Ontario apostille replaced a consulate trip

What the Convention changed

Ontario publishes the position plainly. Effective 11 January 2024, Canada joined the Hague Apostille Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Official Documents Services is the authority that issues certificates of authentication and apostilles in Ontario.

Which certificate a document gets now turns on the destination. An apostille is used by countries that have signed the Convention. A certificate of authentication is used by countries that have not.

Ontario's wording on what that saves is careful, and worth repeating rather than improving on: authenticated documents destined for signatory countries may no longer require legalisation at consulates or embassies, and requirements should still be checked with the consulate, embassy or end recipient. The apostille is not a promise that nobody will ask for anything else.

What it changed for a notary

The rule on languages is the part that reaches a notary's desk most often. A document in a language other than English or French has to be issued within Canada, notarised by an Ontario notary public, and accompanied by a translation.

The translation can come one of two ways. It can be issued by a Certified Canadian Translator, certified by a member of a recognised provincial translation association. Or it can be attested by an Ontario notary public who speaks English or French and the language the document was written in.

Where a notary takes that second route the declaration has to say two specific things: that they attest to speaking English or French and the language of the document, and that they certify the accuracy of the translation. A declaration missing either statement is a declaration that does not do the job.

Which documents skip the notary now?

Two categories go straight to authentication without being notarised first. Ontario public post-secondary diplomas, degrees and transcripts issued as of January 2019. And documents issued by the Superior Court of Justice or the Ontario Court of Justice as of 10 July 2023.

There is a timing catch on the court documents. Ontario says an in-person authentication request for a court-issued document can take up to ten business days to process, and suggests notarising first where the request is urgent. The faster route is the one with the notary in it.

A Certificate of Divorce issued before 10 July 2023 can go either way. Notarise it, or have it reissued online or at the court where the original was filed, because a newly reissued certificate is eligible for authentication without notarisation. Every other court document issued before that date still needs notarising.

Documents issued outside Canada

They cannot be authenticated here. A document issued in another country has to be authenticated by the jurisdiction that issued it, which is the answer for a foreign passport, a foreign birth certificate or a foreign degree.

There is one exception and it is a useful one. Official Documents Services will authenticate the notarisation of a signature on a foreign-issued document where the signature was sworn or witnessed by an Ontario notary public.

So the foreign document itself stays outside the system, while a signature put on it in front of an Ontario notary can be carried through authentication. For somebody holding paperwork from abroad that a receiving authority wants certified, that distinction is the whole route.

The detail sits on notarisation and commissioning, which is kept current as the rules move.