Where's My Certificate?

As you may know, after successful completing your Canadian Firearms Safety Course you can expect to receive your course report (which we also call “your certificate”) from the Firearms Safety Education Service of Ontario (FSESO).

Since the start of Covid-19 many months ago, it’s been taking FSESO about 8 weeks to receive, process, and return to you these certificates.

That means if you took a course December 1, 2021 it could take until approximately February 1, 2022 to arrive. Sometimes they arrive earlier but it seems to us they often arrive in weeks 7 or 8 after your course.

From time to time people contact us thinking they’re going to receive an elaborate certificate. Hey, that would be nice! But the course reports are actually forms you help fill out when you’re in the course. You should recognize them when they arrive. You’ll receive 2 carbon copies for each course you completed. Enclose one with your RCMP application and keep the other for your records.

Sometimes all your certificates arrive together in one piece of mail, for example if you took your courses back to back in a weekend. If you completed your courses spread apart, your certificates will likely arrive proportionally spread out. And… sometimes they arrive out of order… which we think might be more to do with Canada Post than FSESO.

Stay patient. We know 8 weeks is a long time to wait! Keep in mind 99% of the time these certificates show up to you no problem. If yours doesn’t shoot us an email and we’ll point you direction of having them re-issued quickly.

While you wait for the mail, make sure you’re getting a head start on your RCMP application. There are a few references to collect and a photo to prepare, so don’t wait until you get your certificate to get started. That will just add needless time to your overall licensing timeline, so instead get a head start on your paperwork now!