How to Start Getting a Birth Certificate in Canada

The short answer

There is no Canadian birth certificate. There are 13 provincial and territorial ones, and you apply to the office that holds the registration. Every province and territory runs its own records office, with its own application form, eligibility list, fee, and processing time. The three routes are online, by mail, and in person, and the worked examples below cover one of each. Before you pay, confirm three things: the birth was registered in that province or territory, you are on that province's list of people who may apply, and you have chosen the certificate type the requesting body actually wants.

Before you apply: registration, type, and eligibility

Registration comes first. A birth certificate is a document drawn from a birth registration. If the birth was never registered, no certificate can be issued. For a newborn in British Columbia, registration uses the birth registration form together with the hospital's Notice of Birth, and the certificate is ordered after registration is complete. In Quebec, the Declaration of Birth is sent to the Directeur de l'état civil, registration takes 15 business days, and it is free if the declaration arrives within 30 days of the birth.

Pick the certificate type. Provinces name them differently, but the split is the same: a short-form or individual certificate carries the person's own information; a long-form or parental-information certificate adds the parents' names and information; a certified copy is a copy of the registration record. Ontario sells all three: a birth certificate, a birth certificate with parental information, and a certified copy of birth registration. Nova Scotia sells a short form with the child's information and a long form that adds the parents' information, and offers a sex indicator of M, F, X, or no sex indicator. British Columbia offers individual and parental-information certificates, and a no-sex-display option available by mail or in person only. Order the type the requesting body asked for; a short form ordered in error is money spent twice.

Check you may apply. The person named on the certificate can always apply. Beyond that, each province lists who else may: parents named on the registration, legal guardians with court documents, and, for a deceased person, the next of kin or executor, usually for a certified copy only. Ontario also requires a guarantor when the subject of the certificate is 9 years old or older. British Columbia accepts a custodial guardian, a person with the written permission of an eligible person, a government officer, and any other person who satisfies the registrar that they are applying in good faith.

Worked example 1: online — Ontario

Ontario's route is the clearest online example, and it is the route most Ontarians should use. Order through ServiceOntario's online service for a birth registered in Ontario only. The regular online fee for a birth certificate is $25, delivered in 15 business days plus Canada Post delivery time, and the replacement fee is $35. Premium service is $55, delivered in 5 business days including courier delivery. A birth certificate with parental information is $25 regular, with a $35 replacement fee, and premium service is not available for it. A certified copy of birth registration is $35 regular and $65 premium. A search letter costs an extra $15 per additional 5-year interval searched, and births registered before 1930 may take up to 8 weeks. You need the exact information as recorded: full name, date and place of birth, and parents' names as registered. A certificate ordered online is delivered by Canada Post or courier to the address given; the previous certificate is invalidated when a replacement is issued.

Worked example 2: by mail — British Columbia

British Columbia's mail route shows how a province that charges per delivery method works. Order by mail to the Agency, PO Box 9657 Stn Prov Govt, Victoria, BC V8W 9P3, using the paper application form. Mail delivery costs $27, and the office asks applicants to allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. Courier delivery costs $60, and the certificate is printed the next business day after all required information is received. The same office also accepts online orders through the electronic Certificate Ordering System (eCOS) and in-person orders at any Service BC counter. If a certificate is lost or stolen, tell the Vital Statistics Agency and complete a declaration of loss or theft before ordering a replacement. The application form and the fee table are on the British Columbia birth certificates page.

Worked example 3: in person — Ontario and Manitoba

Ontario's in-person route exists for emergencies. At the Toronto office, 47 Sheppard Avenue East, and the Ottawa office, 110 Laurier Avenue West, you can apply in person, and an emergency service at the Toronto office costs $55 for a birth certificate, $65 for a certified copy, with proof of urgency required. Manitoba shows the other in-person pattern: apply at the Vital Statistics counter at 254 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, or by mail, fax, or online. Manitoba processes regular applications in the order received and delivers by Canada Post, and rush applications are processed within 3 business days with courier delivery at extra cost. Manitoba's regular fee is about $30 for most certificate types; confirm the exact fee on the application page before you pay, since the figure is drawn from the Division Registrar and news-release pages rather than the application form itself.

The other provinces and territories

Quebec. Order from the Directeur de l'état civil. Normal processing is 10 business days. Online, a certificate costs $38.50 and a copy of an act costs $46.75; by mail, $55.00 and $64.25. Accelerated processing of 3 business days costs $75.00 online and $82.25 by mail, but it was temporarily unavailable during the Canada Post labour dispute, so confirm availability on the Directeur's page. The 2026–2027 application form is in effect until March 31, 2027.

Nova Scotia. Apply online through the province's birth certificate service. The short form costs $33.00 and the long form $39.90, with delivery in 4 to 6 weeks. Eligibility covers the person named, a parent on the registration, a lawyer, an executor or trustee, a legal guardian, and an authorized agent.

New Brunswick. Apply through Service New Brunswick, in person or by mail, or online. The fee is $45 in person or by mail and $40 online, for a short or long form. The province's records page describes both forms and the supporting documents to bring.

Saskatchewan. Birth, death, and marriage registrations are held by eHealth Saskatchewan's records office, and the province's residents hub routes applicants there. No fee or processing figure was read on an official Saskatchewan page at draft time, so confirm the current fee and processing time on the eHealth Vital Statistics page before applying.

Prince Edward Island. Apply online or with the PDF application form to the province's records office. The province's pages confirm the online and paper routes and recommend the detailed certificate, which includes parents' names, for children under 16. No fee figure was read on an official Prince Edward Island page at draft time, so confirm the fee on the application page.

Newfoundland and Labrador. The province's records division holds birth registrations from 1892 to the present and issues certificates from them. No fee or processing figure was read on an official page at draft time, so confirm both on the Vital Statistics Division page.

Northwest Territories. Order through the territory's eServices, by email, fax, or mail to Bag #9, Inuvik, NT X0E 0T0. A birth certificate costs $26.00. A restricted photocopy costs $39.00, requires a reason, and is issued at the registrar's discretion.

Yukon and Nunavut. Each territory has its own records office and application route. No fee or processing figure was read on an official page at draft time for either territory, so confirm the route, fee, and processing time on the territory's records page before applying. Never borrow another province's figure for a territory.

After the certificate arrives

Check the certificate the day it arrives: name spelling, date and place of birth, and parents' names, if shown, against the registration details you supplied. If anything is wrong, contact the issuing office about a correction to the registration record before ordering another copy, or the error will repeat. Store the certificate somewhere safe and do not send the original unless the requesting body asks for it; many bodies accept a certified copy or a clear scan, and a lost certificate means a replacement application and a replacement fee. If the certificate was ordered for a passport, a name change, or a marriage licence, the details on it must match the details on the other application exactly, or the mismatch will be sent back for correction.

Related guides:

• How to Apply for the Canada Child Benefit — the benefit that needs a birth certificate and a Social Insurance Number for each child.
• How to Start Getting a Social Insurance Number as a Newcomer to Canada — the federal number that follows the same identity documents as a birth certificate.
• How to Start Getting Provincial Health Coverage as a Newcomer to Canada — the provincial coverage application that also starts from the registration record.
• Citizenship Application Checklist — the fixed document checklist where a birth certificate is the proof of identity for a child applicant.

Sources

• Government of Ontario, "Get or replace an Ontario birth certificate" — the three certificate types, the online, in-person, and mail routes, who can apply, the guarantor rule for subjects 9 and older, and the full cost and delivery table —
• Government of British Columbia, "Birth certificates" — who can order, the eCOS online route, in-person Service BC counters, the mail address, the $27 mail and $60 courier fees and delivery times, the registration-before-certificate rule for newborns, and the no-sex-display option —
• Government of Nova Scotia, "Apply for a birth certificate" — the short-form and long-form descriptions, $33.00 and $39.90 fees, 4 to 6 weeks, and the eligibility list —
• Directeur de l'état civil du Québec, "Certificate or copy of an act — processing time and fees": the 10-business-day normal processing, the online and mail fees, and the accelerated 3-business-day option —
• Directeur de l'état civil du Québec, "Application for a birth certificate or a copy of an act of birth, 2026–2027" — the fee figures in effect until March 31, 2027, and the birth registration rule —
• Government of Manitoba, Vital Statistics Agency, "How to apply" — the online, in-person, mail, and fax routes, regular processing in order received, and rush processing within 3 business days —
• Government of New Brunswick, "Birth certificate" — the short and long forms and the $45 in-person and mail fee and $40 online fee —
• Government of the Northwest Territories, "Order a birth certificate" — the $26.00 certificate fee and $39.00 restricted photocopy, and the eServices, email, fax, and mail routes —
• Government of Saskatchewan, "Births, deaths, marriages and divorces" — the residents hub routing birth certificate applications to eHealth Saskatchewan —
• Government of Prince Edward Island, "Registering a birth" — the records office and the birth record application route —

No fee or processing figure is stated in this guide for Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, or Nunavut, because none was read on an official page for those jurisdictions at draft time; confirm the current figure on the province or territory's vital statistics page. No Alberta fee figure is stated, because the only Alberta figure found was on an older information sheet; confirm the government fee and the registry agent's service fee with the registry agent before applying. No British Columbia certified-true-copy or rush fee is stated, because those figures appeared only in a search result for the eCOS system and were not read on the birth certificates page itself.