Recreational boaters in the Kawarthas, especially those who registered their boats prior to 2010, should be aware of new federal government changes for boat registration rules that came into effect on December 31.
Amendments to the small vessel regulations mean licences for pleasure craft will now be valid for only five years, and lifetime licences issued prior to April 2010 will gradually be replaced with licences that must be renewed every five years.
Under long-time federal regulations, every boat in Canada powered by one or more motors that add up to 10 hp or more must be licensed with the federal government, with the unique licence number required to be displayed on the bow of the boat. The licence number and associated owner contact data are maintained in Transport Canada’s pleasure craft licensing system.
Law enforcement officials and first responders have 24/7 access to the information stored in system so they can identify boat owners when responding to crime or emergency situations including missing persons, identifying abandoned and unsafe boats, and more.
A pleasure craft licence had no expiry date until April 2010, when the federal government introduced regulatory changes that introduced a 10-year licence pleasure craft licence. The changes also required that existing licences be updated within 90 days for owner name or address changes or when transferring ownership.
Under the latest regulatory changes, pleasure craft licences are now only valid for five years. In addition, a $24 service fee will now apply to the issuing, renewing, transferring, or replacing of a licence (the fee will be updated annually for inflation). Licence holders must also now update any changes to their information within 30 days instead of the previous 90 days.
For boaters with lifetime pleasure craft licences (issued prior to April 2010), they will gradually be required to obtain a new licence over the next four years, depending on when the original licence was issued.
New expiry dates for licences originally issued without an expiry date are shown below.
- Licence issue date on December 31, 1974 or earlier – New expiry date March 31, 2026
- Licence issue date from January 1, 1975 to December 31, 1985 – New expiry date December 31, 2026
- Licence issue date from January 1, 1986 to December 31, 1995 – New expiry date December 31, 2027
- Licence issue date from January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1999 – New expiry date December 31, 2028
- Licence issue date from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2005 – New expiry date December 31, 2029
- Licence issue date from January 1, 2006 to April 28, 2010 – New expiry date December 31, 2030
Boat owners can check the status of their pleasure craft licence number at www.pcl-pep.snbservices.ca/1001/PubWeb/CheckLicenseExpiryDate.aspx.
The regulatory changes to pleasure craft licences were originally proposed in 2022, with a 65-day public consultation process that involved recreational boaters, marine stakeholders, law enforcement agencies, boating safety advocates, pleasure craft dealers, cottagers’ associations, and anglers, hunters, and trappers.
First responders and law enforcement officials were among those who supported the proposed changes, stating that the pleasure craft licensing system contains outdated information.
For example, a police officer could spend days trying to identify the current owner of a boat if the original owner had registered the boat prior to 2010 and it had subsequently changed owners several times.
As for the new licence fee, Transport Canada says it is intended to ensure that recreational boaters contribute to the cost of maintaining waterways (such as navigation markers), protecting the marine environment, and administering the pleasure craft licensing system. Indigenous peoples who use pleasure craft to exercise their section 35 treaty rights will not be required to pay the licence fee.
“These changes will make boating safer, protect the environment, and ensure licence holders share the cost of administering the program fairly,” reads a media release from Transport Canada. “This will also help the government to tackle wrecked, hazardous, and abandoned vessels by keeping ownership information accurate and up to date.”
Another regulatory change, which will take effect on December 31, 2027, is that wind-powered pleasure craft over six metres in length will also be required to have a licence. The federal government’s rationale for requiring these craft to be licensed is because it is otherwise difficult to identify their owners in emergencies.
