Licence Application Guide
Updated: January 2023
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Here are a few helpful tips to help you through filling it out your Canada Firearms Program (RCMP) licence application.
We recommend getting started with this guide right after your course. The process of licence application can take the better part of a year to complete, and you’re most likely to follow through and complete it if you start chipping away at the work as soon as possible.
Let’s get started!
1) Wait for your certificate(s) from FSESO before you send your application to the RCMP.
The certificates can take up to 2 months from completing your course to show up in your mail. If you moved or you think your certificates might be lost in the mail, please contact us.
If you completed two courses more than a week apart, your certificates will show up separately. They might even show up in the wrong order. This is normal. Keep waiting until it’s 2 months past your course and if they still haven’t arrived please contact us so we can help.
2) Collect the items you need for your application. Download the application and take a look at what it requires, pieces of photo ID, and signatures of several references, among others. If you plan to mail your application, download the application form and start working on it. If you plan to apply online you can start working through the steps - the system will save your progress.
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3) Licence Information and Personal Information
You’ll be used to these types of questions on other bureaucratic paperwork. Read answer carefully throughout.
4) Personal History, Conjugal Status…
These sections get a little personal. They asks you if you have ever committed a criminal offence, have anyone in your household who is prohibited from being around firearms, about your mental health, and if you’ve experienced the breakdown of any important relationships.
Some of these questions might seem daunting to you… and we receive a lot of questions from clients debating how to answer some of them. Our suggestion is always the same: answer everything honestly and don’t worry. Everyone has their own ‘baggage’. If you’d like to explain the circumstances surrounding one of your answers you can attach a written explanation.
If you need to attach extra pages for explanation, make sure you write your name at the top and be sure you’re clear about which question you’re writing a response to. Keep in mind the RCMP is typically interested in details about more recent history — but if in doubt you can address anything in your past you’d like to.
You can also call the RCMP Firearms Program to ask questions about this section if you need to.
5) Safety Training Certification
If you have completed the Canadian Firearms Safety course with Range Arts then check “Yes” in 20A and 20B for each of the courses you completed.
For 20C, typically your answer will be “No”. The training you have received via Range Arts is not the same as receiving certification directly from the Chief Firearms Officer or complete a course in Quebec prior to 1995.
6) References
We’re almost there folks. You need 2 references to sign your application. Your references can be anyone over the age of 18 that you’ve known for at least 3 years.
Sometimes we get asked if that can be your mom. Is your mom a person? Has your mom known you for at least 3 years? Is she over the age of 18? Yes, your mom works fine.
We also tend to recommend you pick someone with a professional demeanour with a voicemail message which identifies them. The RCMP might also send your reference a letter in a plain brown envelope, with a code inside and a phone number to call. Choose someone who is willing to check their mail and is likely to answer their phone. Absentee references can slow down your application.
Remember, your references actually need to sign your application.
7) Photo
Photo guarantor: On information sheet 4 at the top of your application there is a whole section on how to take your photo. We find it’s easiest is to get a passport photo taken at your drugstore or corner store, but if you’re tech savvy and have a decent printer take a selfie and set you margins to 45mm by 57mm and you’re sorted.
For your photo guarantor’s signature: Print your name and your guarantor's name on the label found on page 4 of the application’s info sheet, under “Label Instructions”. Have your guarantor sign it and complete the Photo Guarantor section of your application. Then cut and affix the label to the back of your photograph, and enclose the signed photograph with your application. We recommend taping it or using a paperclip. Don’t do anything that permanently damages the photo itself. We don’t know how the RCMP handles these photos on their end, so best to keep things easy for them.
8) Payment
Now that you’ve made it past a few of these tricky areas don’t forget to enclose payment! As of today if you’re applying for a single Non-restricted only, or upgrading your existing PAL to RPAL, the price is $62.42. If you’re applying for both Non-restricted and Restricted together the price totals $83.23 (pay only for RPAL, it will also include PAL).
9) Don’t forget to Sign
Don’t forget… they’ll send it back to you. Double and triple check your signature lines are all signed.
10) Reminder to Enclose your FSESO Certificates
In the mail, you’ll receive 2 copies of each certificate for each course you completed. You can send one to the RCMP and keep one for yourself for your records. We recommend sending them the one that is most legible. Sometimes the information doesn’t transfer well through the carbon copies but don’t worry. If this applies to you remember FSESO has only stamped it because they’ve processed all the information and it’s “in the system”. The RCMP will have access to that information even if they have trouble reading the carbon copies. It’s very unlikely they’ll send your application back because they have trouble reading a certificate.
11) If applying by mail…
Mail your completed application form and all attachments to:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
P.O. Box 1200
Miramichi NB E1N 5Z3
We recommend sending it using Canada Post and make sure you get a tracking number so it is guaranteed to arrive. You don’t want to have to do this all over again!
12) Congratulations on making your application! It can take between 4-9 months for the RCMP to process your application. We don’t recommend calling them to check status unless you think there is a problem.
If you need to learn more about the Canadian Firearms Safety Courses:
Vintage European style deer head framed illustration from The Queen's Jubilee and Toronto "Called Back" from 1887 to 1847. This Revised Edition Contains the Progress of the City from 1886 to 1887, Etc by Conyngham Crawford Taylor (1887).