Swearing an oath involves taking an oath on a religious text such as the Bible, Quran, Torah, or other sacred book while declaring that the contents of your affidavit or declaration are true. Affirming involves making a solemn declaration of truthfulness without reference to religious texts or beliefs. Both forms carry exactly the same legal weight and consequences under Canadian law. False statements made under either oath or affirmation constitute criminal offenses punishable under the Criminal Code. You can choose which form you prefer based on your personal beliefs and preferences. Some people have religious faith and wish to swear on their faith’s sacred text as a matter of conscience. Others prefer not to involve religion in legal proceedings for personal, philosophical, or religious reasons and choose to affirm instead. The commissioner will ask which you prefer before administering the oath or affirmation. Neither choice is legally superior to the other, and your choice does not affect the validity or weight of your sworn statement.

You need one piece of current government-issued photo identification that shows your photograph, signature, and full legal name. Acceptable forms include a valid driver’s license, Canadian passport, Ontario Photo Card, Permanent Resident Card, or Canadian citizenship card with photo. The identification must not be expired and the name must match the name on the affidavit or declaration you’re swearing. If your name has changed due to marriage, divorce, or legal name change and your identification shows a different name than appears on your document, bring supporting documentation proving the name change such as a marriage certificate, divorce decree, or official change of name certificate. Expired identification cannot be accepted because the commissioner must verify your current identity. Health cards are generally not acceptable as primary identification because they’re not intended for identification purposes outside the healthcare system. If you’re uncertain whether your identification will be acceptable, contact the commissioner’s office before your appointment to confirm.

As a licensed paralegal, I can prepare simple affidavits as part of paralegal legal services when they relate to matters within paralegal scope of practice such as Small Claims Court proceedings, Landlord and Tenant Board applications, or straightforward statutory declarations. However, affidavit preparation is a separate service from commissioning and involves legal advice about what facts should be included, how they should be stated, what evidence is needed, and whether the affidavit will achieve your legal purpose. Complex affidavits for Superior Court proceedings, family law matters, estate litigation, or other matters outside paralegal scope should be prepared by a lawyer familiar with the specific area of law and the court’s requirements. If you need assistance preparing an affidavit, we can discuss your situation during a consultation to determine whether it’s within paralegal scope or whether you should consult a lawyer. Once an affidavit is properly prepared by you, your lawyer, or your paralegal, any Commissioner of Oaths can commission it regardless of who prepared it.

Affidavits and statutory declarations commissioned by Ontario Commissioners of Oaths are generally valid throughout Canada under the principle of interprovincial recognition of legal documents. If you need to file an affidavit in a court or tribunal in another Canadian province or territory, Ontario-commissioned affidavits are typically accepted, though you should verify the specific court’s or tribunal’s requirements. For use outside Canada, commissioned affidavits and declarations may not be sufficient. Many international jurisdictions do not recognize Commissioners of Oaths as equivalent to notaries in their legal systems. For documents going outside Canada, you typically need a Notary Public rather than just a Commissioner of Oaths, and the notarized documents may require additional authentication through Global Affairs Canada and the destination country’s embassy or consulate. If your affidavit or declaration will be submitted to a foreign court, government agency, or organization, verify their specific requirements before having documents commissioned. Using a Commissioner when a Notary is required will mean your documents are rejected and you’ll need to have them re-done with proper notarization and authentication.

Each affidavit or statutory declaration must be separately sworn and signed as an original document. You cannot photocopy a commissioned affidavit and have the photocopies accepted as equivalent to commissioned originals. If you need three original commissioned affidavits of the same content, you must bring three separate printed copies to your commissioning appointment, swear or affirm to the truth of the contents, and sign each copy in the commissioner’s presence. The commissioner will then sign and seal each copy individually. This ensures that each copy is a true original sworn document rather than a reproduction. The requirement for separate originals exists because the commissioning process involves witnessing your act of signing after taking an oath or affirmation, which cannot be replicated through photocopying. Plan ahead and bring all the original copies you’ll need for filing with courts, serving on parties, keeping for your records, or submitting to organizations. Some commissioners charge per document commissioned, so commissioning multiple originals will involve fees for each copy. The alternative is to commission one original and file certified copies if the receiving organization will accept certified copies of the original commissioned document rather than requiring separate originals.

Mobile commissioning services are available for clients who cannot travel to the office due to hospitalization, residence in long-term care or retirement facilities, serious illness, disability affecting mobility, or urgent business needs requiring on-site commissioning at offices or other locations. Mobile services are particularly useful for elderly individuals in care facilities who need affidavits for estate matters or government applications, hospital patients who need urgent court documents commissioned, business clients who need multiple corporate affidavits witnessed at their office location, and individuals with disabilities that make travel to an office impractical. Mobile commissioning requires travel to your location within Toronto and the immediate Greater Toronto Area, so additional travel fees apply based on distance, travel time, and whether the appointment is during regular business hours or requires evening or weekend availability. Mobile appointments also typically require either multiple documents to be commissioned or a minimum service fee to justify the travel time involved. To arrange mobile commissioning, contact the office to discuss your specific situation, location, number of documents requiring commissioning, timing requirements, and any special circumstances so appropriate scheduling and fees can be arranged.

No, documents requiring commissioning must be signed in the commissioner’s presence, not before the appointment. The fundamental purpose of having a Commissioner of Oaths is to witness you taking an oath or affirmation regarding the document’s truthfulness and then watch you sign it after making that solemn declaration. This ensures that your signature was made after swearing or affirming the contents are true and that you personally appeared before the commissioner. If you sign a document before bringing it to a commissioner, the commissioner cannot properly fulfill their witnessing function because they didn’t observe you signing it. If you’ve already signed an affidavit or declaration that requires commissioning, you’ll need to prepare a new unsigned copy and bring it to your commissioning appointment to sign properly in the commissioner’s presence. Some people mistakenly believe they should sign documents in advance to save time or ensure proper placement of signatures, but this actually makes the document invalid for commissioning purposes. Always bring unsigned documents to commissioning appointments and be prepared to sign them during the appointment after the oath or affirmation is administered.

If you discover errors in an affidavit or statutory declaration after it’s been commissioned, you cannot simply correct the document by hand or have the commissioner make changes to the already-commissioned document. Once an affidavit is commissioned, it becomes a permanent legal record of what you swore to at that specific date and time. If the error is minor and doesn’t affect the substance of your statements, you may be able to file a supplementary affidavit correcting or clarifying the information. If the error is significant and affects material facts, you should prepare a completely new corrected affidavit with accurate information and have it properly commissioned. When filing the corrected affidavit with a court or submitting it to an organization, explain that it supersedes the earlier version and describe what corrections were made. If the original affidavit was already filed with a court or submitted to an organization, you should notify them immediately that a corrected version is being filed and explain the nature of the corrections. Being proactive about correcting errors demonstrates good faith and is better than having errors discovered later and being accused of providing false information. Remember that making false statements in affidavits is a criminal offense, so if errors were made carelessly or without proper verification, take extra care to ensure corrected versions are thoroughly accurate before swearing them.

No, Commissioners of Oaths cannot commission affidavits or declarations for family members due to conflict of interest rules that apply to all commissioners in Ontario. Family members include spouses, common law partners, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and in-laws. The prohibition exists because commissioning involves certifying that proper oath procedures were followed and that the deponent understood what they were swearing to, which requires impartiality that may be compromised by family relationships. Beyond immediate family, commissioners should also not commission documents where they have a personal interest in the outcome, where they’re named as a party or beneficiary in the document, where they stand to benefit financially from the transaction, or where any other conflict of interest exists that might compromise their impartiality. If a commissioner has a pre-existing professional or business relationship with you that doesn’t involve conflict of interest, they can commission your documents. For example, your paralegal or lawyer can commission affidavits you’re filing in a case they’re representing you in, because their professional relationship is not a prohibited conflict. If you’re uncertain whether a commissioner has a conflict that prevents them from commissioning your document, discuss the situation with them before proceeding with the commissioning.

Affidavits and statutory declarations don’t technically expire, but their usefulness and acceptability depend on when they were commissioned relative to when they’re submitted and whether the facts they contain are still current and relevant. For court proceedings, affidavits are typically commissioned shortly before filing because courts want evidence that reflects current circumstances rather than outdated information. Some courts have specific rules about how old affidavits can be when filed – for example, requiring affidavits to be sworn within a certain number of days before filing. For routine matters like proof of service affidavits or affidavits establishing facts that don’t change over time, age is less important as long as the facts remain accurate. For affidavits describing situations, relationships, or circumstances that may change, older affidavits become less persuasive and less acceptable because they may no longer reflect current reality. Government agencies and organizations that require statutory declarations typically want them to be recent, often within the past few months, to ensure the information is current. If you’re preparing an affidavit for future use, be aware that by the time you need to file or submit it, the information may be outdated or the receiving body may question why it wasn’t commissioned closer to the submission date. Generally, commission affidavits when you’re ready to file or submit them rather than preparing them significantly in advance.