Last updated: March 5, 2026

Notary Public vs Justice of the Peace in Ontario: Which One Do You Need?

Quick answer: A notary public in Ontario is a private-sector office holder who witnesses signatures, administers oaths, certifies true copies, and commissions affidavits and statutory declarations for everyday paperwork — IRCC forms, foreign embassies, banks, real estate. A justice of the peace is a judicial officer of the Ontario Court of Justice who issues warrants, presides over the Provincial Offences Court, conducts bail hearings, and officiates civil marriages. They overlap on one narrow point — both can administer an oath — but in practice you cannot walk into a courthouse and ask a JP to certify a copy of your passport, and you cannot ask a notary to marry you or sign a search warrant. If your task is paperwork, book a notary appointment. If your task is a court proceeding or a civil wedding, you need a JP.

If you searched for notary public vs justice of the peace Ontario, you probably ran into one of two situations. Either a form, a clerk, or a website told you "this needs to be sworn before a notary public, justice of the peace, or commissioner of oaths" and you do not know who is easiest to find in Ottawa. Or you are planning a civil wedding, going to court, or dealing with a Highway Traffic Act ticket and someone said "see the JP" — and you wondered whether a notary could help you instead. Both are reasonable questions and both have clear answers.

This article is for Ottawa, Ontario clients with one task and one deadline. It explains, in plain English, what each professional is allowed to do under Ontario law in 2026, where their work overlaps, and — most important — which one to actually book for your situation. We will work through the powers of each office, the documents and proceedings each one handles day to day, five real Ottawa scenarios that illustrate the difference, and a frank summary of cost and availability. By the end you will know which professional to call first, what to bring, and what to expect to pay.

A short note before we start. We are notaries, not lawyers, and this article is general information for Ottawa residents and Ontario document workflows. It is not legal advice on a specific case. If you are facing a charge, a custody hearing, an enforcement order, or any matter where a court ruling is on the line, talk to a lawyer or paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario before you take procedural advice from a notary's blog.

Caption: Two very different stamps. A notary's seal sits in private offices for everyday paperwork; a justice of the peace works inside the Ontario Court of Justice on judicial proceedings.

Key Takeaways

What a Notary Public in Ontario Does

A notary public in Ontario is a private-sector officer appointed under the Notaries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. N.6. The appointment is made by the Lieutenant Governor on the recommendation of the Attorney General. Once appointed, a notary works in a private office — not a courthouse — and serves the public on a fee-for-service basis. Notaries are not judges. They do not issue rulings, hear arguments, or decide who is right. Their job is to verify identity, witness signatures, administer oaths, and apply a seal that other governments and institutions can rely on.

In day-to-day Ottawa practice, a notary public does five things:

• Administers oaths and affirmations. When a form requires you to swear or solemnly affirm that something is true, a notary watches you do it and signs the bottom-of-the-page jurat. The same role is shared with commissioners of oaths, but the notary's seal usually travels further.
• Commissions affidavits and statutory declarations. Whether the document is for the Superior Court of Justice, IRCC, the Canada Revenue Agency, an estate file, or a foreign court, a notary takes your sworn statement and turns it into a formal affidavit or stat-dec.
• Certifies true copies of original documents. A notary inspects an original — a passport, a degree, a birth certificate, a corporate record — and produces a photocopy bearing the notary's stamp and signature confirming that the copy is faithful to the original. This is the single power that, in practice, separates notaries from most other Ontario office holders.
• Witnesses signatures with a notarial seal. Real estate documents, powers of attorney for use abroad, consent letters, corporate resolutions, and many embassy forms require a notary's witnessing rather than a regular witness. The notary's seal is what makes the signature recognizable to a foreign authority once authenticated by Global Affairs Canada.
• Prepares notarial certificates. A short certificate, attached to the document, identifies the notary, describes the act performed, and confirms the date and place. This is the paper trail that immigration officers, banks, and embassies actually look for.

A notary public in Ottawa is the office you visit for paperwork — the kind of paperwork that has to be filed, mailed, uploaded, or carried abroad. The work is private, fast, and predictable. Most appointments at our office take 10 to 20 minutes for a single document.

There are limits, and they matter. A notary public is not a lawyer. We do not give legal advice, draft court pleadings, or tell you whether to sign an agreement. A notary is also not an immigration consultant. We can certify copies of documents you submit to IRCC, and we can commission a sponsor's statutory declaration, but we cannot tell you whether your application will be approved or how to fill it out. If you need legal or immigration advice, talk to a lawyer, a licensed paralegal, or a licensed immigration consultant before booking a notary.

The other thing worth knowing is what makes a notary's signature different from a justice of the peace's signature. Both can administer an oath. Only a notary holds a seal recognized by foreign authorities once authenticated. If your document is going to an embassy on Sussex Drive, a foreign court, a bank in another country, or any institution outside Canada, the notary's stamp is what they will look for. A JP's signature, however correct in Ontario, will usually require additional steps — and sometimes will not be accepted at all — by foreign receivers.

For a deeper comparison of notary work against other Ontario office holders, see Notary Public vs Commissioner of Oaths Ontario and Notary Public vs Lawyer Ontario.

What a Justice of the Peace in Ontario Does

A justice of the peace — usually shortened to JP — is a judicial officer of the Ontario Court of Justice, appointed under the Justices of the Peace Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. J.4. JPs are appointed through the Attorney General on the recommendation of the Justices of the Peace Appointments Advisory Committee. They are independent officers of the court. That single fact — judicial, not private-sector — explains almost everything about how JPs differ from notaries.

A JP works inside a courthouse or other authorized court setting. In Ottawa, that means primarily the Ontario Court of Justice on Elgin Street and, for civil weddings, Ottawa City Hall under arrangements made by the City Clerk's office. You do not "book a JP" the way you book a notary. JPs are scheduled by the court, and most of their work is done in response to court process, police requests, or proceedings that have a court file.

A justice of the peace in Ontario typically:

• Presides over the Provincial Offences Court. This is the court that hears charges under the Highway Traffic Act, the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, the Liquor Licence and Control Act, the Trespass to Property Act, municipal by-laws, and many other Ontario regulatory statutes. If you are fighting a speeding ticket, a stunt-driving charge, or a noise by-law summons, the person on the bench is almost always a JP, not a judge.
• Conducts bail hearings. When a person is arrested and held for a show-cause hearing, a JP often presides — deciding whether the accused can be released, on what conditions, and with what sureties. Bail courts run weekday and weekend hours at courthouses across the province, including Ottawa.
• Issues search warrants, arrest warrants, and summonses. Police officers and provincial enforcement bodies apply to a JP for warrants under the Criminal Code, the Provincial Offences Act, and various federal and provincial statutes. The JP reviews the sworn information, decides whether the legal threshold is met, and signs the warrant or refuses it.
• Receives sworn informations. The mechanism by which a charge is laid in Ontario starts with a sworn information taken before a JP. The JP swears the informant, reviews the document, and either issues process or sets a date.
• Officiates civil marriage ceremonies. Under the Marriage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.3, JPs are authorized to perform civil marriages. In Ottawa, civil ceremonies are arranged through Ottawa City Hall on Laurier Avenue West, and a JP conducts the ceremony in the City Hall ceremony room.
• Performs other judicial functions assigned by statute or by the court. This includes signing certain orders, presiding over case management appearances in some matters, and various procedural duties of the Ontario Court of Justice.

What a JP does not do, in practice, is offer drop-in notarial services. There is a narrow technical sense in which a JP can administer an oath outside the courtroom — a JP is a commissioner of oaths ex officio under the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act, the same way every Ontario lawyer is. But JPs do not run private notarial offices. You cannot phone the Ontario Court of Justice and book a JP to certify a copy of your passport for IRCC. You cannot ask the courthouse counter to commission your common-law statutory declaration on your lunch break. The JP's role is judicial, and the work happens in connection with court proceedings.

This is the part that surprises people. A form may say "sworn before a notary public, justice of the peace, or commissioner of oaths," and a search engine may suggest that any of the three will do. Strictly, that is true on paper for the swearing of an oath. Operationally, in 2026 Ottawa, the only practical place to get an affidavit or statutory declaration commissioned during business hours is a notary's or commissioner's office. The JP option exists in court, in the moment, when a court file requires it.

JPs also do not certify true copies of documents. There is no notarial seal in the JP's office. Foreign embassies and federal departments do not look for a JP's signature; they look for a notary's. If your document is leaving the country, a JP's signature is not the right tool.

Caption: A JP's office is the courtroom. That is where bail hearings, warrant applications, and Provincial Offences trials happen — not at a private desk during business hours.

When Each One Is the Right Call

The cleanest way to choose between a notary and a JP is to ask one question: is this a piece of paperwork that has to be filed somewhere, or is it a court proceeding that has to be heard? Paperwork is notary territory. Hearings, warrants, and weddings are JP territory.

Here is the decision matrix our Ottawa office uses with clients on the phone. We have built it from years of one-document-and-a-deadline situations, and it covers most of what walks through the door.

Almost always a justice of the peace:

• A civil marriage ceremony in Ottawa, booked through the City Clerk's office at City Hall. Religious officiants do religious weddings; for a civil ceremony, a JP is the officiant the City schedules.
• An arrest warrant, search warrant, or production order — these are judicial decisions made by a JP after reviewing a sworn information from a peace officer or other authorized applicant.
• A bail hearing after an arrest. The decision to release, with what conditions, is made by a JP (or in some matters a judge).
• A first appearance or trial in the Provincial Offences Court — Highway Traffic Act, by-law, Liquor Licence and Control Act, and similar charges.
• A sworn information by a peace officer or by-law officer to lay a charge.

Almost always a notary public:

• An affidavit for IRCC — sponsorship affidavits, statutory declarations of common-law union, affidavits of support, and the like. IRCC accepts notarized documents straightforwardly. A JP does not run drop-in IRCC document services.
• A certified true copy of a passport, degree, birth certificate, or other ID for Express Entry, study permits, work permits, citizenship applications, foreign embassies, or banks abroad. JPs cannot certify true copies. See our certified copies service.
• A statutory declaration for Service Canada, the CRA, an insurance carrier, or a private institution.
• A notarized signature on a power of attorney, real estate document, or corporate resolution intended for use outside Ontario, where the receiver expects a notarial seal.
• A consent letter for a child travelling without one or both parents. Border services and many destination countries expect this letter to be notarized.
• A document for authentication and apostille through Global Affairs Canada — that workflow starts with a notary's signature and seal.

Either, in narrow circumstances:

• An affidavit for Ontario civil litigation can be sworn before a notary public, a commissioner of oaths, or a justice of the peace. In practice, lawyers and paralegals commission their own clients' affidavits in their offices; a JP only handles them as part of an in-court process. The most efficient path is a notary or a commissioner.
• An estate document such as Form 74.8 or 74.9 under the Rules of Civil Procedure is typically commissioned by a notary or a lawyer, but a JP could administer the same oath if the matter were in front of them.
• An oath for a public office that statute permits to be administered before a JP, a notary, or a judge — these are uncommon for the average Ottawa resident and usually arranged by the appointing authority.

If you are still not sure, ask three questions, in order:

1. Does the form actually require a notarial seal, a certified true copy, or international acceptance? If yes — book a notary.
2. Is this a court proceeding, a wedding, or a warrant application? If yes — that is JP work and you do not book it directly. The court schedules it, or the City Clerk schedules it.
3. Does the form list "notary public, justice of the peace, or commissioner of oaths" as acceptable, and you simply need someone available today? A notary or commissioner is the practical answer. JPs are not bookable on demand for paperwork.

For a parallel matrix that compares notary work with the work of an Ontario commissioner of oaths, see Notary Public vs Commissioner of Oaths Ontario. Many of the everyday paperwork choices come down to that distinction first; the JP question only arises when court process or a civil wedding is involved.

Five Ottawa Scenarios

The matrix is useful, but real life rarely arrives in tidy categories. Here are five scenarios we see often in our Ottawa office. Names and details are illustrative, but the workflows are exactly what we run.

Scenario 1 — A couple booking a civil wedding at Ottawa City Hall. Aisha and Daniel decided on a small civil ceremony at City Hall on Laurier Avenue West rather than a religious ceremony. They had two questions: do they need a notary for anything, and who actually marries them? The answer is straightforward. They booked the ceremony directly through the City Clerk's office at Ottawa City Hall. The City Clerk schedules a justice of the peace from the Ontario Court of Justice to officiate. The JP is the marriage commissioner under the Marriage Act for that ceremony, signs the marriage register, and the City forwards the registration to the Office of the Registrar General. Aisha and Daniel did not need a notary at any point in the process. The only paperwork involved was the marriage licence, which was obtained at City Hall, and that did not require notarization.

Scenario 2 — An Express Entry applicant needing a certified copy of a foreign degree. Marcus is preparing an Express Entry profile and needs a certified copy of his Bachelor's degree from a university in Brazil. The original is a single piece of paper, and he wants to keep it. He searched "notary public vs justice of the peace Ontario" because a Reddit thread told him a JP could "do the same thing for free." It cannot. JPs do not certify true copies. He booked a notary appointment, brought the original degree along with two pieces of government photo ID, and walked out 15 minutes later with a notarized certified copy bearing the notary's stamp and signature. Cost was $20 for the first copy and $10 for an additional copy he wanted for his own records. See our certified copies service for the workflow.

Scenario 3 — A driver fighting a Highway Traffic Act ticket. Priya was charged with stunt driving on Highway 417 and decided to fight the ticket. The first appearance and trial happened at the Ontario Court of Justice, Provincial Offences Court, in Ottawa. The presiding officer on every appearance was a justice of the peace — not a judge, and not a notary. Priya did not "book" the JP. The court scheduled the appearances. She did, however, book a paralegal to represent her, and the paralegal — a commissioner of oaths ex officio — commissioned an affidavit from Priya at the paralegal's office before trial. A notary could have done that step, too. The JP only signed the trial-related documents that came from the bench.

Scenario 4 — An executor commissioning estate forms. Henry is the executor of his late mother's estate and needs to file an Application for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The application includes Forms 74.4, 74.5, 74.8, and several supporting affidavits. Henry's friend told him "just go to a JP, it's free." It is not free in practice — a JP cannot offer this service outside court process — and Henry's deadlines are tight. He booked a notary, brought all the originals, and had the package commissioned in one affidavits appointment. The notary commissioned each affidavit, marked the exhibits, and produced a clean, court-ready file the same morning. A commissioner of oaths could have done this work, too; a JP would not have, outside an in-court request.

Scenario 5 — A spousal sponsor commissioning a common-law statutory declaration for IRCC. Lin is sponsoring her common-law partner from outside Canada. IRCC requires a statutory declaration of common-law union (IMM 5409 in older workflows; see the current IRCC checklist for your application). Lin completed the declaration and needed someone authorized in Ontario to commission it. A JP would technically administer the oath, but JPs do not run drop-in commissioning sessions and there is no public booking line at the Ottawa courthouse for this. Lin booked a 20-minute notary appointment, brought ID and the unsigned declaration, swore the declaration in front of the notary, and walked out with it commissioned, sealed, and ready to upload to her IRCC portal. The notary did not, and could not, advise her on the immigration application itself — that is a separate role for a licensed immigration consultant or lawyer.

The thread running through all five is the same. Court proceedings, weddings, and warrants are JP work. IRCC paperwork, certified copies, statutory declarations, and notarized affidavits for filing are notary work. Once you can see which side of that line your task is on, the rest is logistics.

Caption: Most of the "vs JP" search traffic ends here — at a notary's desk for a sworn affidavit, IRCC declaration, or certified copy.

Cost and Availability

Cost and access work very differently between the two offices, and that is often the deciding factor for Ottawa clients on a deadline.

Justice of the peace. JPs do not invoice clients. Their work is funded as part of the Ontario Court of Justice. There is no "JP fee" you pay at a counter for an oath in the way you would pay a notary. The flip side is that you cannot book a JP for paperwork. JPs are scheduled by the court, and their availability is driven by court process — bail courts, Provincial Offences Court sittings, warrant applications brought by police, and so on. Civil weddings are scheduled by the City Clerk and have their own fee paid to the City for the marriage licence and the ceremony booking, plus any room booking at City Hall. None of those fees go to the JP personally; they go to the City and the Province. If your task is judicial — a hearing, a warrant, a wedding — the cost is whatever the court file or the City booking sets, and the timing is whatever the docket allows. You do not negotiate.

Notary public. A notary in Ottawa is private practice. You book a slot, bring your document and ID, and pay a per-document fee. At our office, fees start at $20 for a single certified true copy, $25 for a single signature notarization, $25 for a statutory declaration, $30 for a standard affidavit, $25 for a travel consent letter, and $35 for witnessing a power of attorney. Add $5 per exhibit for affidavits with attachments, $10 for additional copies of the same document, and approximately $10 for rush service when our queue is full. A simple appointment runs 10 to 20 minutes; a multi-document file might run 30 to 45 minutes.

Same-day vs scheduled. Notaries can almost always see you the same day, often within an hour, and many Ottawa offices — including ours — offer evening and Saturday slots. Mobile and after-hours visits are available for hospitals, long-term care homes, and residences. JPs cannot do any of this for you. The court is open during court hours, the docket is full, and there is no after-hours commissioning desk for the public.

A practical note on the $0 myth. People sometimes assume "JP" means "free notary." It does not. The JP option for swearing oaths exists in court, when court business is happening. There is no public-facing JP counter in Ottawa where a resident can drop in to swear a statutory declaration for IRCC. The only practical free options for some Ontario residents are commissioner-of-oaths services offered by certain MPP constituency offices, public libraries, or settlement agencies — and even those are limited to specific document types and to Ontario-only use. None of them issue notarial seals. If your form needs a seal or international recognition, a notary is the realistic path.

What to Bring to Your Appointment

A notary appointment is fast when you bring the right things and slow — sometimes impossible — when you do not. Here is the standard list our Ottawa office runs through with clients before they arrive.

• Two pieces of government photo ID. A valid Ontario driver's licence and a passport are the cleanest combination. A health card with photo is acceptable as a second piece. Expired ID does not work, even if it expired last week. The notary has to confirm your identity at the time of the appointment, not historically.
• The document itself, unsigned. Do not sign affidavits, statutory declarations, or consent letters before you arrive. A notary has to watch you sign, and pre-signed documents have to be re-executed. Print on standard paper, single-sided where possible, and make sure all pages are present.
• The original of any document you want a certified copy of. Photocopies, photos of originals on a phone, and "scanned and printed" copies will not work. The notary inspects the original and certifies a copy made from it. If your original is laminated, bring it anyway — we can usually still work with it.
• Any exhibits or attachments referenced in your affidavit. If your affidavit refers to "Exhibit A — bank statement dated October 12, 2026," bring that bank statement. Each exhibit is marked and initialled separately and forms part of the sworn record.
• Knowledge of who is required to sign. If your document needs to be signed by two people — for example, both parents on a child's travel consent letter — both should attend together with their own ID. If only one party can attend, ask the receiving institution whether they accept separate notarized signatures or require simultaneous witnessing.
• A working idea of where the document is going. Tell the notary upfront if the document is for IRCC, for a foreign embassy, for a court file, or for a bank abroad. The destination affects which notarial certificate is most appropriate, whether you need authentication and apostille afterwards, and whether multiple copies are wise.
• Payment. Most notaries accept Interac, credit card, or cash. Ask in advance if you are unsure.

For appointments at Ottawa City Hall with a JP for a civil ceremony, the City Clerk's office maintains its own checklist — typically a marriage licence, government ID for both parties, the booking confirmation, and any witnesses required. That list is set by the City and the Marriage Act, not by us.

What a Notary Cannot Do (and a JP Can)

It is worth being explicit about the limits on the notary side, because the temptation when you have a friendly notary on the phone is to ask whether we can "just sign that off." Often we cannot, and the reason is the same: those acts are reserved for a judicial officer.

A notary public cannot:

• Issue a search warrant, arrest warrant, production order, or summons. These are judicial decisions made under the Criminal Code, the Provincial Offences Act, and other statutes after a JP reviews a sworn information from an authorized applicant. A notary has no authority to issue any of them.
• Officiate a civil marriage. Under the Marriage Act, civil ceremonies in Ontario are conducted by judges, JPs, and other authorized officiants. Notaries are not on the list. We can witness signatures on a marriage contract, prenuptial-style agreement, or domestic agreement that has separate execution requirements, but we do not perform weddings.
• Preside over court. The Provincial Offences Court — Highway Traffic Act, by-law, regulatory matters — is a judicial proceeding, and a JP runs it. A notary is not a judge, has no contempt power, and cannot rule on evidence.
• Make a ruling, finding of fact, or order. Notaries are not adjudicators. We can take a sworn statement, but we do not weigh whether the statement is true, decide a dispute between two parties, or grant relief. Those are judicial functions.
• Receive a sworn information to lay a charge. The information process under the Provincial Offences Act and the Criminal Code is conducted before a JP. A peace officer or by-law officer swearing a charge does so before a JP, not a notary.
• Conduct a bail hearing or impose release conditions. Bail is a judicial matter. JPs and judges run bail hearings; a notary has no role in deciding whether someone is detained or released.

What we can do is clean up the paperwork that comes with these matters. We can commission the affidavit a complainant wants to file, certify a copy of an ID document a court asks for, witness a signature on a surety acknowledgment, or commission a statutory declaration about an event the court will later consider. The notary's role is procedural, not judicial.

If your situation needs a JP, the right next step is usually one of three things: contact the Ontario Court of Justice (for court matters), the police service of jurisdiction (for warrants and informations), or the Ottawa City Clerk's office (for civil weddings). A notary cannot shortcut any of those routes.

What a JP Typically Will Not Do (and a Notary Can)

The other direction of the fence matters just as much. There are services Ottawa residents need every week that a JP simply does not deliver, and assuming otherwise can cost you a deadline.

A justice of the peace in Ottawa typically will not:

• Run a drop-in certified true copy desk. There is no JP counter at the Ottawa courthouse where you can walk in with your passport and walk out with a certified copy. Notaries do this every day. If your immigration form, your bank, or your foreign employer asks for a certified true copy, that is a notary appointment.
• Provide same-day mobile commissioning. Notaries can travel to a hospital room at the Ottawa Hospital, a long-term care residence in Orleans, a downtown office on Albert Street, or a private home in Barrhaven, often the same day. JPs do not offer this. Their work is tied to the courthouse and to court process.
• Offer evening and Saturday commissioning. Many notary offices, including ours, run after-hours and weekend appointments for clients with deadlines. JP services are scheduled around court sittings, which run weekday hours and weekend bail.
• Handle IRCC document workflows end-to-end. Spousal sponsorship affidavits, common-law statutory declarations, certified copies of education and identity documents, sponsor's affidavits of relationship, and stat-decs for citizenship file packages are routine notary work. We do not give immigration advice, but we deliver the notarial outputs IRCC's checklists ask for. You will not get any of that done at the Ottawa courthouse on a Tuesday afternoon.
• Authenticate documents for foreign use. A JP's signature is not what foreign governments and embassies look for. The Global Affairs Canada authentication process, which is the first step before many apostilles and consular legalizations, expects a notary's signature and seal. A document signed by a JP outside court process is generally not authenticatable through that channel.
• Process bulk corporate filings. Certified copies of articles of incorporation, board resolutions, share registers, and director affidavits for corporate filings — domestic and international — are notary work. JPs do not handle commercial filings.

The list could go longer, but the point is the same. Notaries are the everyday, fee-for-service, paperwork-and-seal office. JPs are the judicial office. Neither replaces the other, and both exist for good reasons.

Caption: Certified true copies are notary territory. JPs do not run a public certified-copy desk in Ontario.

Pricing and Booking

For Ottawa clients, here is what the most-requested notary services cost at our office in 2026. JP services, by contrast, are tied to court fees set by the Province and to City Hall fees for civil weddings, neither of which is set by a private office.

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Saturday, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Sunday, closed. Mobile and after-hours visits are available by arrangement for hospitals, long-term care, and home visits within Ottawa.

To book a notary appointment, call (613) 434-5555 or use the contact form. For a JP — civil wedding, court matter, warrant — contact the Ontario Court of Justice or the Ottawa City Clerk's office directly; we cannot schedule a JP for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a justice of the peace certify a copy of my passport in Ontario?

No. JPs in Ontario are judicial officers; they do not run a public certified-copy desk and they do not issue notarial seals. A certified true copy of your passport, study permit, work permit, degree, birth certificate, or other identity or education document is the work of a notary public. If a checklist asks for a certified true copy and lists "notary public, justice of the peace, or commissioner of oaths" as acceptable, the practical answer in Ottawa is a notary. JPs do not perform this service outside narrow court contexts that do not apply to a typical IRCC or embassy file. Bring your original document and two pieces of government photo ID to the notary appointment.

Is a JP cheaper than a notary public in Ontario?

The price you pay a notary is direct and per-document. JPs do not bill clients for the act of administering an oath in court — that work is part of the court process and funded by the Province. But you cannot book a JP the way you book a notary, and there is no public counter for "free JP commissioning" of an IRCC affidavit or a stat-dec for Service Canada. Civil weddings have their own City and Province fees, separate from anything the JP personally receives. For most Ottawa paperwork, the choice is not "notary or free JP." It is "notary or commissioner of oaths," and the comparison piece walks through that decision.

Can a JP marry us in Ottawa?

Yes — a justice of the peace can officiate a civil marriage ceremony in Ontario under the Marriage Act. In Ottawa, civil ceremonies are arranged through the City Clerk's office at Ottawa City Hall on Laurier Avenue West. You apply for a marriage licence, book a ceremony slot, pay the City fees, and a JP from the Ontario Court of Justice presides over the ceremony. A notary public does not officiate civil weddings. If you want a religious ceremony, the officiant is a registered religious officiant, not a JP. For all of these, a notary may still be helpful afterwards if you need certified copies of the marriage certificate or notarized translations for use abroad.

Can a notary administer the same oath as a JP for a court affidavit?

Yes. Under Ontario law, an affidavit for use in a Superior Court of Justice or Ontario Court of Justice file can be sworn before a notary public, a commissioner of oaths, or a justice of the peace. In practice, JPs commission affidavits inside court — not at a public counter — so the typical Ottawa workflow is to swear the affidavit in front of a notary or a lawyer/paralegal commissioner before the court date. The court accepts the notary's signature without difficulty. If you are mid-trial and the court needs a sworn statement on the spot, a JP on the bench may administer the oath; that is a different scenario.

Do I need a notary or a JP for an IRCC sponsorship application?

A notary. IRCC checklists ask for notarized affidavits, statutory declarations of common-law union, sponsor affidavits, and certified true copies of identity and supporting documents. None of those are JP services in Ottawa. A notary public commissions the sworn statements and certifies the copies, and the package is uploaded to the IRCC portal as part of your application. We are not immigration consultants, so we cannot advise you on the application itself or on which documents your particular file requires — that is the role of a licensed lawyer or a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant. Once you know what your file needs, the notarial work itself is straightforward; see our affidavits service for the workflow.

Final Recommendation

If you are looking at a piece of paperwork and wondering whether you need a notary public or a justice of the peace, the answer in 2026 Ottawa is almost always a notary. JPs do irreplaceable work — they hear bail, sign warrants, run Provincial Offences Court, and officiate civil marriages — but they are not a public commissioning desk for everyday documents, and they cannot certify true copies or apply a notarial seal.

Save yourself the searching. If your task is paperwork — IRCC, foreign embassy, bank, real estate, statutory declaration, certified copy — book a notary. If your task is a court proceeding, a warrant, or a civil wedding, that is JP work and you do not book it directly; the court schedules it or the City schedules it.

When in doubt, call our office and describe the form. We will tell you in plain terms whether a notary, a commissioner, or a JP is the right person for the job — and if it is not us, we will say so. For a parallel comparison with another Ontario office holder, see Notary Public vs Commissioner of Oaths Ontario and Notary Public vs Lawyer Ontario.

Book Your Appointment

Same-day, walk-in, and mobile appointments are available across Ottawa.

• Phone: (613) 434-5555
• Online: /contact
• Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Saturday, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Sunday, closed.
• In person: Ottawa, Ontario — central, accessible parking, easy transit access.
• Mobile: Hospitals, long-term care, and private residences within Ottawa by arrangement.

For affidavits, statutory declarations, certified copies, travel consent letters, powers of attorney, and embassy paperwork, book a notary appointment and bring the document plus two pieces of government photo ID. We will handle the rest.

Sources

• Notaries Act (Ontario)
• Justices of the Peace Act (Ontario)
• Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act (Ontario)
• Marriage Act (Ontario)
• Ontario Court of Justice