who’s disqualified varies from province to province.
• Default hierarchies. Who decides for you when you’ve named no one differs across jurisdictions.

Find your province

We’ve written detailed, plain-language guides for the jurisdictions where the questions come up most:

• Ontario: Power of Attorney for Personal Care
• Alberta: The Personal Directive
• British Columbia: Representation Agreements and Advance Directives

More provincial guides are on the way.

How Tiller helps

Tiller is built around the fact that advance care planning is provincial. When you start, it routes you through the requirements for your jurisdiction and produces a document formatted to your province’s rules, not a generic template that might not hold up where you live.

At launch, Tiller supports advance care planning across most Canadian jurisdictions. Two jurisdictions aren’t covered in the first release: Quebec, whose protection-mandate regime is distinct, and Nunavut, which has no statutory framework of its own. If you’re in one of those, Tiller will tell you up front rather than produce something that won’t work.

Tiller produces documents formatted to your jurisdiction’s requirements. Legal validity depends on completing the witnessing and signing steps — Tiller walks you through them for your province.

Related reading:

• What Is Advance Care Planning? (And What It Isn’t)
• ACP vs. Living Will vs. DNR vs. Power of Attorney vs. Will
• Who Makes Medical Decisions If You Can’t Speak for Yourself?