Guide to Apply for Apostille in Canada
Jan 08, 2024
Chenxu Song
(W. Ye Law Firm)
As China and Canada joined the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"), a new mode of authentication will be applied to Canadian public documents within the scope of the Convention starting from January 11, 2024: Apostille authentication. The Apostille will replace the traditional consular authentication and the authenticity of the seal and signature on the document will be verified. The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Canada has also announced that as of January 11, 2024, the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in Canada will cease to operate the consular authentication services. Under the new authentication, the traditional "three-tier authentication", i.e., "notarization by a notary public + certification by the provincial government + Embassy authentication" will become a thing of the past. This will greatly simplify the cross-border procedures of official documents, facilitating international trade and personnel exchanges. As we recall, during the epidemic, consular authentication required an appointment, and it was difficult to make one, and the whole authentication process took two to three months.
1. What is the Apostille
Upon joining to the Convention, due to the mutual abolition of the consular authentication between the Contracting States, the traditional consular authentication is replaced by Apostille, which verify the authenticity of seals and signatures on public documents. Article 1 of the Convention defines the scope of public documents, which specifically includes: (i) Documents issued by or connected with the courts or tribunals of a State, including those issued by the public prosecutor, the clerk of the court or the judicial executor. (ii) Administrative instruments, including, company registrations, property registrations, population registrations, intellectual property registrations, education certificates, licenses, medical and health certificates, criminal and police records. (iii) Notarized Instruments; (iv) Official certificates of documents signed in a private capacity, such as official certificates of registration of a document or recording of the fact that it existed on a specific date, and official and notarized certificates of signatures.
An Apostille is functionally equivalent to a consular certificate and only certifies that the last seal or signature on the official document is genuine; it is not responsible for the legality or authenticity of the content of the official document itself, which is still governed by the principle of "whoever issues, whoever is responsible".
The authenticity of the Apostille can be proved by two aspects. According to the official statement of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the authenticity of an Apostille can first be confirmed by checking the issuing authority of the Apostille. The Convention requires Contracting States to designate one or more competent authorities for the issuance of Apostille. The competent authorities designated by the Contracting States can be found on the website of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, which provides contact details of the competent authorities and links to their websites. Secondly, the authenticity of an Apostille can be ascertained by verifying the completeness of its elements. The Apostille includes two parts of information: four parts of information relating to the instrument, including the country of issuance of the instrument, the signatory, the identity of the signatory, and the name of the seal; and six parts of supporting information, including the place of issuance, the date of issuance, the issuer, the number of the additional certificate, the seal of the issuing authority, and the signature.
2. Where to apply for an Apostille
Currently, Canada has designated the relevant authorities to issue additional certificates after January 11, 2024, when the Convention enters into force in Canada. The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada (the Department) is responsible for issuing Apostille for the following public instruments: (i) public instruments issued by the federal government of Canada; (ii) public instruments issued wherever in Canada, but notarized in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon. The email address is apostille@international.gc.ca
The detailed link is:
The other provinces, Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec have designated specialized agencies that issue Apostille for notarized instruments from that province. See the links to the provinces below for details:
1. Ontario
https://www.ontario.ca/page/authenticate-document-use-outside-canada
2. Alberta
https://www.alberta.ca/document-authentication-other-jurisdictions-countries
Email: official.documents@gov.ab.ca
3、British Columbia
Email: BCAuthentication@gov.bc.ca
4、Saskatchewan
Email: authserv@gov.sk.ca
5、Quebec
https://www.quebec.ca/justice-et-etat-civil/services/faire-demande-apostille
3. How to apply for Apostille
As each province's guidelines are different, this article would explain the details of the Ontario process. For the process of other provinces, please check the above website. Accession to the Convention will lead to two major changes in Ontario's document authentication requirements:
(i) Official documents issued by governments and courts will be eligible to apply directly for certification of Apostille and will no longer need to be notarized prior to certification. These documents include Ontario public post-secondary diplomas, degrees and transcripts issued since January 2019, and documents issued since January 2002 by Ontario courts. Other common public documents, such as birth, death and marriage certificates, do not need to be notarized by a notary public and can be certified by applying directly to the provincial government for an Apostille.
(ii) For non-government, court-issued documents, which need to be notarized before applying for Apostille. Taking the cross-border entrustment as an example, if a person in Canada wants to entrust a domestic relative to sell a house in China, he or she first needs to find a lawyer to draft a power of attorney and have the lawyer as a notary public to notarize the identity and signature of the person. The person can then use this notarized document to apply to the Ontario government for an Apostille.
Once the Apostille has been issued, it can be sent to Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau for use and no longer requires consular certification by The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Canada. To apply for an Apostille, you can apply online, by mail, or submit it on-site.
The website for online application is:
https://www.officialdocuments.mgcs.gov.on.ca/en-US/authentication-landingpage/
The mailing address is:
Official Documents Services
222 Jarvis St, Main Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 0B6
On-site submissions can be made at the following addresses, with office hours from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m:
Official Documents Services
222 Jarvis St, Main Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 0B6
ServiceOntario - Ottawa City Hall
110 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1J1
(Ottawa City Hall)
ServiceOntario - Sault St. Marie
101-420 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 1Z7
ServiceOntario - Windsor City Hall
205-400 City Hall Square East, Windsor, Ontario N6A 1Z7 ServiceOntario - Windsor City Hall
Windsor, Ontario N9A 7K6
(Windsor City Hall)
ServiceOntario - Thunder Bay
113-435 James Street South, Thunder Bay, Ontario P9A 7K6 (Windsor City Hall)
Thunder Bay, Ontario P7E 6T1
4. Competent Authorities in China for Issuing Apostille and Processing Procedure
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of China is the competent authority to issue Apostille for official documents issued within its territory. The Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the specific implementation department, and the Apostille is issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the local foreign affairs office entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Affairs Offices of the relevant local people's governments in China may issue Apostille for official documents issued within their administrative regions.
China's Apostille will be in the form of a sticker with a silver-colored seal of the national emblem. Apostille issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and the relevant local foreign affairs offices can be verified online at
http://consular.mfa.gov.cn/VERIFY/.
The specific procedures and requirements for applying for the Apostille can be found on the website of China Consular Service (URL: https://cs.mfa.gov.cn/) or the relevant websites of the local foreign affairs offices.
5. Impact on Cross-border Litigation
On November 1, 2023, the Supreme People's Court in China issued the Circular on the People's Courts on the Relevant Work after the Convention on the Abolition of Requirements for the Authentication of Foreign Public Documents Entered into Force for China, together with the content of the Convention and the list of contracting states. The Chinese court system has recognized Apostille as a form of authentication.
For Canadian parties, the documents submitted to the Chinese courts for filing a case usually include a power of attorney, a Certificate of good standing of the enterprise, and a certificate of identity of the legal representative/authorized representative. After the entry into force of the Convention, according to the new authentication model, documents such as power of attorney and certificate of identity of legal/authorized representative should be notarized before applying to the competent authorities for the issuance of an Apostille in respect of the notarized documents. For official documents issued by the government, they do not need to be notarized and an Apostille can be applied directly. For example, the Article of Incorporation, a document of incorporation of an Ontario corporation, is a government-issued document and an application for an Apostille can be made directly.
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