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There are a number of different 'rules of thumb' for this.
The end result you are seeking is a paddle that will have the blade fully in the water when seated or kneeling in your canoe. So it depends on your canoe seats and your own size. As WRW says, it is torso and arm length that matters, not height per se.
And, it is shaft length that matters, not the length of the overall paddle. A short paddle with a big wide blade can be as correct as a long paddle with a long, narrow blade.
You can try lots of things in the store, like siting on a chair and holding the paddle updise down, or whatever, but I find that these are no more useful than this simple method:
The method I use is to pick up the paddle and hold it across the top of your head (it may even rest on your head) with your arms straight out from your shoulders and your forearms bent at 90-deg angles from your upper arms. With one hand on the grip and the other in position on the shaft, you should have a comfortable amount of shaft and blade left over to reach the water (judge this by eye !!! ). On a traditional paddle design, the shaft hand should be close to or at the throat of the paddle. For a flatwater paddle, the shaft hand will normally be fairly close to the top of the blade (at the 'throat' of the paddle) while for whitetwater you will need a bit more shaft.
This is also the basic grip distance for paddling.
This seems to work reasonably well for most folks. It will often choose a paddle too long for kids sitting in the bottom of the boat, since they are close to the water.
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