Can I enforce a judgment from another Canadian province in Ontario?

Yes. Ontario has legislation — the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act — that allows judgments from designated reciprocating provinces and territories to be registered in Ontario and then enforced as if they were Ontario judgments. Most Canadian provinces and territories are designated under Ontario's scheme or under complementary federal and provincial legislation.

To enforce an out-of-province judgment in Ontario, you typically register it with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The process involves filing the foreign judgment and paying a filing fee. Once registered, you can use all Ontario enforcement tools — writs of seizure and sale, garnishment, examination in aid of execution — as if the judgment had been issued here.

There are grounds to challenge a foreign judgment: if the court that issued it lacked jurisdiction, if the debtor was not properly served, or if recognizing it would be contrary to public policy. However, these defences are narrow, and courts generally extend strong deference to judgments from Canadian sister provinces.

For judgments from foreign countries — outside Canada — the process is different and more complex. Ontario does not have a general reciprocal enforcement treaty with most foreign nations, so a foreign judgment must often be the subject of a new Ontario lawsuit in which the original judgment is used as evidence, and the Ontario court then issues its own judgment.

A lawyer familiar with cross-border enforcement can guide you through the registration or new-suit approach depending on the source of your judgment.