Apostille and Legalization of Documents
What is an Apostille?
An Apostille is a certificate, issued by a regulating agency, that can be used to prove the authenticity of a notary public’s signature and/or seal. The concept comes from The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. This treaty, as its title implies, was drawn up to simplify the process of certifying foreign public documents (though it does not apply to diplomatic and commercial documents).
If a document is drawn up in one participating country and needs to be used in another, a notary public’s certification is all that is needed to permit that document to be used in the other country, provided that the Notary Public has certification by Apostille.
Each participating country designates the people or agencies with authority to issue Apostille certification (in the United States, it is usually the Secretary of State of whatever State the Notary Public practices in).
Is Apostille Available in Canada?
Yes. See Government of Canada Publication for more information- https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/about-a_propos/services/authentication-authentification/
