Authorities

Practical Information:
(The following information was provided by the relevant State authorities or was obtained from the replies to the 2003 and/or 2008 Service Convention Questionnaires)

- Attorney General for Canada
- Attorney General, Ministry of the Attorney General or Minister of Justice of a province or territory
- Clerks of the courts and their deputies for a judicial or a court district.
- Central Authority for Alberta
- Deputy Minister of Justice, Northwest Territories
- Huissiers and sheriffs
- Local registrars
- Members of the law societies of all provinces and territories
- Members of the Board of Notaries of the Province of Québec (for non-litigious matters only)

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention. 

Service will be effected according to the methods of service prescribed by the laws in force in each province and territory as enumerated below.

The normal procedure for service in Canada is personal service made by a process server in Alberta, a huissier in Québec, an enforcement officer of the Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario or a sheriff or deputy sheriff elsewhere in Canada, on an individual or on a corporation by handing a copy of the document to the individual, or to an officer, director or agent of the corporation at its place of business.

Notification in Québec may be made by delivering the original or certified copy or abstract of the act, document or notice to the person to be notified and obtaining a receipt therefore. It can also be made by registered or certified mail. Notification may be made by regular mail or by any other means of communication where the context does not require the sender to obtain proof of sending.

Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal: Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106.

Alberta: Alberta Rules of Court, Alta. Reg. 124/2010.

British Columbia: Supreme Court Civil Rules, B.C. Reg. 168/2009.

Manitoba: Court of Queen's Bench Rules, Man. Reg. 553/88.

New Brunswick: Rules of Court, N.B. Reg. 82-73.

Newfoundland and Labrador: Rules of the Supreme Court, 1986, S.N.L. 1986, c 42, Sch D.

Northwest Territories: Rules of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, N.W.T. Reg. 010-96.

Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules.

Nunavut: Rules of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, N.W.T. Reg. 010-96.

Ontario: Rules of Civil Procedure, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 194.

Prince Edward Island: Rules of Civil Procedure.

Québec:
Service: Code of Civil Procedure, R.S.Q., chapter C-25.
Notification: Code of Civil Procedure, R.S.Q., chapter C-25.

Saskatchewan: Queen's Bench Rules.

Yukon: Rules of Court, Y.O.I.C. 2009/65.

Service by a particular method (Art. 5 (1)(b))

Central Authorities in Canada will consider requests for service by a particular method requested by the applicant under 5(1)(b) to the extent that such a method is consistent with the law of their jurisdiction.

Informal delivery (Art. 5(2))

The practice of informal delivery ("par simple remise") of judicial or extrajudicial documents is not known in Canada.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention.

For Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, all documents must be written in or translated into English.

For Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario and Saskatchewan all documents must be written in or translated into English or French.

For New Brunswick and the Yukon, all documents must be written in or translated into English or French. The Central Authority of New Brunswick or the Yukon may reserve the right to require documents to be translated into English or French depending on the language understood by the addressee.

For Québec, translation will be required in all cases where the recipient does not understand the language in which the document is written. All documents which commence actions must be translated. Summary translation of all other documents is acceptable if the recipient agrees. Translation is to be done into the French language; however, the Québec Central Authority may, upon request, allow a translation in English at the condition that the recipient understands this language.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention.

Costs for the execution of service will be $50. – Can.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention.

Click here for information on methods of payment.

The average time for performance of service is:

Alberta: 4 weeks
British Columbia: 2-6 weeks
Manitoba: 3-4 weeks
New Brunswick: 2-4 weeks
Newfoundland and Labrador: 4 - 6 weeks
Northwest Territories: 1-3 weeks
Nova Scotia: 2-4 weeks
Nunavut: 4-6 weeks
Ontario: 4-6 weeks
Prince Edward Island: 2-3 weeks
Québec: 4 weeks (service); 3 weeks (notification)
Saskatchewan: 2-4 weeks

As a general rule, in all provinces and territories, with the exception of the province of Québec, anyone can effect service of judicial and extrajudicial documents personally by handing the documents to the person for whom they are intended. This rule suffers some exceptions. For instance, in certain family law matters, the plaintiff may not serve the document personally to the defendant. Reference should be made to the rules of service of the relevant jurisdiction for information on exceptions to the general rule.

Many businesses commonly referred to as "Process Servers" serve judicial and extra-judicial documents, for a fee. These businesses are listed in the Yellow Pages under "process servers".

In the province of Québec, service must be effected by a sheriff or a member of the Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec. However, in any place where, within a radius of fifty kilometres, there is neither sheriff nor bailiff able to act, service may be made by any person of legal age residing within the radius or by registered or certified mail.

Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec
390, Boulevard Henri-Bourassa Ouest
Montréal, Québec H3L 3T5
Tel : 1 (514) 721 1100
Télécopieur: 1 (514) 721 7878
Courriel : [email protected] http://www.huissiersquebec.qc.ca/

For information regarding costs please see Tariff of fees and transportation expenses of bailiffs RRQ, c H-4.1, r 14.

In the province of Québec, notification may be made by delivering the original or certified copy or abstract of the act, document or notice to the person to be notified and obtaining a receipt therefore. It can also be made by registered or certified mail. Notification may be made by regular mail or by any other means of communication where the context does not require the sender to obtain proof of sending.

Click here to read all the declarations made by Canada under the Service Convention.

Derogatory channels (bilateral or multilateral agreements or internal law permitting other transmission channels)
(Arts. 11, 19, 24 and 25)

Disclaimer:
Information may not be complete or fully updated – please contact the relevant authorities to verify this information.

To view the bilateral treaties regarding judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters that are in force for Canada, please visit http://www.accord-treaty.gc.ca/ under the headings "Bilateral" and "Judicial Co-operation (civil and commercial)".

Alberta:
www.albertacourts.ab.ca/go.aspx?tabid=550 (Alberta Courts – Sheriff Civil Enforcement)
www.albertacourts.ab.ca/  (Alberta Courts – Serving legal documents)

Quebec:
www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/

Saskatchewan:
www.sasklawcourts.ca
www.qp.gov.sk.ca (to view Saskatchewan legislation, regulations, rules of court and court forms)