Wage Garnishment in Canada: How It Works and How to Stop It
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Wage garnishment is one of the most financially disruptive actions a creditor can take, money is deducted directly from your paycheque before you receive it. If you are facing garnishment or worried it may happen, understanding the process and your options is essential.
How Wage Garnishment Works in Canada
In most cases, a private creditor (bank, credit card company, collection agency) cannot garnish your wages without first:
Suing you in civil court
Obtaining a court judgment against you
Registering the judgment and applying for a garnishment order
Serving the garnishment order on your employer
Once served, your employer is legally required to deduct the specified amount from your wages and remit it to the court or creditor. This process can take several months from the initial lawsuit to the first garnishment.
Exceptions: Who Can Garnish Without a Court Order
Two entities in Canada can garnish wages without first going through the civil courts:
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): CRA can issue a requirement to pay directly to your employer under the Income Tax Act and other federal statutes. No court order is required.
Maintenance enforcement programs: Agencies enforcing child support and spousal support arrears have administrative garnishment powers in all provinces.
How Much Can Be Garnished?
Provincial law limits the amount that can be garnished from your wages. Limits vary significantly:
Ontario: 80 per cent of a person's wages are exempt from seizure or garnishment, so at most 20 per cent is reachable. The exemption falls to 50 per cent where an order for support or maintenance enforceable in Ontario is being enforced, and a judge of the court that issued the writ or notice of garnishment can decrease it on the creditor's motion or increase it on yours. Payments from an insurance or indemnity scheme intended to replace income lost because of disability count as wages for this purpose, and an assignment of your wages to secure a debt is invalid, except an assignment to a credit union limited to the part that could be garnished. Source: Wages Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. W.1, section 7, Ontario e-Laws current version in force from 1 March 2022, read 30 July 2026.
British Columbia: 70 per cent of any wages due by an employer to an employee is exempt from seizure or attachment under a garnishing order, and the exemption cannot be less than $100 a month for a person without dependants or $200 a month for a person with one or more dependants. For support, alimony or maintenance the exemption is 50 per cent of wages up to $600 a month and 33 and one third per cent above $600, with the same $100 floor. Source: Court Order Enforcement Act, sections 3(5), 3(7) and 4, BC Laws consolidation current to 14 July 2026.
Alberta: a sliding scale. The minimum employment earnings exemption is $800 a month plus $200 per dependant and the maximum is $2400 a month plus $200 per dependant, with half of the amount by which net pay exceeds the minimum added to the exemption. Source: Civil Enforcement Regulation, Alta Reg 276/1995, section 39(2) and Schedule 4, Alberta King's Printer consolidation current as of 30 April 2025.
Quebec, Manitoba and everywhere else: each province and territory has its own enforcement statute and its own figures, and we publish none of them here because we have not read them from a government source. An earlier version of this page carried approximate figures for Quebec and Manitoba. They have been removed rather than restated, because an approximate number on a page like this is worse than a blank space. Ask and we will read the statute for your province and publish only what it actually says.
These limits apply to a single garnishment. If you have multiple garnishments (e.g., student loans and a credit card judgment), the total may still be subject to the provincial cap.
Correction, 30 July 2026. An earlier version of this page said that federally regulated employees are subject to federal garnishment rules under the Wage Earner Protection Program Act, which protected roughly the first $2,000 a month. That was wrong and it has been removed. The Wage Earner Protection Program Act is not a garnishment statute. It pays out wages your employer owes you when that employer becomes bankrupt or goes into receivership, and its definition of eligible wages is built around the date of the bankruptcy or the first day there was a receiver. The exemption that applies to your pay comes from the enforcement legislation of the province where the garnishment is issued, and none of the provincial statutes quoted above sets a different exemption based on whether your employer is federally regulated.
How to Stop a Wage Garnishment
Option 1: Pay the Debt in Full
The most direct solution. If you can pay the outstanding judgment, the garnishment order is discharged and your employer is notified to stop deductions.
Option 2: Negotiate a Repayment Agreement
Contact the creditor or their lawyer and negotiate a voluntary repayment plan. If they agree to accept regular payments, they may agree to suspend the garnishment while you're paying as agreed.
Option 3: File a Consumer Proposal
A consumer proposal filed with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee triggers an immediate stay of proceedings. The moment the proposal is filed, the garnishment must legally stop, your employer is notified and deductions cease. The proposal then addresses the underlying debt.
Option 4: File for Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy also triggers an immediate stay of proceedings, stopping wage garnishment. As with a consumer proposal, your employer receives legal notice that the garnishment is stayed.
Option 5: Challenge the Garnishment
If you believe the underlying judgment was obtained improperly, or if the garnishment exceeds the provincial limits, you can apply to court to challenge it. Legal advice is recommended for this route.
Notice to Your Employer
Many people worry that their employer finding out about a garnishment will damage their employment. While it is awkward, employers are prohibited from terminating or penalizing employees solely because of a garnishment order in most provinces. The employer is simply a conduit required to comply with the court order, they are not permitted to discriminate on that basis.
Act quickly. Once a garnishment starts, each pay period that passes means more money taken from your cheque. Filing a consumer proposal or bankruptcy is one of the only ways to stop an active garnishment immediately. Do not wait, consult a Licensed Insolvency Trustee right away if garnishment has started or is imminent.
Garnishment of Bank Accounts
In addition to wages, creditors can also freeze and seize funds in your bank account through a process called bank account garnishment. This works similarly, a court judgment is required first (with the same CRA exception). A stay of proceedings from a consumer proposal or bankruptcy stops bank account garnishments as well.
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