IMMIGRATE

What You Need to Know About Legal Age Requirements in Canada

May 22, 2025
4:53 pm

Share Now

Last Updated On 22 May 2025, 2:46 PM EDT (Toronto Time)

Here is everything you need to know about Canada’s main legal minimum age requirements for various things, such as voting, the consumption of alcohol, driving, working, playing online casino games or placing sports bets on a legally permitted iGaming site, and several other legal age requirements.

Let’s start by taking a quick look at various legal age requirements for everything from alcohol and driving to military service and voting, which often vary from one province to another, depending on the specific law/activity in question. However, federal laws apply to all Canadian provinces.

The Age of Majority legal requirement is 18 at the federal level, but it can be 18 or 19 at the provincial level, depending on the province.

The information provided here is accurate at the time of writing (2025), but it could change, so it’s always important to find out if you are old enough to participate in certain activities to ensure that you aren’t breaking any provincial or federal laws.

For example, if you live in Ontario and want to place sports bets online and play online casino games, the first questions you should ask are: is sports betting legal in Ontario, and are online casinos legal?

If you live in Ontario, Alberta, or Quebec, you must be at least 19 years old to gamble on legally permitted iGaming websites, but in British Columbia, it stands slightly lower at 18.

Let’s now take a quick look at several other important minimum legal age requirements

To drink alcohol – 19 in most provinces, but 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec
To vote (federal and provincial) – 18
To work – some Canadian provinces state 14, but with restrictions, and others have different minimum ages for work depending on the type of work
Age of consent – 16
To join the CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) – 17, but with parental or guardian consent
To drive – 16
To purchase cannabis/tobacco – 19 in most provinces

You must be at least 16 to report suspected child abuse. You are entitled to full minimum wage at 18. You have the right to run in an election at 18, to stop attending school at 16 (or 17 if your birthday is before the end of the school year), and at least 18 to watch adult/restricted movies.

To learn more about the latest legal minimum age requirements in Canada, the safest thing to do is to visit the official government websites. To ensure the information is correct, always double-check the relevant provincial, territorial, and federal government websites.

You can also get more information from various other legal resources, such as Legal Rights for Youth and Legal Aid.

It’s also important to note that the legal minimum age requirements for dependent children in immigration applications vary depending on the program. It comes with an “age lock-in” date that determines eligibility. Again, more information about this can be found on official Canadian government websites.

Another important thing that’s also worth looking into is Canada’s Legal Rights, which refers to the rights guaranteed to individuals living here under the Canadian Constitution’s Charter of Rights.

Understanding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom is crucial to know, along with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which specifically governs a range of key immigration and refugee matters.

You might also like to research fundamental Canadian rights and freedoms, criminal justice, human rights and equality, economic and social laws, and other important laws, such as privacy, firearms, quarantine, and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.