The Quebec route to a court bailiff permit: diploma or equivalence, Chambre training course, professional examination, and six-month training period.
Applies in: Quebec
In Quebec, a court bailiff is a huissier de justice, a member of a professional order, the Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec. The route to practise is a permit issued by the Chambre board of directors under the Regulation respecting the terms and conditions for the issue of a permit by the Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec. This guide states that route only as the regulation states it. It is a Quebec route. It does not describe process serving in any common-law province, and it does not describe work as a bailiff outside Quebec.
The regulation lists six permit conditions in section 1: a qualifying diploma or equivalence, the training course, the professional examination, the training period, a completed permit application with the permit fees paid, and authorization for the board to inquire about the applicant's integrity and financial situation. Work through them in that order, and confirm each step with the Chambre, because the Chambre administers the course, sets the examination sitting, and issues the trainee certificate and the permit.
Before anything else, confirm that the diploma held, or the training completed, meets the first permit condition. The regulation requires a diploma that gives access to the permit issued by the Chambre and recognized under the Professional Code, or an equivalent diploma recognized by the board of directors, or equivalent training recognized by the board. The regulation's transitional section, section 20, states that until a government regulation under section 184 of the Professional Code comes into force, a candidate is deemed to meet the condition if the candidate holds a diploma of college studies in legal technology awarded by the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology.
The Chambre admission form lists schooling boxes for a college diploma in legal techniques, a first-cycle university degree in law from a Quebec institution or a civil law licence from the University of Ottawa with a diploma equivalence, and an equivalence of training under the equivalence regulation. That form is dated March 3, 2023, so treat it as a picture of the file the Chambre asked for then, not as proof of the current diploma list. Ask the Chambre which diplomas currently give access, and, if training was completed outside Quebec or in another field, whether an equivalence application is the right first step.
Equivalence has its own committee process. The Chambre equivalence page states that after study, the equivalence committee submits a recommendation to the board of directors, which renders the decision. A recognized equivalence makes the admission application receivable under the admission criteria for the professional training program. A conditional equivalence makes receivability partial and conditional on the conditions stated in the evaluation. A candidate who contests a committee decision that did not approve an equivalence application must send the revision request within 30 days of receiving the committee decision, and the revision is carried out within 60 days of receipt by a committee formed by the board.
The training course is administered by the Secretary of the Chambre under the authority of the executive committee. It lasts at least 4 weeks. The executive committee determines the dates of the course each year, where it will be held, and the number of sessions required, and the Secretary advises each candidate of the beginning of a session at least 30 days in advance.
The course content is set by the regulation. Practical work covers serving proceedings, calculating time limits, and establishing proof of service; enforcing executory judicial decisions, including seizing movables and immovables in execution, producing minutes, assessing movable property, consulting the appropriate registers, and producing a statement of collocation and distribution of amounts realized; executing eviction orders and warrants for witnesses or for committal; carrying out sales under judicial authority; making material ascertainments; performing any other duties assigned to a bailiff by law or by a court; and serving proceedings on a party domiciled or residing in another province in Canada or another country, or issued by a foreign court or tribunal. The course also covers the law and regulations for the profession, including the Professional Code, the Court Bailiffs Act, and the regulations under those statutes, as well as bookkeeping, registers, and trust accounts; professional behaviour in the exercise of judicial constraint, including in crisis situations, and the social behaviour of an officer of justice; and knowledge related to the charters of rights and freedoms, the Act respecting the Administrative Housing Tribunal, the Act respecting the collection of certain debts, and the Consumer Protection Act.
No course start date, location, or fee is stated in this guide, because none was verified on a Chambre page. Ask the Chambre for the next session dates and the current course costs before planning around a start date.
To be eligible for the training period, the candidate completes an application on the form prescribed by the board of directors, meets the diploma condition in section 1, has completed the training course, and pays the costs fixed by the board. The candidate may not act as a trainee before obtaining a trainee certificate from the board of directors at the training director's request.
The training period lasts 6 months and is carried out as full-time employment, performing duties compatible with the practice of the profession. Its stated purpose is to let the candidate acquire maturity, autonomy, and experience for practice in Quebec, to bring knowledge and skills into concrete work situations, and to apply them in real decision-making contexts.
The training director must have been entered on the roll for at least 2 years and must not have been the object of a disciplinary decision within the last 5 years. A training director must not supervise more than one trainee at a time. At the end of the period, the candidate and the training director prepare an evaluation report listing the situations in which the candidate practised and giving the training director's evaluation. The executive committee examines the report and gives its opinion to the board on the validity of the training period, the board decides at its first meeting after receiving the notice, and within 30 days the Secretary sends written notice of the decision by issuing an attestation of passing or failing. A trainee who fails completes another training period of 6 months, and a trainee certificate may not be renewed for more than 2 periods of 6 months each.
The professional examination is written and held once a year, on the date, time, and place determined by the executive committee. A candidate who has completed the professional training period is notified of the examination at least 45 days in advance. The examination evaluates behaviour and practical judgment in concrete situations, covering service of proceedings, enforcement of executory judicial decisions, other duties assigned to a bailiff by law, production of minutes, and professional law.
The minimum pass mark is 60 percent. A candidate who does not reach it takes the examination again at the following sitting, and the mark, with a Pass or Fail indication, is sent to the candidate by mail as soon as possible. A candidate may sit the examination a maximum of 3 times, unless the candidate demonstrates to the executive committee's satisfaction that an additional training period to remedy deficiencies was completed. Registration under false pretences, plagiarism, being an accomplice to plagiarism, or attempting to plagiarize during the examination results in a Fail mark for that examination.
The last permit conditions are administrative: complete an application for a permit, pay the fees fixed for granting a permit, and authorize the board of directors to inquire about integrity and financial situation. The Chambre admission form dated March 3, 2023, lists the file contents the Chambre asked for with an admission application: the trainee certificate form, proof of identity, diploma and transcript, a certificate of good conduct or police certificate, two recent colour passport-format photos identified on the back in block letters, and a payment of $500.00 plus taxes, $574.88 in total, by pre-authorized debit for file-opening fees, sent by email to the Chambre address on the form. Because that form is dated 2023, confirm the current fee, payment method, email address, and document list with the Chambre before submitting. The regulation states no fee amount, and this guide invents none.
French-language knowledge is a separate gate for professional orders in Quebec. The admission form states that orders may issue a permit only to persons with appropriate knowledge of the official language for the practice of the profession, and that a person is deemed to have that knowledge in the cases the form lists, including three years of full-time secondary or post-secondary instruction in French, passing the French mother-tongue examinations of the fourth or fifth year of secondary school, or holding a Quebec secondary school certificate from the 1985-1986 school year or later. In other cases, the candidate must obtain an attestation from the Office québécois de la langue française or hold an attestation defined as equivalent by government regulation. Confirm with the Chambre whether a French examination applies to the individual file.
Once the permit is issued and the holder is entered on the roll, practice is as a member of the order, subject to the Professional Code, the Court Bailiffs Act, and the Chambre regulations. Keep the permit, the roll entry, and any practice details current with the Chambre, and check with the Chambre before taking on any duty outside the duties the regulation and the Act assign to bailiffs.
Figures left out: no current training course fee, examination fee, permit fee, course start date, or salary figure is stated in this guide. The only fee figure in the guide is the $574.88 total shown on the Chambre admission form dated March 3, 2023, and it is labelled as dated. No figure was carried from a training provider, a job board, or a secondary site. Confirm every current fee and date with the Chambre before paying or planning.
No. Quebec uses the civil-law office of huissier de justice, governed by the Court Bailiffs Act and the Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec, a professional order. The permit route in this guide is the Quebec route only. Other provinces have their own arrangements for serving court documents, and nothing in this guide states the rule for any other province. Do not carry a requirement from another province into a Quebec application.
The permit regulation requires a diploma that gives access to the permit issued by the Chambre and recognized under the Professional Code, or an equivalent diploma or equivalent training recognized by the Chambre board of directors. The regulation's transitional section names a diploma of college studies in legal technology awarded by the Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology. The Chambre admission form lists a college diploma in legal techniques and a first-cycle university degree in law with a diploma equivalence among the schooling boxes. Confirm the current list of qualifying diplomas with the Chambre before enrolling, because the form is dated March 3, 2023, and the regulation states the test in general terms.
The training course lasts at least 4 weeks. The training period lasts 6 months and is carried out as full-time employment, performing duties compatible with the practice of the profession. The executive committee sets the training course dates each year and the Secretary advises each candidate of the start of a session at least 30 days in advance. A candidate who fails the training period completes another training period of 6 months, and a trainee certificate may not be renewed for more than 2 periods of 6 months each.
The examination is written and held once a year, on the date, time, and place set by the executive committee. It evaluates behaviour and practical judgment in concrete situations, covering service of proceedings, enforcement of executory judicial decisions, other duties assigned to a bailiff by law, production of minutes, and professional law. The minimum pass mark is 60 percent. A candidate who does not reach it takes the examination again at the following sitting, and a candidate may sit the examination a maximum of 3 times unless the candidate shows the executive committee that an additional training period to remedy deficiencies was completed.
A trainee may not act as a trainee before obtaining a trainee certificate from the board of directors at the training director's request. Under the training director's authority and responsibility, a trainee may serve written proceedings issued by any court if the trainee states that fact, and may perform any duty in section 8 of the Court Bailiffs Act. A trainee may not enforce executory judicial decisions or perform any other duty assigned to a bailiff by law or by a court except under the training director's immediate supervision, with the training director co-signing the minutes. The training director must have been entered on the roll for at least 2 years, must not have been the object of a disciplinary decision within the last 5 years, and must not supervise more than one trainee at a time.
The permit regulation requires the applicant to complete a permit application and pay the fees fixed for granting a permit, and to authorize the board of directors to inquire about integrity and financial situation. The Chambre admission form dated March 3, 2023, lists a payment of $500.00 plus taxes, $574.88 in total, by pre-authorized debit for file-opening fees, and lists a trainee certificate form, proof of identity, diploma and transcript, a certificate of good conduct or police certificate, and two recent colour passport-format photos. That form is dated 2023, so confirm the current fee amount, payment method, and document list with the Chambre before sending money or documents. No other fee figure is stated in this guide, because none was verified on a Chambre page.