Q. Can I show a documentary from my Netflix subscription in the classroom or at Seneca?

Any public performance of a video from personal video subscription services such as Netflix, Crave, etc. -- even in an educational institution -- is a violation of those services' Terms of Use. You have access to that content as an individual consumer, but that access does not extend to, nor can it be transferred to, the institution at which you work or attend.

However, Netflix is now allowing a small number of its titles to be shown in educational settings. Note that they do not allow any and all Netflix titles to be shown in the classroom, only some selected documentaries. Permitted titles are ones that contain the words "Grant of permission for educational screenings" or "Educational Screenings Permission (ESP)" in their descriptions on media.netflix.com.

Please see this Netflix post for further information -- https://help.netflix.com/en/node/57695 -- but also note that there is no guarantee that those films are available in the Canadian version of Netflix.

The terms for using those titles, current as of March 2025, are as follows:

"Consequently, we will permit one-time educational screenings - "one-time screening" means that you can't hold screenings several times in one day or one week, but if, for example, you're an educator who wants to show the film once a semester over multiple semesters, that's okay. Educational screenings are permitted for any of the documentaries noted with this information, on the following terms:

• The documentary may only be accessed via the Netflix service, by a Netflix account holder. We don’t sell DVDs, nor can we provide other ways for you to exhibit the film.
• The screening must be non-profit and non-commercial. That means you can’t charge admission, or solicit donations, or accept advertising or commercial sponsorships in connection with the screening.
• The documentary shall not be screened at any political campaign events and/or electoral campaigning events. 
• Please don’t use Netflix’s logos in any promotion for the screening, or do anything else that indicates that the screening is “official” or endorsed by Netflix.
• We trust our users to respect these guidelines, which are intended to help you share and discuss our documentary content in your community."

(Text of the above terms is from this example: https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81001496)