We watch a lot of British TV series on BBC Canada and streaming BBC Iplayer in Canada is not available. I know that I can use a VPN address to gain access to BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub etc, which would solve the issue.
My question is whether doing this would affect my Canadian IP address and everything I do on the Internet, E-Mail etc?
Yes, it would affect your IP. In a sense, it’s like connecting to your friend’s computer using something like Team Viewer or Any Desk.
It will certainly affect your internet connection and may even affect the performance, but you will be able to do most things unless they have strict security measures in place.
For instance, using gmail from a phone connected to a VPN is OK, but you may not be able to access your work mail if they restrict the countries you can connect from.
The best way to know for sure is to test. There are free (though very limited) VPNs, so you could try those first. If you want to test, try Proton VPN, I trust them.