How to Become a Notary Public in Ontario

Ontario does not have a notary course, a notary exam, or a single application form for everyone. It has two appointment routes under the Notaries Act: one for lawyers and paralegals licensed by the Law Society of Ontario (LSO), and one for everyone else whose job genuinely requires notarial services. The routes differ in who grants them, how long they last, what they cost, and what you are allowed to notarize. This guide covers the Ontario routes only, as Ontario.ca states them.

Step 1: Understand what an Ontario notary does

A notary public is a person who has the power to witness or certify, and attest, the execution of a document and certify and attest a true copy of a document. A notary public also has all the powers of a commissioner for taking affidavits. Notaries are governed by the Notaries Act, and section 3 of the Act sets out those powers, subject to any restrictions in the appointment.

Two points shape everything that follows. First, there are no notaries by virtue of office in Ontario: unlike commissioners for taking affidavits, where lawyers, paralegals, and people holding certain offices are commissioners automatically, nobody is a notary automatically. To become a notary public in Ontario, you must apply and be appointed. Second, a notary is not the same as a commissioner for taking affidavits. A commissioner may administer oaths and take affidavits, declarations, and affirmations, but only a notary can also witness and certify the execution of documents and certify true copies.

Step 2: The lawyer and paralegal route — lifetime, $145

If you are a lawyer or paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario, you can be appointed as a notary public after being licensed. Lawyers and paralegals are not notaries by right and must still apply. Only Ontario lawyers and paralegals working in Ontario can apply, and the appointment is a lifetime appointment as long as you are in good standing with the LSO. If your licence is suspended or in abeyance, your notary appointment is suspended too, and you are prohibited from performing notarial duties until the licence is no longer under suspension or in abeyance, or you are relicensed.

Apply to ServiceOntario, Official Documents Services (ODS). You can submit your request through the notary public portal online, or download and print the service request form and submit it in person or by mail to ServiceOntario, Official Documents Services, 777 Bay Street, Lower Level, Toronto, Ontario M7A 2J8. Applications will not be accepted by fax. ODS reviews your application and sends you a Notice of Approval if you qualify, within 15 business days. That notice is your official proof that you are allowed to act as a commissioner for taking affidavits as an Ontario lawyer or paralegal.

The fee is $145, a one-time fee with all taxes exempted. Government lawyers and paralegals pay $0, as the fee is waived. In person you can pay with cash, Visa, Mastercard, debit, certified cheque, or money order. By mail, send a cheque or money order payable to the Minister of Finance, and for online submissions include both your LSO number and your service request confirmation number in the memo section of the cheque or money order.

Step 3: The non-lawyer and non-paralegal route — 10 years, job-limited

If you are not a lawyer or a paralegal, you apply to be appointed a notary public through the Ministry of the Attorney General, not through Official Documents Services. The ministry appoints non-lawyer and non-paralegal notaries for a term of 10 years and may impose restrictions or limitations on what the individual may notarize. The 10-year period is also the period prescribed by R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 831, section 3 for the purposes of the Notaries Act. These requests are subject to the ministry's review, assessment, and approval.

The limits are the defining feature of this route. Notarial services must only be provided for the purposes of the business or organization with which you are affiliated and appointed on behalf of. Non-lawyer and non-paralegal notaries are not permitted to provide notary services outside their limitations or for personal use, and Ontario.ca states that notarizing outside your limitations is prohibited. This is not a route into a new line of business: the appointment exists because your job needs it.

The fees are set by Regulation 831: $110 for a commission appointing a person other than a licensee under the Law Society Act, $75 for reappointing such a person, and $17 for a change in the wording of a notary public's stamp. No fee applies to a commission appointing an employee of the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, a municipality in Ontario, or the band of a First Nation in Ontario.

For questions about non-lawyer and non-paralegal appointments, contact the Ministry of the Attorney General, Legal Appointments Office, 77 Wellesley Street West, Box 720, Toronto ON M7A 1N3, telephone 416-326-4064, email appointments@ontario.ca. For questions about lawyer and paralegal appointments or document authentication, contact Official Documents Services, 777 Bay Street, lower level, Toronto, Ontario M7A 2J8, telephone 416-325-8416.

Step 4: Get your seal and stamp, and file your specimen

When you are appointed, you are recognized by the Ontario government as an Ontario notary public, and you will receive a notice of approval and a Specimen of Notarial Signature and Seal form from Official Documents Services. After you receive notice of your appointment, you must order your embossed notarial seal from a seal company. The seal must match the name set out on the notice of approval and must show "Notary Public" and "Ontario".

If you are a non-lawyer or non-paralegal notary, you need a stamp as well as the embossed seal. You must purchase a stamp from an office supply store, using the approved wording on the Notice of Approval document you received from the Ministry of the Attorney General. You cannot make any handwritten changes to your stamp, and you must obtain a new stamp after every reappointment to reflect the new expiry date. Contact the Legal Appointments Office to request changes to your stamp or for any questions about it. A change in the wording of a notary public's stamp carries a $17 fee under Regulation 831.

Return the Specimen of Notarial Signature and Seal form to Official Documents Services so the government has your signature, seal, and stamp (for non-lawyers) on file to authenticate any documents you notarize. If you do not send in this form, ODS will be unable to authenticate documents you notarize. If you make any changes to your signature or seal, the specimen kept on file must also be updated, or documents will not be authenticated. Failing to return the form may also result in the government's inability to issue an apostille for your documents.

Step 5: Know the duties, the limits, and the penalties

Ontario.ca sets out the duties of a notary public: verifying documents and certifying signatures as true and genuine, ensuring the signatory is present in person, reviewing a valid piece of government-issued photo identification, understanding that a notarized document adds a layer of verification to prevent fraud and identity theft, and understanding that you may be held accountable for improperly notarizing a document, including through potential charges for offences under the Notaries Act.

The in-person rule is absolute. In accordance with the Notaries Act, a notary must be physically present with the person requiring notarization when notarizing documents. Remote notarization is not permitted under the Notaries Act, and documents notarized remotely will not be authenticated or apostilled by Official Documents Services. Notaries should only notarize documents if they are comfortable doing so, and should not notarize a document they know or should know is incomplete, misleading, deceptive, suspicious, frivolous, vexatious, or fraudulent. Lawyers and paralegals who are notaries must also act in accordance with the LSO's Rules of Professional Conduct or the Paralegal Rules of Conduct.

The penalties are real. A notary public who exercises any power, performs any function, or acts in any way not authorized by the Notaries Act or its regulations may be found guilty of an offence and, when convicted, may be liable to a fine of up to $2,000. Under subsection 7(2) of the Act, the Attorney General may revoke the appointment of a notary public on conviction for an offence, or for any other conduct that, in the Attorney General's opinion, renders the person unfit to hold the office. If you have evidence of a notary committing an unlawful act, you may report it to your local police service; if the notary is a lawyer or paralegal, you may also file a complaint with the LSO.

Figures the opened Ontario pages do not state

The opened Ontario.ca pages state the two appointment types, the lifetime and 10-year terms, the $145, $110, $75, and $17 fees, the fee waivers, the seal and stamp requirements, and the duties and penalties set out above. They do not state the detailed eligibility criteria for a non-lawyer appointment, what documents a non-lawyer application must include, or how long a non-lawyer application takes to process. Those details were cut from this guide rather than filled in from third-party websites. Confirm the current eligibility requirements and application steps with the Ministry of the Attorney General's Legal Appointments Office (416-326-4064, appointments@ontario.ca) before you apply. No "new 2026 appointment forms" are described on the opened Ontario.ca pages, and none are claimed here.

Related guides:

• How to become a notary in Canada: the BC, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta routes: the national overview that compares the four routes, including the Ontario routes summarized here in full.
• How to become a notary in British Columbia: BC's non-lawyer notary profession, which requires an SFU degree and a six-month education program — a very different route from Ontario's appointment system.
• How to become a notary in Quebec: Quebec's civil-law notaire route, a separate legal profession from Ontario's notary public.

Sources

• Ontario.ca, Information for notaries public in Ontario — the two appointment types, the 10-year non-lawyer term and its limits, the seal and stamp requirements, the specimen form, the in-person rule, the duties, and the offence and revocation provisions.
• Ontario.ca, How to become a notary public (Ontario lawyers and paralegals) — the lifetime appointment while licensed in good standing, the $145 fee and the $0 government fee, the portal and mail application routes, the 15-business-day Notice of Approval, and the Official Documents Services contact details.
• R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 831: General, Notaries Act — the $145 lawyer and paralegal commission fee, the $110 non-lawyer commission fee, the $75 reappointment fee, the $17 stamp-wording fee, the fee exemption for government and First Nation employees, and the prescribed 10-year period.
• Notaries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. N.6 (Ontario.ca) — the appointment power, the section 3 powers of a notary public, the section 5 expiry rule (three years or the period prescribed by regulation), and the section 6 offences and section 7 revocation provisions.