Sworn from abroad: remote affidavits and statutory declarations in Ontario

Commissioning and notarization are two different things

A great many people treat these as one, and "getting something notarized" is used to cover both. In Ontario they are two distinct authorities, covering different acts, with different answers on whether they can be done remotely.

An affidavit is a written statement of fact, sworn before someone authorised to take it, and then signed. A statutory declaration serves a similar purpose, with a solemn declaration in place of the oath. Both sit on the commissioning side.

So everywhere below that says remote, it is the commissioning side being described. The notary side is dealt with separately, further down.

The basis, and how it works

Two instruments: the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.17, and Ontario Regulation 431/20 (Administering Oath or Declaration Remotely).

The method is real-time two-way audio-visual technology. The deponent and the commissioner join the same video connection at the same time, able to see and hear each other, and the oath or declaration is made in that state.

The two do not have to be in the same place. The deponent may be outside Canada while the commissioner is in Ontario. The jurat on the document records this. The wording actually used reads:

DECLARED before me by means of audio-visual communication technology pursuant to the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.17, and Ontario Regulation 431/20 (Administering Oath or Declaration Remotely), the deponent [name] appearing remotely from [location], the Commissioner being located at Windsor, Ontario, Canada, this [date].

Four things are recorded there: that audio-visual means were used, which two instruments it was done under, where the deponent was at the time, and that the commissioner was in Windsor, Ontario.

What this removes is the geographic constraint. Someone in China, in another country, in another Canadian province, or in Ontario but unable to travel, does not have to make a trip for an affidavit. The documents it applies to are affidavits and statutory declarations, not notarization.

Which documents take this route

Statutory declarations of family relationship. One claim heard often is that notary offices in China no longer issue kinship certificates. That is not accurate; they still do. Where one genuinely cannot be obtained, a statutory declaration is an alternative route.

Statutory declarations of cohabitation. Setting out how two people have been living together.

Declarations of fact generally. That something happened, why a record looks the way it does, how someone accounts for a particular situation: anything a person needs to set out in writing and solemnly affirm.

Material for IRCC, consulates or schools that must be sworn or declared. Read what the recipient is actually asking for. If it is an affidavit or statutory declaration, it goes the commissioning route and can be done remotely. If it is a certified copy or a witnessed signature, it does not.

Documents from a single application package often fall on both sides. Sort them one document at a time, not by the package as a whole.

What must be done in person

Ontario does not permit remote notarization. Anything under the notary authority is done in person.

This side is available here too: an Ontario paralegal licence carries the commissioner authority, and the notary appointment is applied for separately. Yueheng Gao holds that appointment.

Certified true copies. The original is examined and a certified copy issued, for schools, banks, government departments and institutions abroad.

Witnessing signatures and affixing a seal. Contracts, powers of attorney, corporate resolutions and similar documents.

Minor travel consent letters. The Government of Canada recommends that these be witnessed by a notary public. Whether a particular one goes the notary route or is drafted as an affidavit or statutory declaration depends on what the recipient requires.

Working out which one you need

Which of the two a document falls under is fixed by the recipient's requirements, not by preference. Which side can be done remotely is set out in the table above; which side your document belongs to has to be read out of what the recipient asked for.

Read it wrong and the document comes back. At that point the work is done again from the start, and the first attempt counts for nothing.

The full list of commissioning and notary services, each marked with whether it can be done remotely, is on the legal services page. The consultation rates are there as well.

Common questions