BCFCO & Québec — Canada

Canada has no federal film classification — it's a provincial competence, split into two worlds. English Canada converged on six harmonized categories, today rated in practice by the British Columbia Film Classification Office (BCFCO) and adopted well beyond BC. Québec classifies separately under its Loi sur le cinéma, with four tiers and a reputation as the most permissive board in North America.

Rating tiers — English Canada (BCFCO)

Tier	Meaning
G	General — all ages
PG	Parental guidance advised
14A	Under 14 admitted with an adult
18A	Under 18 admitted with an adult
R	Restricted — 18+ only, legally enforced
A	Adult — 18+ only, legally enforced

Only R and A carry absolute legal admission enforcement; the four lower tiers are advisory or accompaniment categories.

Rating tiers — Québec

Tier	Meaning
G	Visa général — all ages
13+	13 and over; younger viewers accompanied by an adult
16+	16 and over — no accompaniment option
18+	Adults only, no exceptions

Québec adds supplementary indicators (Violence, Langage vulgaire, Érotisme, Horreur, Sexualité explicite) that describe the content without raising the tier — and no film may be distributed in Québec without a classification visa.

What this means for ads and trailers

One country, two rating cultures, two languages. A campaign or trailer released across Canada is judged twice — against the English-Canadian categories and Québec's own criteria — and the same content routinely lands on different tiers in each. Add the language dimension (English voice for one market, French for the other) and Canada is a compact version of the European patchwork.

Official sources: Consumer Protection BC · Québec — Critères de classement

Tip

The DCProof Age Report supports both Canadian systems — review your content once per target market, each on its own criteria, and let the QC Report verify the voice-over and subtitle language.