Canada has clear rules around telemarketing.
The information below is a summary of what you can do about unwanted calls. For more detail on telemarketing and other privacy issues, see our overview of how Bell’s privacy practices.
Telemarketing calls (phone or fax)
Telephone or fax telemarketers must:
- Upon request, remove your name and phone number from their calling or fax lists.
- Upon request, provide a representative’s name, toll-free phone number and address for both the telemarketing organization and, if applicable, its client to whom you can call or write to ask questions, make comments, or to make or verify a Do Not Call request.
Reducing unwanted telemarketing calls or filing a complaint
If you want to limit the telemarketing calls you receive or complain, you can register your phone, mobile and fax numbers on the National Do Not Call List in any one of these ways:
- Online at http://www.LNNTE-DNCL.gc.ca
- By phone at 1 866-580-DNCL (3625)
- Via TTY device at 1 888-362-5889
- By faxing your fax number to 1 888-362-5329
Note: To register on the National DNCL by phone, TTY device, or by fax, you must call from the number you are registering.
There is no charge to register your number(s) on the National Do Not Call List. Your number(s) will remain on the National Do Not Call List for three years.
All telephone or fax telemarketing calls that are not subject to one of the exemptions listed below should cease 31 days after you register your number on the National Do Not Call list, except when you have provided an organization with express consent to call you.
To file a complaint, have the following information on hand:
- Your phone number
- Name and/or phone number of the telemarketer
- Date and time of the telemarketing call
The following types of calls are exempt from the National Do Not Call list rules:
- Calls from organizations that you have done business with in the past 18 months, or to whom you have made an enquiry in the past 6 months (unless you have registered on their individual do not call lists)
- Calls on behalf of registered charities
- Calls on behalf of political parties, nomination or leadership contestants, or candidates of a political party
- Calls from opinion polling or market research firms conducting surveys, when the call does not involve the sale of a product or service
- Calls from general circulation newspapers for the purpose of selling a subscription
- Calls to business consumers
Automatic dialling-announcing devices
Automatic dialling-announcing devices (ADADs) can store or produce telephone numbers to be called and deliver a pre-recorded or synthesized voice message.
The use of ADADs to make telemarketing calls is against the law, except where you have provided express consent to receive a telemarketing call via an ADAD from a specific telemarketer.
This does not apply to ADAD calls made for public-service reasons, including calls for emergency and administrative purposes by police and fire departments, schools, hospitals, or similar organizations.