The domestic route to practising as a registered dietitian in Canada: an accredited bachelor degree in dietetics, supervised practical training, and the Canadian Dietetic Registration Examination in every province except Quebec, where registration runs through the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec without the CDRE.
This guide covers one route only: a student in Canada who completes an accredited bachelor degree in dietetics or a related field, completes accredited supervised practical training, passes the Canadian Dietetic Registration Examination (CDRE) where it applies, and registers with the dietetics regulator in the province where they will work. It is not the route for a dietitian who trained abroad, and it is not a route to calling yourself a nutritionist in a province where that title is protected without registration. An internationally educated dietitian follows the foreign-dietitian guide linked below. Do not mix the steps: a nutrition qualification that is not the accredited degree and practicum described here does not license you as a registered dietitian, and passing the CDRE alone does not register you without the regulator's own registration steps.
Two kinds of bodies divide the work, and confusing them is the expensive mistake. The Alliance of Canadian Dietetic Regulatory Bodies administers the national examination, the CDRE. The regulator in your province licenses you to practise and use the title. The Newfoundland and Labrador College of Dietitians states the examination side plainly: the CDRE is a national examination developed and administered by the Alliance, and it is a requirement for registration in all provinces except Quebec. The provincial side is stated by Job Bank for National Occupational Classification 31121, dietitians and nutritionists: dietitians require a bachelor degree in dietetics, nutrition, or a related field such as food and nutritional science from a program accredited by the Partnership for Dietetic Education and Practice, and a period of supervised practical training; successful completion of the CDRE is required in all provinces except Quebec; registration with a regulatory body is required in all provinces for dietitians; and membership in Dietitians of Canada is voluntary. That Job Bank framing is the starting point for this guide, not its last word: the accreditation name in it is stale, as Step 1 explains, and the nutritionist-title position in it is verified province by province in the title section below. This guide follows the licensing order: accredited degree, supervised practical training, CDRE, then provincial registration, with Quebec separate. This guide gives administrative process only. It gives no nutrition or clinical advice, and it does not assess whether any individual reader qualifies for admission, practicum placement, examination, or registration.
Step 1: Confirm the accredited-program test — PDEP has ceased, and EQual now accredits
The entry-to-practice degree is a bachelor degree in dietetics, nutrition, or a related field. The accreditation test is the check that decides whether the degree counts, and the name of the accreditor has changed. The College of Dietitians of Manitoba newsletter of Fall 2024 states the change in full: the Partnership for Dietetic Education and Practice ceased operations on October 31, 2024; PDEP was formed in 2006 as a partnership between the Alliance of Canadian Dietetic Regulatory Bodies, Dietitians of Canada, and dietetic education programs, and its two primary roles were to oversee accreditation of dietetic programs and to establish competencies for dietetic practice; Canadian dietetic programs are now accredited by EQual, a division of Accreditation Canada; the list of accredited dietetic education programs can be found on the Accreditation Canada website; and job descriptions and postings should now refer to EQual accreditation instead of PDEP. The New Brunswick Association of Dietitians states the same handover from the registration side: the EQual program, which is under Accreditation Canada, accredits the dietetic education programs in Canada, and current PDEP accreditation awards will continue to be recognised by Canadian dietetic regulatory bodies as approved programs through to February 15, 2024, as that page states it. The Saskatchewan College of Dietitians states the current test without the history: approved dietetic education programs are those that have been accredited by the Accreditation Canada-EQual program, and dietetic education received outside an approved program will be assessed to determine substantial equivalence.
The conflict to carry forward is between Job Bank and the regulator pages. Job Bank, modified September 24, 2026, still states the requirement as a bachelor degree from a program accredited by the Partnership for Dietetic Education and Practice. That wording names an organization that ceased operations in 2024, and it must not be used to decide whether a program is currently accredited. The Accreditation Canada list, last updated October 30, 2026, is the current list: it states that Accreditation Canada accredits dietetics programs, explains the Accredited, Accredited with Condition, and Admitted statuses, and lists dietetics programs by province, including academic programs and internship and practicum programs, with a status and an expiry date for each. No program count is stated in this guide, and no individual program's status or expiry date is stated, because statuses and expiry dates change and the list page owns them. Confirm the exact program name, its status, and its expiry date on the Accreditation Canada list on the day you rely on it, and confirm with the regulator in the province where you will practise that the program is approved for registration there. A program that is Admitted rather than Accredited has accreditation processes underway, and Accreditation Canada warns students in an Admitted program to monitor whether accredited status has been achieved at the time of graduation, because students in a program that has not been accredited at graduation may not be eligible for further credentialing or registration. Do not decide accreditation by a university page that still says PDEP-accredited, by degree letters, or by a program's own marketing: the current list and the destination regulator are the checks that count. The title of this guide retains the row title wording, PDEP-Accredited Degree, because that is the backlog row title; the body states the current position, which is EQual accreditation under Accreditation Canada, and the row wording must not be read as the current accreditor name.
The degree requirement itself, as the College of Dietitians of Ontario states it, is an accredited four-year bachelor degree or equivalent, and applicants should contact the universities directly to identify their specific application requirements, including prerequisites. High school students should expect that most schools will require high school math, biology, and chemistry courses for admission, as the same College page states. If you already hold a non-dietetics degree, the College states that the accredited dietetics program will assess your degree if you are admitted, identify what courses can be transferred, and that you should expect to spend a minimum of two additional years in a dietetics degree program. That expectation is the College's, stated for Ontario applicants, and this guide states it only in those terms: confirm the transfer assessment and the remaining time with the program itself, because the program, not the regulator page, owns your individual assessment. No tuition figure, admission average, or application deadline is stated in this guide for any program, because those figures could not be verified on an official page. Confirm prerequisites, deadlines, and costs on the program page for the cycle you intend to apply in.
Step 2: Complete accredited supervised practical training — the models, and no stated length
Supervised practical training is a separate requirement from the degree, and it must itself be accredited or approved. The College of Dietitians of Ontario states the requirement and the models together: applicants must also complete an accredited internship or practicum, must meet the academic requirements in order to be eligible for an accredited internship, and the options include programs integrated with the undergraduate degree, post-degree internship programs sponsored by hospitals or other non-academic organizations, post-degree diplomas offered through universities, or master programs that include an accredited practicum. The Saskatchewan College of Dietitians states the same separation from the registration side: a practical training program approved for registration is one accredited by the Accreditation Canada-EQual program, and practical training completed outside an approved program will be assessed to determine substantial equivalence. The Accreditation Canada list reflects the same variety, listing internship and practicum programs separately from academic programs in several provinces, including integrated dietetic internship streams within bachelor degrees and stand-alone internship programs. Choose the model on the program page, not on a general claim: an integrated stream is applied for as part of the degree, while a post-degree internship, diploma, or master program is applied for separately after, or alongside, the academic requirements, and the eligibility, application, and placement arrangements sit on the program's own page.
No practicum length is stated in this guide. That is a deliberate gap, not an omission to fill from memory: no PDEP page and no program page states a practicum length as the governing figure for a named program, and this guide carries practicum lengths only from PDEP or program pages. Lengths differ by model and by program, and a length stated for one program does not describe another. Confirm the length, the practice settings, the supervision arrangements, and the application route on the program page for the practicum you intend to enter, and confirm with the destination regulator that the practicum is an approved program for registration. Do not assume that completing the academic degree alone makes you eligible to write the CDRE: in Alberta, only applicants who have met the requirements for registration and have been approved to the Temporary Register are eligible to schedule the next sitting, and in Saskatchewan only applicants who have met the other registration requirements and have been approved as members with restricted licences are eligible to write. The practicum is therefore a registration gate, not an optional placement, and the regulator's eligibility confirmation comes before examination scheduling.
Step 3: Pass the Canadian Dietetic Registration Examination — except in Quebec
The CDRE is the national examination, and it is required in every province except Quebec. The Newfoundland and Labrador College of Dietitians states that the CDRE is a national examination developed and administered by the Alliance of Canadian Dietetic Regulatory Bodies, that it is a requirement for registration in all provinces except Quebec, and that it is designed to test practice-based knowledge, application, and critical thinking skills required to competently and safely practise dietetics. The Alliance statement posted by the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia confirms the administrator role in the Alliance's own terms: as the administrator of the CDRE, the Alliance is committed to ensuring the ongoing integrity of the examination to support the licensure of competent, safe, and ethical registered dietitians. The College of Dietitians of Alberta states how the examination is governed: national examination committees comprised of provincial representatives set the CDRE, and the Alliance approves the examination blueprint as well as policies and procedures for administration and monitors exam results. Candidates apply to write the examination through the provincial regulator, not directly to the Alliance: in Newfoundland and Labrador, candidates must apply by completing the College registration application process; in Ontario, a candidate must apply to be a member of the College, meet all the requirements for membership, and receive confirmation of eligibility to write; in Alberta, only applicants approved to the Temporary Register are eligible to schedule; in Saskatchewan, only applicants approved as members with restricted licences are eligible. Confirm the application route, the eligibility confirmation, and the scheduling process on the CDRE page of the regulator where you will register, and do not register for a sitting until that regulator confirms you are eligible.
The format, attempts, and timing rules are stated in the fourth frequently asked question and are repeated here only in the terms the regulator pages state. The format descriptions differ: Newfoundland and Labrador describes a one-day multiple-choice examination, while Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan describe a four-hour computer-based multiple-choice examination, with Ontario adding online remote proctoring, two two-hour parts with a break between them, and bilingual English and French questions. The attempts rule is stated by Ontario and Saskatchewan: no more than three attempts, with Ontario adding a four-year window from being deemed eligible and a further-education and new-application consequence after a second failure, and Saskatchewan adding mandatory upgrading after a second failure. No examination fee, sitting date, registration deadline, accommodation deadline, or pass mark is stated in this guide. A fee figure and sitting dates did sit on regulator pages, and they are not stated here because they change by sitting and belong to the regulator page that owns them. The CDRE is offered twice a year: the Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador pages state May and November sittings, and the Ontario page states spring and fall sittings, but no specific sitting date is stated here: confirm the current sitting dates, deadlines, fee, preparation guide, and technology requirements on the CDRE page of the regulator where you will register, on the day you apply. Do not rely on a preparation resource that is not the CDRE Preparation Guide the regulator names: Alberta states that the Preparation Guide is the only resource provided to applicants and approved by the College for preparation, and Ontario points candidates to the same guide for accommodation procedures.
Step 4: Register with the provincial regulator before you practise or use the title
Registration is the final gate, and it is provincial. Job Bank states the general rule: registration with a regulatory body is required in all provinces for dietitians. The regulator names verified on official pages are the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia, the College of Dietitians of Alberta, the Saskatchewan College of Dietitians, the College of Dietitians of Manitoba, the College of Dietitians of Ontario, the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec, the New Brunswick Association of Dietitians, the Nova Scotia College of Dietitians and Nutritionists as named in its 2024 jurisprudence handbook, the College of Dietitians of Prince Edward Island, and the Newfoundland and Labrador College of Dietitians. Confirm the regulator's current name and contact details on its own page before you apply, because regulator names change: the Saskatchewan contacts page lists the Nova Scotia body under a different name from the handbook. The registration steps, document file, language requirements, currency rules, and licence categories differ by regulator, and this guide states no province-specific document list, because it could not be verified on an official page. The patterns that do sit on official pages, stated only as patterns to confirm, are temporary, candidate, or restricted licences for graduates waiting to write the CDRE: Alberta approves eligible applicants to a Temporary Register before scheduling; Saskatchewan issues a restricted licence that converts to a full practising licence on successful completion of the CDRE; New Brunswick grants Temporary Membership as a Registered Dietitian (Candidate) while waiting to write the CDRE, converting to active membership on passing; Nova Scotia provides a candidate licence for graduates from an accredited program who have not yet passed the CDRE, with the designation registered dietitian (candidate). Confirm the licence category, the title and initials you may use while holding it, the supervision or mentor conditions, and the expiry or extension rules with your destination regulator, because a temporary or candidate licence is not the same as full registration. Do not practise, or hold yourself out as a registered dietitian, until that regulator confirms your registration, and do not carry one province's temporary-licence conditions into another province on assumption. If you are already registered in another Canadian jurisdiction and seek registration in a new province, confirm the labour-mobility or out-of-province route with the destination regulator before assuming the domestic-graduate file applies unchanged: each regulator states its own conditions for applicants registered elsewhere in Canada.
Membership in Dietitians of Canada is not registration. Job Bank states that membership in the national association is voluntary. Treat association membership as a professional choice, not as a licensing step, and do not delay a regulator application on the assumption that association membership is required, or substitute it for registration.
Step 5: Quebec — the Ordre route, stated only from the pages
Quebec is the province where the domestic route runs through a different licensing body and without the CDRE, and this guide states only what the pages state. Job Bank states that successful completion of the CDRE is required in all provinces except Quebec. The Government of Quebec page for dietitians and nutritionists states the Quebec licensing tail in two lines: membership in the Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec is required to hold the titles of dietitian, dietitian-nutritionist, and nutritionist, and a licence to practise is issued by the Ordre. The same page states that most training programs are offered in French only. The Accreditation Canada list verifies the Quebec academic programs on the current list: McGill University, Université Laval, and Université de Montréal, each with a dietetics or nutrition bachelor program. No official page states it, so this guide states no ODNQ application step, no Quebec examination, no French-language test or threshold, no document list, and no fee. Confirm the admission categories, the language requirements, the registration form, and every other permit detail with the Ordre before you plan around a Quebec posting. A graduate of a Quebec program who intends to practise outside Quebec does not follow the Ordre process alone: the graduate follows the CDRE and the destination province's regulator, as Steps 3 and 4 describe, and must confirm with that regulator how the Quebec degree and practicum are treated. Conversely, a graduate of a program outside Quebec who intends to practise in Quebec must confirm with the Ordre how that degree, practicum, and any CDRE result are treated for a Quebec licence, and must not assume the CDRE route or another province's tail applies. The provinces share the degree and practicum shape; they do not share a licensing tail.
Step 6: The other provinces and the territories — confirm on the regulator's page
Every other province licenses through its own dietetics regulator, and the CDRE is the shared national input outside Quebec. That general statement, and the temporary and candidate licence patterns in Step 4, is all this guide claims for British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador beyond the regulator names and the specific pages cited above. No province-specific jurisprudence examination, criminal record check, language requirement, standing-certificate rule, currency rule, or licence application step is stated for those provinces in this guide beyond what the cited pages state for Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, because it could not be verified on an official page. Read the page of the regulator where you will work before you pay anything province-specific, and do not carry an Ontario or Alberta requirement into another province on assumption. The differences are real even where the national steps look identical, as the Ontario and Saskatchewan attempts wordings and the Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick temporary-licence wordings show: eligibility confirmations, attempts consequences, licence categories, and currency rules all differ by regulator. The same check applies, more strictly, to the territories, as the fifth frequently asked question states. The College of Dietitians of Manitoba newsletter of Fall 2024 states that the territories do not have regulatory bodies for dietitians and that dietitians must be registered with a Canadian dietetic regulatory body to provide care to territorial residents; because that statement is from Fall 2024, confirm the current position with the employer, the territorial government, and the provincial regulator whose registration you will hold, and confirm whether a licence in another province is expected first, before you plan around a territorial posting.
Dietitian and nutritionist: the title line, from regulator pages only
The title line is the part of this guide most often stated as a blanket claim, and it is not a blanket claim. Dietitian is regulated in every province: registration with a regulatory body is required in all provinces for dietitians, as Job Bank states, and the regulator pages state the same position through protected titles and licensing. Nutritionist is a protected title only in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Alberta, as Job Bank states it, and each of those three positions is verified on a regulator or government page, as the sixth frequently asked question sets out. In Nova Scotia, the jurisprudence handbook states that unlicensed persons may not use nutritionist or the other listed designations, and that a licensed registrant may use the titles dietitian and nutritionist. In Alberta, the Government of Alberta careers page states that nutritionist is among the protected titles and initials that only registered members of the College of Dietitians of Alberta may use. In Quebec, the Government of Quebec page states that ODNQ membership is required to hold the nutritionist title. For the remaining provinces, this guide states only what Job Bank states: registration with a regulatory body is required for nutritionists in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Alberta, and in the remaining provinces nutritionists may require the same education and practical training as dietitians. It states no claim that the nutritionist title is unprotected in any named remaining province, because no regulator page for each remaining province states it that position, and a secondary claim that a fourth province also protects the title was not carried, because no regulator page verified it. Confirm the title position with the regulator in the province where you will practise, and check the public register before you rely on any person's title. If your goal is work that does not require registration, this guide is the wrong route: the registered dietitian route is the accredited degree, the accredited practicum, the CDRE outside Quebec, and provincial registration, and no shorter title route substitutes for it.
Before you spend anything: the checks that save a year
First, confirm that the program you intend to enter is on the current Accreditation Canada list, under the EQual accreditation, directly on the Accreditation Canada list page, because accreditation decides the route and the PDEP name on older pages is stale. Second, confirm the practicum model and its length, settings, and application route on the program page itself, and confirm with the destination regulator that the practicum is an approved program, because no practicum length is stated in this guide. Third, confirm the CDRE eligibility route, attempts rule, format, fee, and sitting dates on the CDRE page of the regulator where you will register, and register only after that regulator confirms you are eligible, because eligibility runs through the regulator and the attempts consequences differ by province. Fourth, resolve the Quebec question before you plan: if you intend to practise in Quebec, confirm every step with the Ordre, and do not plan on a CDRE sitting; if you intend to practise in a territory, confirm the registration position with the employer, the territorial government, and a provincial regulator, because the territories have no dietitian regulatory body. Fifth, confirm the title position with the regulator where you will practise before you use the dietitian or nutritionist title, because nutritionist protection is provincial and verified only for Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Alberta in this guide. Sixth, do not practise, use the registered dietitian title, or hold yourself out as licensed in any province until that province's regulator confirms your registration, including any temporary or candidate licence conditions. Seventh, confirm every fee on the fee schedule of the body that charges it — the school, the Alliance examination through the regulator, or the regulator — on the day you pay, because no fee figure is stated in this guide. Eighth, if you trained outside Canada, stop and follow the foreign-dietitian guide instead of this domestic route, because the domestic steps do not assess foreign education or training.
Figures this guide does not state
This guide states no wage or salary figure for dietitians or nutritionists in any province or territory. It states no tuition figure for any program. It states no program count, seat count, quota, application count, or admission statistic, even though a list of programs sat on the Accreditation Canada page, because counts and statuses change and the list page owns them. It states no examination fee, registration fee, licence fee, or association membership fee, even though a CDRE fee figure sat on regulator pages, because fees change by sitting and schedule and the regulator page that charges the fee owns the figure. It states no CDRE sitting date, registration deadline, accommodation deadline, or application deadline, even though sitting dates sat on regulator pages, because those dates belong to a named sitting on the regulator's own page. It states no CDRE pass mark, pass rate, or question count, because no pass mark or pass rate sat on a regulator page as the governing figure. It states no practicum length, hour count, or placement count, because no length sat on a PDEP or program page. It states no program-specific prerequisite list, admission average, or language-test score, because those figures could not be verified on an official page. It states no licensing steps for British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, or Newfoundland and Labrador beyond the general statements, regulator names, and the specific CDRE, temporary-licence, and title pages cited above, and no licensing steps for Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut beyond the Fall 2024 Manitoba regulator statement and the registrar checks above, because it could not be verified on an official page. Where no figure is stated here, the guide points to the page that owns it instead of carrying a secondary source's number. Confirm every fee, deadline, attempt rule, and validity period on the school, Alliance examination, or regulator page that owns it, on the day you apply or pay.
Related guides:
- How to Start Getting Your Foreign Dietitian Credentials Recognized in Canada — the international route for dietitians who trained abroad, through credential recognition and provincial registration. Read this instead of this guide if your dietetics education or training was completed outside Canada.
- How to Start Getting Your Foreign Credentials Recognized in Canada — the general newcomer starting point for credential recognition across professions, for readers comparing dietetics against other regulated routes.
- How to Become a Pharmacist in Canada — a different regulated health profession: the domestic route into pharmacy, with its own national examination and provincial college steps. Read this only if pharmacy, not dietetics, is your goal.
- How to Become a Physiotherapist in Canada — a different regulated health profession: the domestic route into physiotherapy, with its own national examination and provincial college steps. Read this only if physiotherapy, not dietetics, is your goal.
- How to Become an Occupational Therapist in Canada — a different regulated health profession: the domestic route into occupational therapy, with its own national examination and provincial college steps. Read this only if occupational therapy, not dietetics, is your goal.