Last updated: February 14, 2026

Lost Passport Statutory Declaration Ottawa: The Notary Step Explained

Quick answer: When a Canadian passport is lost or stolen, Service Canada asks the holder to file a sworn declaration explaining what happened. That sworn statement is a statutory declaration, and a notary public in Ottawa, Ontario can commission it the same day in about fifteen minutes. The notary does not file the passport application, judge whether the replacement will be approved, or contact Service Canada on your behalf. The notary's job is the sworn declaration: identify you, watch you swear or affirm the statement, and apply the seal. If your foreign passport was lost or stolen in Ottawa, the replacement is handled by your country's embassy or consulate on or near Sussex Drive — and the embassy may also ask for a notarized declaration before they will reissue a travel document.

If you searched for lost passport statutory declaration Ottawa, you are almost certainly mid-stress. The wallet that held the passport is gone. A flight, an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) submission window, or a permanent-residence step is closer than feels comfortable. Somewhere in the replacement instructions you found a line about a "sworn declaration," "statutory declaration," or "declaration concerning a lost, stolen, inaccessible, damaged or found Canadian travel document," and now you are trying to figure out who signs it, what it says, and whether you have to write it yourself.

You do not. This article explains the notary side of a lost or stolen passport in Ottawa, Ontario. It covers what the declaration actually says, how the notary commissions it, the difference between replacing a Canadian passport (Service Canada) and a foreign passport (your country's embassy in Ottawa), the difference between a statutory declaration and an affidavit, what to bring, and the small mistakes that can stretch a fifteen-minute appointment into a multi-day delay. It does not walk you through PPTC 203 line-by-line, recommend which Service Canada office to visit, or quote passport fees. Those are Service Canada decisions and they change; we link to the official sources and stay on the notary side of the line.

Caption: The notary's contribution to a lost-passport file is the sworn declaration — a short document that explains, under oath, when and how the passport went missing.

Key Takeaways

The Notary's Piece: A Sworn Declaration, Not the Passport Application

A passport replacement file has several pieces. The application form. Photos. Proof of citizenship. A guarantor. Secondary identification. The sworn declaration about what happened to the previous passport. A police report, when the passport was stolen rather than misplaced. Replacement fees. The notary handles exactly one of those pieces: the sworn declaration.

That distinction is worth holding onto. When you book an appointment for a lost passport statutory declaration Ottawa clients sometimes describe to us, you are not asking the notary to "do the passport." You are asking the notary to commission a short sworn statement that you write, or that you adapt from the form Service Canada or your embassy provides, in which you set out under oath the facts of the loss. The notary's job is to confirm your identity, ask you to swear or affirm that the contents are true, watch you sign, and then sign and seal the page so a receiving body can rely on it.

What a notary can and cannot do: A notary public in Ontario witnesses signatures, administers oaths and affirmations, certifies true copies of originals, and commissions affidavits and statutory declarations. A notary does not give legal advice, does not file passport applications, does not contact Service Canada or any embassy on your behalf, and does not promise a particular outcome on your replacement file. For those, you need a passport officer, a consular officer, a lawyer, or a regulated immigration consultant.

The reason this matters in a same-day situation is that people sometimes arrive expecting the notary to fix the whole replacement. We cannot, and we should not. The notary's role is narrow because the law makes it narrow: in Ontario, a notary public is appointed under the Notaries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. N.6, and a commissioner for taking affidavits is appointed under the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.17. Both Acts describe a witnessing-and-certifying role, not an advising-or-filing role. Service Canada and the embassies have their own staff for the application piece. The notary plugs the sworn-declaration gap.

The good news is that the gap is small and predictable. Most lost-passport declarations are short — a page, sometimes a page and a bit. The wording is unceremonial. The appointment is brief. And once the seal is on the page, you walk out with a document the receiving body can rely on, which is usually all that is standing between you and the next step in the replacement.

Canadian Passport vs Foreign Passport: Different Replacement Tracks

Before you book anything, identify which kind of passport went missing. The replacement track is different for each, and the notary's role looks slightly different too.

Canadian passport (Service Canada / Passport Program)

If the lost or stolen document was a Canadian passport, the federal Passport Program — administered by Service Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — is the office that issues a replacement. The application is filed in person at a Service Canada passport-issuing centre or by mail through Service Canada's published process; the canonical instructions live on canada.ca. As part of that file, Service Canada asks the holder to complete a declaration concerning a lost, stolen, inaccessible, damaged or found Canadian travel document or certificate of identity (commonly published as form PPTC 203). The declaration is signed in the presence of a person authorized to take an oath or solemn affirmation: a notary public, a commissioner of oaths, a commissioner for taking affidavits, or a justice of the peace. In Ontario, every notary public can do this, and so can a commissioner of oaths within the province. The form is also occasionally signed in front of a passport officer at the Service Canada centre — but Service Canada does not commit to that, and the practical reality is that many applicants prefer to arrive with the declaration already commissioned.

You can find the published guidance on the Government of Canada's report a lost or stolen passport page, the PPTC 203 declaration form, and Service Canada's general passport pages.

Foreign passport (embassy or consulate in Ottawa)

If the lost or stolen document was a passport from another country, the replacement is handled by the issuing country's embassy or consulate. Ottawa is the capital of Canada, and the diplomatic missions to Canada are concentrated downtown — many of them on or near Sussex Drive, the stretch nicknamed "embassy row." Each mission has its own forms, its own appointment system, and its own evidence requirements. Some explicitly ask for a sworn declaration before they will issue an emergency travel document or a full replacement passport. Some accept a declaration sworn before a Canadian notary public; some prefer a declaration sworn before one of their own consular officers. Some need it both ways.

A notary public in Ottawa cannot tell you which approach a specific embassy prefers. That is a question for the embassy's published guidance and consular section. What a notary public can do, when a foreign mission asks for a "notarized declaration of lost passport," is commission the declaration in the form the mission specifies and apply the notarial seal so the document is internationally recognizable. Where the receiving country expects further authentication or apostille after notarization, that is a Government of Canada step under Global Affairs Canada — Authentication of documents and is outside the notary's scope.

The short version: same notary, same statutory declaration tool, two different tracks. Confirm whether your file is a Service Canada track or an embassy track before you book.

What the Lost-Passport Statutory Declaration Actually Says

The text of a lost-passport statutory declaration is shorter than people expect. It is a sworn statement that sets out, under oath, the facts the receiving body needs in order to issue a replacement. Service Canada's PPTC 203 publishes the exact wording for Canadian passport replacements; foreign embassies provide their own template. In both cases, the substance is the same kind of plain narrative.

A typical lost-passport stat-dec contains the following, give or take what the receiving body asks for:

• Identification of the declarant. Full legal name, date of birth, current Ottawa address, and citizenship or nationality.
• Identification of the passport. Passport number if known, country of issue, date of issue, date of expiry, and any other identifying information requested on the form.
• The circumstances of the loss. A short narrative of when, where, and how the passport went missing. "On 17 May, while shopping in the ByWard Market, my wallet was stolen from my coat pocket. The wallet contained my Canadian passport, my Ontario driver's licence, and credit cards." Service Canada and embassies want plain facts, not a story.
• Steps already taken. Whether you have searched the location, contacted lost-and-found at the establishment, asked the bus or rideshare service, or checked at home. If a police report has been filed, the police report number and the police service that took the report (in Ottawa, this is usually Ottawa Police Service).
• Confirmation that the passport has not been recovered. A line stating that to the best of your knowledge and belief the passport has not been found, returned, or recovered as of the date of the declaration.
• An undertaking. Most forms include a line in which the declarant undertakes that, if the passport is later recovered, they will return it to the issuing authority and will not use it for travel. This is a serious clause; signing it commits you, under oath, not to use the previous passport again.
• The jurat. The bottom block in which the notary or commissioner records that the declaration was solemnly sworn or affirmed before them, at a specific location (City of Ottawa, Province of Ontario), on a specific date, with the notary's signature and seal.

You do not have to write the declaration from scratch. Service Canada's PPTC 203 form is the starting point for a Canadian-passport file, and most embassies provide a template the day you book an appointment with them. If the receiving body has not provided a template, a notary public in Ottawa can help you adapt a generic statutory declaration to fit the facts. The notary will not invent the facts for you — those are yours to set out — but the structure of the document is well-trodden.

Booking note: If you have not yet been given a declaration template by Service Canada or the embassy, mention that when you call. Tell us what receiving body has asked for the declaration and we will help you arrive with a draft that fits. Same-day appointments are often available — call (613) 434-5555 or request an appointment to confirm.

A reminder on truthfulness: a statutory declaration is sworn evidence. Making a false statutory declaration in Canada is a criminal offence under section 134 of the Criminal Code, punishable by significant penalties. Only declare what you know to be true. If you are not sure whether your passport was lost in the ByWard Market or simply left at home, do not invent specifics; the declaration is more useful when it is honest about uncertainty than when it is precise about a guess.

Statutory Declaration vs Affidavit: Why This Is a Stat-Dec

People sometimes ask why the document is called a statutory declaration and not an affidavit. Both are sworn statements. Both are signed in front of a notary. Both carry criminal penalties for false statements. The difference is the receiving body and the use, and for a lost-passport file, the difference matters because Service Canada specifically uses the statutory declaration form.

The shortest way to remember it: affidavits go to courts; statutory declarations go to administrators. A passport-issuing authority is an administrator. A police report is also administrative. So is most of the paperwork an embassy or consulate asks for.

For more detail on the distinction, see our explainer on affidavit versus statutory declaration. For the present article, the takeaway is simpler: when Service Canada or an embassy asks for a "sworn declaration" in connection with a lost or stolen passport, they almost always mean a statutory declaration, and that is the appointment to book.

Four Ottawa Scenarios That Come In Same-Day

These are the lost-passport calls we see most often. The notary's role looks slightly different in each, and seeing the patterns may help you locate yours.

Caption: The same notary appointment handles a tourist's lost Canadian passport, an Express Entry applicant's PR-card replacement file, and a foreign national's embassy declaration on Sussex Drive.

1. The traveller who lost a Canadian passport in the ByWard Market

A visitor from Calgary spends a Friday evening at a restaurant in the ByWard Market, has a coat over a chair, and discovers at the end of the night that their wallet — containing a Canadian passport — is gone. They have a flight home from the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport on Sunday afternoon. They report the loss at the Ottawa Police Service that night. By Saturday morning, they are looking up Service Canada hours and reading about PPTC 203.

Their notary appointment is the statutory declaration step. They arrive with: the police report number, a draft declaration adapted from the PPTC 203 wording, secondary government photo ID (often an Ontario driver's licence or, for a non-Ontario resident, a provincial driver's licence and a second piece such as a health card or birth certificate), and any guarantor information their replacement file requires. The notary does not pretend to know whether Service Canada will issue an emergency replacement in time for Sunday's flight; that is on Service Canada and the Government of Canada urgent-travel passport service. What the notary can do is have a commissioned, sealed declaration in their hand within twenty minutes.

2. The Express Entry applicant whose lost passport now affects their PR file

A worker living in Centretown has been awarded an Invitation to Apply through Express Entry. Their permanent-residence package requires identity documents and copies of all valid passports and travel documents. Last month, their passport was lost in transit and never recovered. Their replacement passport has not yet arrived, and IRCC is asking for an explanation. They are also working on an open work permit extension and a PR card submission later in the year.

This client's notary appointment is two-track. First, a statutory declaration explaining when and how the previous passport was lost, what they have done about it, and that the previous passport has not been recovered — this declaration may go to IRCC as part of the explanation, and may also support the Service Canada replacement file. Second, certified true copies of the secondary identification they are submitting in place of the missing passport scan; for example, a notarized true copy of a citizenship certificate, a provincial photo card, or a previous expired passport if one is available. See our certified true copies in Ottawa page for what we can certify and what we cannot.

The notary will not advise on whether IRCC's explanation should mention the police report, the airline, or any other party. That is regulated immigration work, and the right person to ask is a lawyer or a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC).

3. The foreign national whose non-Canadian passport was stolen in Ottawa

A graduate student from Brazil is studying at the University of Ottawa and lives in Sandy Hill. Their backpack is stolen at a coffee shop near campus on a Wednesday afternoon. The backpack contained their Brazilian passport, their student permit, and a debit card. They file a report with the Ottawa Police Service that day, then look up the Embassy of Brazil in Ottawa and find that the consular section asks for a sworn declaration of loss before they will issue a replacement passport.

Their notary appointment is for the embassy track. The student arrives with a draft declaration in the format the embassy provided (sometimes in Portuguese with an English summary, sometimes English-only), the police report number, secondary identification, and a printed copy of the embassy's instructions. The notary commissions the declaration in English (Ontario notaries take oaths in English or French), applies the notarial seal, and notes any specific format requirements the embassy asked for. If the embassy needs the document authenticated by Global Affairs Canada after notarization, that is a separate downstream step the student handles directly with Global Affairs Canada — Authentication services.

The notary in this scenario does not advise the student on Brazilian consular requirements, on the student-permit consequences of a lost passport (which are an IRCC question), or on whether the police report is sufficient evidence. The notary's job is the declaration, signed and sealed, in the form the embassy asked for.

4. The returning Canadian whose passport was stolen at the Ottawa airport

A consultant flies home from a business trip and notices in the taxi from the Ottawa airport that their passport pouch is missing. They are not sure whether the passport was stolen at the airport, left in the seat pocket on the aircraft, or fell out at the cab stand. The next international trip is in three weeks. They file a lost-and-found report with the airline, file a police report (because the loss happened in a public place and they cannot rule out theft), and then start a Service Canada replacement file.

Their declaration will be slightly different from the ByWard Market scenario. The wording acknowledges uncertainty — "the passport was last seen in my possession on the aircraft, and I noticed its absence after disembarking; despite contacting the airline lost-and-found, the passport has not been recovered" — without overstating the facts. Service Canada generally accepts honest acknowledgement of uncertainty better than it accepts a guess phrased as certainty. The notary's appointment is the same length and shape as the ByWard Market scenario; the wording of the declaration is the only thing that changes.

Police Report, Service Canada, and the Notary: Who Does What

A common source of confusion is which authority handles which piece. The notary is one of three or four parties involved in a typical lost-passport file, and we are explicitly not the central one. Here is the division of labour.

For most lost-passport-Ottawa cases, the path is: (1) police report if stolen, (2) statutory declaration commissioned by a notary, (3) replacement application filed with the appropriate issuing authority. The notary handles step two and only step two. We do not file the application, contact the police on your behalf, or escalate the file. Doing any of those would step outside the notary's scope and would not actually speed anything up — receiving bodies want the named declarant to deal with them directly.

Step-by-Step: From "I Lost My Passport" to "I Have a Notarized Declaration"

This is the realistic order of operations for an Ottawa client whose Canadian passport has gone missing. The order changes slightly for foreign passports; the embassy's instructions take priority over the generic version below.

1. Search thoroughly first. Check the obvious places. The number of "lost passport" calls that turn into "found at the bottom of the carry-on" calls is non-trivial. If the passport really is missing, move to step two.
2. Decide whether to file a police report. If the passport was stolen, or you cannot rule out theft, file a report with the Ottawa Police Service. Keep the report number; you will reference it in the statutory declaration. If the passport was simply misplaced and you are sure no third party took it, a police report is usually not required, but it is worth confirming with the receiving body.
3. Identify the issuing authority. Canadian passport — Service Canada / Passport Program. Foreign passport — your country's embassy or consulate (most are on or near Sussex Drive in Ottawa).
4. Obtain the declaration form or template. Service Canada publishes PPTC 203. Embassies provide their own templates on request. If neither has provided a form, a notary public can adapt a generic statutory declaration to your facts.
5. Draft the declaration. Fill in the template in plain language. Include only facts you know to be true. If you are uncertain about a detail, say so honestly.
6. Book the notary appointment. Tell the notary what document you need commissioned, what receiving body it is for, and what ID you have. See Statutory Declarations in Ottawa for the appointment shape and starting price (From $25).
7. Bring the unsigned declaration, valid ID, and supporting paperwork (police report number, embassy instructions, any photo ID you still have).
8. Sign in front of the notary. Do not pre-sign. The notary will administer the oath or affirmation, watch you sign, sign the jurat, and apply the seal.
9. File the replacement application with the issuing authority. If authentication or apostille is required for foreign use, see Global Affairs Canada.
10. Wait on the issuing authority's clock, not the notary's. The notarized declaration leaves our office in twenty minutes. Service Canada's processing time is on Service Canada's calendar.

Caption: The notary commissions the declaration. Filing the replacement application is the holder's job.

What to Bring to Your Appointment

A short, specific checklist for a lost-passport stat-dec appointment in Ottawa.

A specific note on identification when the lost passport was your primary photo ID. In that case, plan ahead for the appointment:

• A valid Ontario driver's licence or Ontario Photo Card is usually sufficient as government photo ID for the notary's purposes.
• A health card photo by itself is generally not accepted as the primary ID for notarial work.
• Out-of-province visitors who have lost a Canadian passport often arrive with a provincial driver's licence from another province plus a secondary piece (an Indigenous status card, a citizenship card, a Permanent Resident card, or a previously issued expired Canadian passport).
• An expired Canadian passport, while not valid for travel, can sometimes be used as supporting identification, though Service Canada will have its own rules about whether it counts toward the new application.
• If you have no photo ID at all because everything was in the lost wallet, talk to the notary before booking. There are workarounds — including affidavits of identity sworn by someone who knows you and can identify you in person — but they take more time and more coordination.

Booking note: Tell us when you call if your photo ID is limited. We will tell you honestly whether the appointment can complete with what you have, or whether a Service Ontario stop should come first. Call (613) 434-5555 or request an appointment.

ID Rules When Your Primary Photo ID Was the Lost Passport

This is worth its own section because it is the most common cause of a same-day lost-passport stat-dec appointment that does not complete.

The Notaries Act and the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act do not list the precise ID a notary public must check. The standard practice in Ontario, mirrored in the Law Society of Ontario's client identification and verification guidance, is that a notary verifies identity using one or two pieces of valid government-issued photo identification, taking reasonable steps to confirm the person before them is the named declarant. When the primary photo ID — the passport — is the document that has been lost, the practical question becomes: what does the notary check the person against?

Ottawa notary publics generally accept the following hierarchy when the passport is unavailable:

1. A valid Ontario driver's licence (or another province's licence for a non-resident).
2. An Ontario Photo Card issued by Service Ontario for non-drivers.
3. A Permanent Resident card, especially relevant for non-citizens.
4. A Canadian citizenship card or certificate (often paired with another piece).
5. A Secure Certificate of Indian Status card.
6. A previously issued (expired) Canadian passport as supporting identification.

A health card alone is generally not enough. A library card, a credit card, or a workplace photo badge is not government photo ID. If the lost passport was your only government-issued photo identification (which is common for newer immigrants and for some visitors), the path is usually a Service Ontario stop first to get an Ontario Photo Card or a driver's licence, and then the notary appointment. Plan for the combined timeline.

Where everything has been lost — passport, driver's licence, all photo ID, in the same wallet — the notary cannot simply waive the ID requirement. A possible workaround is an affidavit of identity sworn by a guarantor who has known you for a sufficient period and can identify you, but this is more involved and is more often used in formal passport-application files than in stat-decs. We will be honest with you on the phone about whether the appointment is realistic the same day or whether the better first stop is Service Ontario.

When to Call a Lawyer or Paralegal Instead

A notary public is the right professional when the document is drafted (or follows a template) and the question is one of witnessing or commissioning. A notary is the wrong professional when the question is one of advice, drafting from scratch, or strategy. For lost-passport situations specifically, call a lawyer or paralegal — or in immigration matters a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant — instead when:

• The lost-passport situation overlaps with a refused immigration application. Misrepresentation, refusal, and appeal questions are regulated immigration work. A notary cannot give that advice. A lawyer or RCIC can.
• The passport was lost in connection with a criminal matter. If the loss is part of a fraud investigation, identity theft case, or other criminal issue, criminal-defence advice is for a criminal lawyer.
• The declaration's wording is being negotiated with a receiving body. Some embassies and some IRCC files involve back-and-forth on what the declaration must say. A lawyer or paralegal handles that negotiation; the notary commissions the final version.
• The lost passport intersects with a custody or parental-consent question. A child's passport that is missing is sometimes also a question about who can apply for the replacement. Family-law advice is for a family lawyer.
• A statutory declaration is being asked for in a way that feels off. If a third party (a "guarantor", a "broker", a private agency) is asking you to swear a declaration with wording you do not understand, do not sign first and ask later. A notary will not commission a declaration whose contents the declarant does not fully understand. If the declaration looks pressured, that is a warning to consult a lawyer.

The clean test: a notary commissions; a lawyer advises. If you are mid-application and your question is "will this declaration get my passport reissued?", a notary cannot answer it. Service Canada or your embassy can.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

These are the small mistakes that turn a fifteen-minute appointment into a multi-day delay. None of them are exotic.

• Pre-signing the declaration. A notary cannot witness a signature that already exists. Bring the declaration unsigned.
• Bringing the wrong form. A statutory declaration drafted for a different purpose (a vehicle gift, a name change) will not satisfy a passport file. Use the receiving body's template where they have one — Service Canada's PPTC 203 for Canadian-passport files, the embassy's template for foreign-passport files.
• Skipping the police report when the passport was stolen. Stolen passports almost always require a police report; missing this step can stall the application.
• Inventing certainty. Saying "the passport was stolen at 7:42pm at Table 14 of [restaurant]" when you really mean "I noticed it missing after I left the restaurant" is worse than honest uncertainty. A statutory declaration is sworn evidence; describe the facts as you know them.
• Forgetting valid ID. Bringing only the lost passport's photocopy is not government photo ID. Bring physical, valid, government-issued photo identification.
• Assuming the notary will file the application. We commission the declaration. Filing the replacement is your step.
• Mixing up statutory declaration and affidavit. PPTC 203 is a statutory declaration. Booking an "affidavit of lost passport" appointment is not wrong (an affidavit can carry the same content), but the form Service Canada publishes is a stat-dec; matching the wording matters.
• Treating the notary as the deadline. The notary delivers a sealed declaration. Service Canada's processing clock is independent.
• Booking before the embassy gives you the form. For foreign-passport files, the embassy's template is the form to bring. Calling the notary before you have that template means a return visit.
• Asking the notary for legal opinions. A notary commissions sworn statements; a notary does not interpret immigration law or consular policy.

Pricing and Booking

Minute Notary publishes a starting price on every service page. The price you see is the starting price for a standard process. Lost-passport statutory declarations are usually a single declaration, a single signatory, and a single sworn statement — a standard appointment. Where two related declarations are needed (declarant plus a witness, for example), the second is quoted separately.

Same-day appointments are sometimes available depending on the day's schedule. For a general urgency walkthrough, see our same-day notary Ottawa guide. For lost-document context outside of passports, see Lost important documents? Here's what to do.

Call (613) 434-5555 or book online and tell us the document, the receiving body, the deadline, and what ID you have.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a notary public in Ottawa commission a lost-passport declaration the same day?

Often, yes. A statutory declaration is one of the fastest appointments a notary public in Ontario does. Whether today specifically works depends on the day's schedule and on whether your draft, the receiving body's template, and your identification are all in hand. Same-day calls succeed most often when the caller has the police report number ready (if applicable), the embassy's or Service Canada's form already downloaded, and valid government photo ID. Saturday morning slots also work for many same-day requests; Sundays are closed.

Do I need a police report before the notary can sign my declaration?

The notary does not require a police report — the police report is a Service Canada or embassy requirement, not a notary requirement. That said, the declaration usually references the police report number if a report was filed, so practically speaking the police report is filed first. If the passport was stolen, file the report with the Ottawa Police Service and bring the report number to the notary appointment. If the passport was misplaced and there is no plausible theft, a police report may not be needed; check your receiving body's instructions.

What if my driver's licence and credit cards were also in the lost wallet?

This is one of the harder lost-passport scenarios. The notary still needs to verify your identity using valid government-issued photo identification before commissioning the declaration. Options include an Ontario Photo Card from Service Ontario, a Permanent Resident card, a citizenship card, or a previously issued (expired) Canadian passport. Where you have no photo ID at all, the most common path is a Service Ontario visit first for an Ontario Photo Card, then the notary appointment. In some cases, a guarantor-based affidavit of identity is possible; ask before booking.

Can the notary translate my declaration if my embassy needs it in another language?

A notary in Ontario is not a translator. The notary commissions the declaration in English (or French, where applicable), and translation is a separate certified-translator step. If the embassy requires a translated declaration, the typical workflow is: (1) draft the declaration in English with the embassy's structure, (2) commission it before the notary, (3) have it translated by a certified translator, and (4) where the embassy requires authentication, send the notarized original through Global Affairs Canada. A notary public can certify the translator's affidavit but does not perform the translation itself.

Is making a false statement on the declaration really a criminal offence?

Yes. Making a false statutory declaration in Canada is a criminal offence under section 134 of the Criminal Code. The declaration is sworn evidence, not a casual narrative. Only declare what you know to be true. If you are not sure about a detail, say so on the form rather than guessing — receiving bodies generally prefer an honest acknowledgement of uncertainty over a confident misstatement.

What if I find the passport after I have signed the declaration?

The standard wording in a lost-passport statutory declaration includes an undertaking to return the passport to the issuing authority and not to use it for travel if it is later recovered. If you find the passport after signing the declaration but before the replacement has been issued, contact the issuing authority as soon as possible — Service Canada for Canadian passports, the embassy for foreign passports — and follow their instructions. If the replacement has already been issued, the recovered passport is generally no longer valid. Do not attempt to travel on a passport that has been reported lost or stolen.

Can the notary contact Service Canada or my embassy on my behalf?

No. The notary's role is the sworn declaration only. Service Canada, IRCC, and embassies all expect the named declarant or applicant to deal with them directly. A notary public who tries to "represent" a client to a passport-issuing body is stepping outside the notarial role. If you want representation in dealings with IRCC or another federal body, that is regulated immigration work or legal work; the right professional is a lawyer or a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant.

How long is the notarized declaration valid for?

A statutory declaration does not "expire" in the way an ID document expires — it is a sworn statement of fact as of the date it was signed. That said, receiving bodies often want the declaration to be recent, and some publish their own freshness rules (declarations dated within the last 30 days, 90 days, or six months, depending on the body). For Service Canada, the practical answer is "as recent as practicable for the application file." For embassies, check the published instructions. If a declaration becomes stale, a new one is straightforward to commission.

Final Recommendation

If you are reading this with a lost or stolen passport and a deadline that feels too close, the calmest next step is to slow down for ten minutes. Confirm whether the lost passport is Canadian (Service Canada) or foreign (an embassy or consulate). Decide whether a police report is needed, and if so, file it with the Ottawa Police Service. Get the declaration template from the receiving body. Then call a notary public in Ottawa, Ontario and book the statutory declaration appointment.

The notary will not solve the entire replacement file. The notary will commission a clean, sealed statutory declaration that the receiving body can rely on, in about fifteen minutes, with the right documents on the desk. That is the only piece a notary handles. It also happens to be the piece that, when missing, blocks every step that comes after it.

Minute Notary is a notary public office in Ottawa, Ontario. Statutory declarations start at $25. Same-day appointments are sometimes available depending on the day's schedule. The phone is (613) 434-5555. The booking page is /contact. Tell us the document, the receiving body, and the deadline. We will tell you, in plain language, whether today works and what to bring.

Book Your Appointment

Need a lost passport statutory declaration in Ottawa? Minute Notary commissions sworn declarations from $25, with same-day appointments often available.

• Call: (613) 434-5555
• Book online: Request an appointment
• Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm, Saturday 10:00am to 2:00pm, Sunday closed

Sources

• Government of Canada — Report a lost or stolen Canadian passport
• Government of Canada — Canadian passports: forms and applications (PPTC 203)
• Government of Canada — Apply for a Canadian passport
• Notaries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. N.6 (Ontario)
• Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act (Ontario)
• Criminal Code of Canada — section 134 (false statements not under oath)
• Global Affairs Canada — Authentication of documents
• Ottawa Police Service — Report a crime
• Law Society of Ontario — Client identification and verification

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• Affidavit vs. Statutory Declaration: Which One Do You Need?
• Lost Important Documents? Here's What to Do
• Same-Day Notary Ottawa: How Booking Actually Works
• Notary Public vs Commissioner of Oaths Ontario