Canada OT Continuing Competence Requirements & Discounts!

If you obtained your occupational therapy license in Canada, you will need to complete ongoing continuing professional development in order to maintain your registration. To help, I’m going to walk you through the steps I take to maintain my own occupational therapy license (and easily find professional development education activities).

Click here to jump straight to the Canada OT professional development discounts!

Step 1: Look up your OT license registration.

All OTs must be registered with their provincial regulator to work in Canada.

No regulatory bodies exist yet in Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. OTs in these territories can be registered by regulatory bodies in other provinces.

Before you start the license renewal process, check that your license is displaying correctly with your regulator by following the links in the table below.

Step 2: Confirm the Canada OT continuing competence requirements. 

It’s always good to double check for any updates to your 2025 renewal cycle. (One year, I completed ALL of my state of Nebraska requirements only to find out that they were waived due to COVID. 😭)

To get you going, here is the information I found with links to where I found it.

Here are the basic OT continuing professional development requirements in Canada:

Occupational Therapy licensure renewal requirements vary by province. Most provinces have quality assurance standards that require OT professionals to engage in ongoing learning to improve their practice.

See the table below for a breakdown of continuing competence requirements by province.

Regardless of where you practice, all Canadian OTs are held to the standards outlined in the Competencies for Occupational Therapists in Canada. This includes creating professional development plans and learning goals, and engaging in ongoing professional development activities.

How many professional development hours are required? 

• Occupational therapists in most Canadian provinces are not required to complete a specific number of professional development hours. Rather, OTs are expected to engage in professional development activities on an ongoing basis to meet their professional development learning goals and competency requirements.

Verify here: ACTORO | ACORE Registering in Canada

Here are the occupational therapy continuing competence requirements in Canada:

This section relating to professional development was copied from the Competencies for Occupational Therapists in Canada. These unified standards apply to occupational therapists across Canada.

These standards were created in collaboration between the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT), the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations (ACOTRO), tand he Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy University Programs (ACOTUP)..

Here are the Canadian continuing competence requirements by province:

Province	Professional Development Requirements	Registration Renewal Date	Verify Here	Registration Verification
Alberta	Complete a College selected annual mandatory training and engage in goal-directed learning activities.	Renew annually by February 28	Alberta College of Occupational Therapists (ACOT)	Public Directory
British Columbia	Complete the Annual Continuing Competence Review (ACCR) once yearly. Engage in goal-directed learning activities.	Renew annually by June 30	College of Health and Care Professionals of BC (COTBC)	License Verification
Manitoba	Engage in professional development and learning activities annually as required by the Continuing Competence Program.	Renew annually by April 30	College of Occupational Therapists of Manitoba (COTM)	The OT Directory
Nova Scotia	Complete a professional development plan, engage in goal-directed learning activities, and complete eLearning Modules as assigned.	Renew annually by May 15	Nova Scotia Occupational Therapy Regulator (NSOTR)	Public Directory
Ontario	Complete an annual learning plan and an annual eLearning module as assigned.	Renew annually by October 31	The College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario (COTO)	Public Register
New Brunswick	None specified on association website. All Canadian OTs are expected to engage in ongoing goal-directed learning activities.	Renew annually by March 31	New Brunswick Association of Occupational Therapists (NBAOT)	Member List
Newfoundland and Labrador	Complete a self-assessment and professional development plan with 2-3 learning goals. Engage in ongoing learning activities.	Renew annually by January 31	Newfoundland and Labrador Occupational Therapy Board (NLOTB)	Is Your OT Licensed
Québec	Complete at least 45 hours of continuing education activities every renewal cycle. Minimum of 30 hours of structured learning activities, such as courses, workshops, or seminars.	Renew every 3 years by April 30	Ordre des ergothérapeutes du Québec (OEQ)	Trouver un ergothérapeute
Prince Edward Island	30 hours required every 3 years. Complete a self-assessment and identify professional learning goals. Engage in ongoing learning activities and record them in the completed learning activities form.	Renew annually by March 15	Prince Edward Island College of Occupational Therapists (PEICOT)	Members List
Saskatchewan	Engage in professional development and learning activities annually as required by the Continuing Competence Program.	Renew annually by February 15th	The Saskatchewan College of Occupational Therapists (SCOT)	OT Directory

Step 3: Find professional development activities that meet your learning goals (discounts below)!

Ok, now that you know your requirements, it is time to start identifying activities that meet your professional learning goals! There are of course a lot of options out there, but we hope you consider checking out the courses offered by OT Potential.

Do OT Potential courses count toward the continuing professional development required to renew my registration?

Yes! OT Potential courses and resources can help you meet some of your required continuing professional development needs, depending on your specific learning goals.

• Search OT Potential courses by topic here!
• Another option is to attend one of our live webinar courses to interact with guest experts and other OT professionals.
• You can also find educational materials relating to the latest OT research on the OT Potential Blog!

Where can Canada OT professionals get the best deals on Continuing Professional Development?

At OT Potential, our courses are all built around helping you get new evidence into practice.

But, what good is evidence-based practice, if you are not reimbursed appropriately for it? Our local associations do SUCH important advocacy work, when it comes to reimbursement and scope of practice. That’s why we’ve made it part of our mission to support these associations.

So, we have this win-win proposition for you. Join OT Potential using the promo code “Canada” to receive a 15% discount—and we’ll donate 15% of your order to the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT).

👍 Price of OT Potential with your Canada discount = $84.15 (Reg $99)
🎉 Donation amount to CAOT = $12.62

And, the best part is if you decide to renew, it will be at your discounted price. AND, we’ll make another donation to CAOT.

This is one of the cheapest ways to earn your required Canada OT continuing compentencies, and you can feel good doing it because you are giving back to your national association ❤️.

Step 4: Renew your registration. 🎉

Ok, now it’s time for the big moment.

Follow the links in the table above to review your requirements and renew your registration!

Conclusion

Hopefully, you found this post helpful!

As you can tell, I am a continuing education nerd 🤓, so if you have any other questions about continuing professional development and your Canada OT registration renewal, just ask me the comments!