Ontario · Land Surveyor seal requirements
Ontario Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Land surveyors in Ontario seal under R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29, under the Surveyors Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.29, administered by the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors. Regulation 1026 prescribes no wording, shape or size. The member obtains the appropriate seal for their class of membership from the Association.
Ontario runs three separate regulators: Professional Engineers Ontario under the Professional Engineers Act, the Ontario Association of Architects under the Architects Act, and the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors under the Surveyors Act. In all three the seal is issued by the regulator rather than made by the licensee, so there is no dimension for a licensee to choose. Section 53 of Reg. 941 was replaced in its entirety by O. Reg. 837/21 effective July 1, 2022, and the regulation is consolidated to July 1, 2026 with O. Reg. 126/26 as the last amendment. Three pieces of PEO's own material lag behind that: the "P.Eng. Seal" page on peo.on.ca attributes the sealing rule to "section 53 of the act", but the Act ends at s. 49 and the sealing provision is s. 53 of the regulation; the "Act, Regulations, By-laws" page still describes Reg. 941 as "amended to O.Reg. 332/23"; and the 2005/2008 guideline still hosted on peo.on.ca required an electronic facsimile to be "identical in size, shape, and content to the seal created by the rubber stamp", a sentence the current March 2022 guideline and the amended s. 53(3)(b) both dropped.
Ontario Land Surveyor seal
- Diameter
- Regulation 1026 prescribes no wording, shape or size. The member obtains the appropriate seal for their class of membership from the Association.
- Expiration date
- Section 29 is the entire seal provision and prescribes no wording — the member obtains the seal for their class of membership from the Association. No expiry date is called for.(R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29)
- Signature date
- For a cadastral survey the declaration of compliance shall be signed and dated by the licensed member and shall be in Form 1, which carries both a date of survey completion and a date beside the surveyor's signature. On a plan, the only handwriting permitted is the original signatures and the dates of those signatures.(O. Reg. 216/10, s. 4(3) and Form 1; s. 17(2))
- City on seal
- Reg. 1026 prescribes no wording for the seal, so no city or place of business is required on it.(R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29)
- Every member shall obtain from the Association the appropriate seal for his or her class of membership; the Association issues more than one seal, and which one a member gets follows the class of membership.(R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29(1))
- A print of a plan of survey other than a plan deposited or registered in the Ontario land registration system is not a valid copy unless it bears the embossed seal of the licensed member who signed the plan, the embossed seal of a licensed member employed by the corporation or public agency responsible for preparing it, or the corporate seal of the corporation holding the certificate of authorization that was responsible for it.(R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29(3))
- The seal must be returned on the suspension or cancellation of the member's license, limited license, temporary license or certificate of registration.(R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29(2))
- The survey monument identification stamp is a separate item from the seal: it is approved for the member by the Registrar, recorded in a register the Registrar maintains, and used to identify every survey monument the member plants.(R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 30)
- A plan to be registered or deposited in the registry system or the land titles system in hard copy format shall be drawn and signed in black adhesion type ink, and the only handwriting to appear on a plan shall be the original signatures of the persons required to sign it and the dates of those signatures.(O. Reg. 216/10 (Surveyors Act), ss. 17(1)(c), 17(2))
- A plan resulting from a cadastral survey that will not be registered or deposited in the registry system or the land titles system may be drawn and signed physically or electronically.(O. Reg. 216/10 (Surveyors Act), s. 17.2(1)(c))
- A plan submitted for registration or deposit must carry the statement "This plan of survey relates to AOLS Plan Submission Form Number_____" in a prominent location immediately below the surveyor's certificate.(O. Reg. 43/96 (Registry Act), ss. 4.1, 75)
- A license or certificate of registration holder may use the title "Ontario Land Surveyor" or the initials "O.L.S." (in French, "arpenteur-géomètre de l'Ontario" or "A.-G.O.").(R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 28(1)(a))
Ontario land surveyor seal questions
Does an Ontario land surveyor's plan copy need an embossed seal?▾
For a plan of survey other than one deposited or registered in the Ontario land registration system, a print is not a valid copy unless it bears the embossed seal of the licensed member who signed the plan, the embossed seal of a licensed member employed by the corporation or public agency responsible for preparing it, or the corporate seal of the corporation holding the certificate of authorization responsible for it. The regulation says embossed, and it is the print itself that has to carry the embossing — an inked impression or a printed image of the seal does not make a print a valid copy, so a client who photocopies a sealed plan does not end up with one either. (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29(3))
Can an Ontario land surveyor choose the wording or design of the seal?▾
No, and that is why no regulation prescribes any. Section 29 is the whole seal provision: every member shall obtain from the Association the appropriate seal for his or her class of membership, so the seal follows the class of membership rather than any choice the member makes. Nothing in the regulation prescribes wording, shape or size, because nothing is left for the member to specify — there is no seal to design and no legend to settle. The seal also travels with the credential: it must be given up on the suspension or cancellation of a licence, limited licence, temporary licence or certificate of registration. (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 29(1) and (2))
Is the stamp an Ontario surveyor applies to a plan the monument identification stamp?▾
No — those are two devices under two sections, and only one of them goes on a document. The seal applied to a plan comes from the Association under s. 29. The survey monument identification stamp is a separate item under s. 30, approved by the Registrar rather than issued by the Association: every licensed member must obtain the Registrar's approval of the stamp to be used by that member, must identify every survey monument the member plants with the stamp approved for the member, and the Registrar keeps a register of the stamp approved opposite each member's name. The eligibility does not line up either — holders of a limited licence or a temporary licence shall not have a monument identification stamp at all, even though s. 29 contemplates their holding a seal. A limited or temporary licensee who reads s. 30 as a bar on stamping has read the wrong section: it says nothing about the seal that goes on the plan. (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026, s. 30; cf. s. 29(2))
Can an Ontario land surveyor sign a registered plan electronically?▾
Not a hard-copy plan bound for the registry or land titles system: such a plan shall be drawn and signed in black adhesion type ink, and where part of it is a photographic reproduction the signatures still may not be reproductions. A plan resulting from a cadastral survey that will not be registered or deposited falls under a different section and may be drawn and signed physically or electronically. What does not change with the destination is the handwriting rule — on either kind of plan the only handwriting to appear is the original signatures of the persons required to sign it and the dates of those signatures. (O. Reg. 216/10, ss. 17(1)(c), 17(2), 17(3), 17.2(1)(c), 17.2(3))