If you live outside British Columbia (BC), you may still be able to make a claim with the CRT. For example, you live in Alberta and bought something from a seller or service provider in BC. Or you live in Ontario and had an intimate image shared without your consent, and it was shared with someone in BC.

Specific regulations about where a vehicle accident happened may impact your ability to make a vehicle accident claim at the CRT. Use our Vehicle Accidents Solution Explorer to learn more.

For most other claims, they must have a connection to BC in some way. The CRT must have what’s called “territorial competence” to decide the claim.

The legal test to establish territorial competence is whether there is a “real and substantial connection” between BC and the claim. We may consider factors like:

• Where the respondent (the person or business the claim is made against) lives
• If the respondent conducts business in BC
• If the legal wrong occurred in BC
• If a contract connected with the claim was made in BC
• If the applicant (the person or business making the claim) lives in BC

If you’re not sure if BC is the right province to file your claim in, you can still make a CRT claim. But it’s possible that the CRT may decide it doesn’t have jurisdiction over your claim, and won’t be able to resolve it.