A step-by-step checklist for becoming a psychologist in Canada, built on the live Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta routes: settle the title and degree level for your province first, complete the graduate degree, register for supervised practice on the register your regulator names, pass the EPPP and your province's own examinations, and register before you practise.
Written November 14, 2026 · 8 min read
Applies in: CA
Written November 14, 2026
The short answer
Work the checklist in order: settle the province, title and degree level; complete the graduate degree that province's regulator accepts; register for supervised practice on the register or certificate the regulator names; pass the EPPP at the standard your regulator sets, plus that province's jurisprudence, ethics or oral examinations; and register before you practise or use the title. This checklist is built on this site's live provincial guides for Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, and on the national guide, How to Become a Psychologist in Canada. Where a step states a figure, it is the figure one of those live guides states for its province. No step here is a substitute for the destination regulator's own pages.
☐ Step 1: Settle the province, the title and the degree level
Do this before you apply to any graduate program, because the degree follows the title and the title follows the province.
☐ Name the province or territory where you will practise, and its regulator. Registration is provincial or territorial; there is no Canada-wide psychology licence.
☐ Name the title you intend to hold there: psychologist, or a master's-level title such as psychological associate where the province offers one.
☐ Confirm the degree level that title requires, on the regulator's pages. The three live routes show the spread: doctoral for the psychologist title in Ontario and British Columbia, master's or doctoral in Alberta.
☐ If you already hold a master's degree, confirm what it buys in the destination province — the psychologist title in a master's-level province, or the psychological associate title in a doctoral province — and whether you accept that scope before you plan around it.
☐ Step 2: Complete the graduate degree the regulator accepts
☐ Confirm the program meets the destination regulator's academic requirements before you enrol. Ontario frames the doctoral requirement as a degree from a psychology program accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association or another accrediting body approved by Council. Alberta tests a graduate degree with a major in psychology, or content substantially equivalent. British Columbia's recognized programs are CPA- or APA-accredited programs conferring a doctorate in psychology.
☐ Check the program's accreditation status on the accrediting body's list, not only on the program's own page. Graduation from an accredited program is not, by itself, registration.
☐ Confirm the practica and internship the program includes, and whether the regulator credits them. British Columbia's doctoral route records 600 hours of practica and a 1,600-hour pre-doctoral internship; Alberta excludes master's practicum and internship hours from its 1,600-hour supervised practice count.
☐ Keep transcripts arrangeable directly from the institution: regulators in the live routes require transcripts sent by the university, not by you.
☐ Step 3: Register for supervised practice, on the named register
Do not start counting hours before this step. Supervised practice counts under the regulator's arrangements, in the order the regulator sets.
☐ Apply to the regulator first, in the sequence it publishes. Alberta's sequence is credential evaluation, then registration as a registered provisional psychologist. Ontario's starts with the supervised practice application and a Declaration of Good Character.
☐ Line up supervisors who meet the regulator's requirements, and a work setting the regulator accepts, before or as the application requires. Ontario applicants without a work setting yet may request a Statement of Eligibility confirming their academic credentials are acceptable.
☐ Complete the document file the application names: record checks, insurance confirmation, references and declarations, as the province requires. Alberta's provisional application names a Criminal Record Check and Vulnerable Sector Check dated within one year of review, and a minimum of $5,000,000 in professional liability insurance including regulatory legal defence.
☐ Know your period and its clock. Ontario: at least 1,500 hours, over at least 12 and no more than 24 months. Alberta: 1,600 hours of supervised practice plus 107 hours of supervision, 1,707 hours in total. British Columbia: the practica and internship sit inside the doctoral training rather than after it.
☐ Use only the title your supervised status allows, and practise only in the settings and under the supervision conditions attached to it.
☐ Step 4: Pass the EPPP and your province's own examinations
☐ Confirm which examinations your regulator requires, in full. Passing the EPPP alone does not complete the examination step in any of the three live routes.
☐ The EPPP: the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology, administered by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards. The passing standard recorded in the Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta guides is a scaled score of 500. Apply through your regulator, which approves you to sit.
☐ Ontario adds the Jurisprudence and Ethics Examination and an oral examination, for both the psychologist and psychological associate routes, plus any additional training the Registration Committee directs before the oral examination.
☐ Alberta adds the LEAP examination — Law and Ethics for Alberta Psychologists — which a provisional psychologist must attempt within six months of provisional registration.
☐ British Columbia adds a written jurisprudence examination and an oral examination.
☐ Confirm the examination version and parts in force when you sit, and any attempt limit your regulator adds, before you register for a sitting.
☐ Step 5: Register, then practise
☐ Clear the final registration step your regulator names. Alberta's is a final registration review, with three positive professional references on the Final Registration Change Form, before a practice permit for independent practice is issued.
☐ Pay the registration or practice permit amounts your regulator's current fee schedule states. This checklist states no fee figures; the schedule in force on the day you pay owns the amount.
☐ Practise, and use the title, only from the date the regulator confirms the registration that authorizes independent practice.
☐ If you are already registered in another province, stop and use the destination regulator's route for applicants registered elsewhere instead of the domestic sequence above. Each regulator states its own conditions, and a registration in one province does not by itself grant a title in another.
If you trained outside Canada
Stop at Step 1 and change routes. The domestic checklist does not assess foreign education or training. Start with How to Start Getting Your Foreign Credentials Recognized in Canada, then confirm the internationally educated route with the regulator in the province where you intend to work, including any credential evaluation it requires, before you plan around a domestic application.
What the opened pages do not state
This checklist states no registration, application or examination fee for any province, and no processing time for any regulator. It states degree, supervised practice and examination figures only for Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, drawn from the live guides linked in this checklist; it states no figure for any other province or territory, because each of those routes belongs to its own regulator's pages. It also does not state graduate program lengths, admission requirements or tuition for any program.
Related guides:
How to Become a Psychologist in Ontario — the doctoral psychologist route and the master's-level psychological associate route, with the supervised practice certificate and three examinations.
How to Become a Psychologist in British Columbia — the doctoral route through the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC, with practica, the pre-doctoral internship and three examinations.
How to Become a Psychologist in Alberta — the master's-level route through the College of Alberta Psychologists, with credential evaluation, provisional registration, and the EPPP and LEAP examinations.
How to Become a Psychologist in Canada — the national picture behind this checklist: the doctoral and master's split by province, the EPPP, and the separate Quebec permit route.
1. Settle the province, the title and the degree levelOntario: psychologist needs a doctoral degree, psychological associate needs a master's plus at least 6,000 hours over at least four years. British Columbia: psychologist is doctoral (PhD or PsyD), master's leads to psychological associate. Alberta: a graduate degree, master's or doctoral, leads to the psychologist title.
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2. Complete the graduate degree your regulator acceptsOntario and British Columbia frame the doctoral degree around a program accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association or another approved accrediting body. Alberta tests the degree as a graduate degree with a major in psychology, or content substantially equivalent.
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3. Get on the supervised practice registerOntario: a certificate authorizing supervised practice, at least 1,500 hours over at least 12 and no more than 24 months. Alberta: registration as a registered provisional psychologist, then 1,600 hours of supervised practice plus 107 hours of supervision. British Columbia: 600 hours of practica and a 1,600-hour pre-doctoral internship inside the doctoral route.
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4. Pass the EPPP and your province's own examinationsOntario adds the Jurisprudence and Ethics Examination and an oral examination. Alberta adds the LEAP jurisprudence and ethics examination, to be attempted within six months of provisional registration. British Columbia adds a written jurisprudence examination and an oral examination. The EPPP pass recorded for all three routes is a scaled score of 500.
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5. Register, then practise under the titleRegistration with the provincial regulator comes before practice and before using the title. The register, the title and the practice permit or certificate are the regulator's to issue, province by province.
Questions people ask
What is the first item on the checklist?
Settle the province where you will practise, the title you want to hold there, and the degree level that title requires — before you choose a graduate program. In Ontario the psychologist title needs a doctoral degree and the master's route leads to psychological associate. In British Columbia the psychologist title is doctoral and the master's degree supports the psychological associate designation. In Alberta a master's or doctoral graduate degree with a major in psychology can lead to the psychologist title. The same degree buys a different title in a different province.
Do I need a doctorate to be a psychologist in Canada?
It depends on the province. Ontario and British Columbia register the psychologist title at the doctoral level, with a master's-level psychological associate title beside it. Alberta registers psychologists at the master's or doctoral level. Other provinces set their own degree rule through their own regulator, and this checklist does not state a degree rule for a province whose live guide is not linked here.
What supervised practice should I expect?
Supervised practice under the regulator, on a named register or certificate, in every live route this checklist rests on. Ontario: at least 1,500 hours on a certificate authorizing supervised practice, over at least 12 and no more than 24 months, after the degree — and, for the psychological associate route, at least 6,000 hours of practice over at least four years before that year. Alberta: 1,600 hours of supervised and evaluated practice plus 107 hours of supervision as a registered provisional psychologist. British Columbia: 600 hours of practica and a 1,600-hour pre-doctoral internship within the doctoral training. Your province's figure is the one its regulator states, not a figure carried from another province.
Which examinations will I have to pass?
The Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) is the shared examination in the three live routes, recorded at a scaled score of 500 in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. Each province then adds its own: Ontario adds the Jurisprudence and Ethics Examination and an oral examination; Alberta adds the LEAP jurisprudence and ethics examination, which must be attempted within six months of provisional registration; British Columbia adds a written jurisprudence examination and an oral examination. Confirm the full set, and whether any part or version requirement applies, with your regulator.
Can I practise while I complete supervised practice?
Only under the register or certificate your regulator issues for that period, and only under its conditions. Ontario issues a certificate authorizing supervised practice. Alberta places you on the provisional register with a practice permit for supervised practice. A provisional, candidate or supervised status is not full registration for independent practice, and you do not use the full title or practise independently until the regulator grants the registration that authorizes it.
Does this checklist state registration fees?
No. No registration, application or examination fee figure is stated in this checklist, because fees are set by each regulator and by the examination body, change over time, and belong on the fee schedule of the body that charges them. The live provincial guides linked below state the fee position for their province as their sources support it. Check the current amount with your regulator before you pay.
College of Alberta Psychologists, Process to Register as a Psychologist in Alberta (July 2026) — the Alberta figures this checklist carries: credential evaluation and the graduate degree test, provisional registration, 1,600 hours of supervised practice plus 107 hours of supervision, the EPPP at 500 or higher, LEAP attempted within six months of provisional registration, and the final registration review, as set out in this site's live Alberta guide.
British Columbia Psychological Association, How to Become a Psychologist in British Columbia — the British Columbia position this checklist carries: a doctoral degree (PhD in Psychology or PsyD) for the psychologist title, registration with the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia, the review of academic qualifications, supervised experience, and the EPPP at a scaled score of 500 with a written jurisprudence examination and an oral examination, as set out in this site's live British Columbia guide.
Canadian Psychological Association, Provincial and Territorial Licensing Requirements — the province-by-province compilation behind the national guide on this site, recording for British Columbia the 600 hours of practica and 1,600-hour pre-doctoral internship and the written jurisprudence pass mark, and the doctoral and master's title split across provinces.
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