Not strictly (as the sibling comment says), but also, in practice it doesn’t matter, as there are effectively no “unbanked” Canadians the way there are “unbanked” Americans.
> In Canada, you have the right to open a bank account at a bank or a federally regulated credit union as long as you show proper identification.
> You can open an account even if you: don’t have a job; don’t have money to put in the account right away; or have been bankrupt.
But that requirement to show identification is important. What it means in practice is that everyone who resides in Canada except illegal immigrants can open a Canadian bank account.
And the fact that so many crucial government services assume that you have a Canadian bank account (not just for SSO, but also because they assume things like the ability to do direct deposit for tax refunds, welfare/unemployment, etc.), means that it’s really hard to be an illegal immigrant in Canada. Which is probably one reason among many that people generally aren’t interested in trying. (Other reasons: we don’t have any land borders except with the US, and it’s easier to be an illegal immigrant in the US, so why not just stop there? And: the Canada Border Services Agency is terrifying to interact with, even for Canadian citizens.)
I don't know about Canada specifically, but generally there are situations where one can be waiting for a residence permit or waiting to be fully registered as a resident, etc. It can take several months in some western European countries despite the same laws that nobody can be denied a bank account. This can create a lot of inconvenience for legal residents that recently immigrated since some of those countries also have systems that use banks for ID.
