Death Registration
The Office of the Registrar General will provide death certificates or certified copies of a death registration for:
- Settlement of estates
- Insurance
- Access to, or termination of, other government services (i.e., health card, pensions, voter’s list)
- Genealogy searches
Death registrations are a permanent, legal record of death of an individual. Information from death registrations is used for medical and health research and statistics.
How to register a death
To register a death:
The Funeral home usually takes care of the registration of Death, they will complete a statement of death plus obtain the medical of death. The two forms will be brought into the Customer Service department for registration and to obtain a burial permit. The City will send both forms to the office of the registrar general for completion on registration.
- You need an Ontario burial permit before the body can be moved
If the death happens outside of Ontario, but the burial or cremation is to take place in Ontario:
- You need a burial, transit or removal permit from the jurisdiction where the death occurred
How to get a death certificate
To order a death certificate, you will need:
- first and last name of the person who died
- sex of the person who died
- date of death
- name of city or town in which death took place
- parental information about the person who died
- spouse or partner information of person who died, if applicable
There are two ways to get a death certificate:
- Apply online at Service Ontario to get a death certificate
- Pick up a Request for Death Certificate form from Customer Service department or print the Request for Death Certificate form. You must send the form and payment to the Office of the Registrar General by:
- Mail: Office of the Registrar General, P.O. Box 4600, 189 Red River Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 6L8
- Fax: 807-343-7459
Registration of a death by the Office of the Registrar General can take up to 90 days.
How to get old death records
The Office of the Registrar General has records from the past 70 years for deaths in Ontario. For death records older than 70 years:
- Check the Archives of Ontario
- Call the Vital Statistics Hotline at 416-327-1593
How to get a death certificate for another province
Contact the Registrar’s Office for the province where the death was registered.