Apply for a cannabis drug licence

This page describes the process of applying to Health Canada for a licence. It provides information about application tips, changes to an application, withdrawal of an application, as well as the process of creating and submitting a licence application in the Cannabis Tracking and Licensing System (CTLS).

Application tips

Your licence application must meet all the requirements for a cannabis drug licence. Use the Application checklist to ensure you’ve submitted all the required information. Once an application is submitted, no further changes can be made.

Avoid the common mistakes below to prevent delays in the processing of your licence application.

To avoid a request for more information or an application refusal, ensure that:

• your information is included and sufficient to show compliance with cannabis drug licensing requirements in the Cannabis Act and the Cannabis Regulations
• you have a drug establishment licence when it’s necessary for your proposed activities
• a cannabis drug licence is the right licence for your proposed cannabis activities

Health Canada recommends using a document naming convention for all the information you have to submit. Following the document naming convention will help us process your application more efficiently.

If you have questions about a specific licence application, email sp-licensing-cannabis-licences-sp@hc-sc.gc.ca. The subject line should be, "Question about APP #".

Create an individual account

Apply for a user account in the CTLS, if you don’t already have one. All other individuals associated with an application must also apply for a user account, if they don’t already have one. Refer to the CTLS Getting Started Guide for more information on the steps to create an account.

Create a licence application

To create a licence application in the CTLS, follow the steps outlined below depending on your type of business.

Tip: In the CTLS, you’ll see your licence application in the “Draft Licence Applications” section. Health Canada doesn’t receive or process draft applications. You need to complete all sections in the application in order to submit an application for processing by Health Canada.

Applying as an individual

Important: If you apply for a licence as an individual, your name may be publicly listed on Health Canada’s website, once your licence is issued. Health Canada will use your name for all official documents, and it can’t be replaced by your business name.

You’ll need to use your individual user CTLS account to create a new licence application. Follow the steps below on the “Licence ownership” page of the CTLS.

1. In the “Licence holder” section of the CTLS, select to apply for a cannabis drug licence as an individual.
2. In the “Senior person in charge” section of the CTLS, enter the CTLS Account ID of your senior person in charge. This could be yourself or someone else.

Important: Only the senior person in charge can submit the application in the CTLS. The senior person in charge can be a different person than the applicant, or they can be the same.

Applying as a part of a corporation, cooperative, or partnership

Important: If you’re part of a partnership or cooperative, identify yourself as corporations in the CTLS.

Any applicant that’s a partnership, cooperative, or corporation needs to have a corporate profile in the CTLS.

The person who creates the corporate profile is the owner of that account (administrative authority). They’ll be the only one who can:

• view the corporate profile and make changes to it
• create a new licence application

If the owner of the corporate profile is no longer available, you can transfer the corporate profile to another person. For more information on how to do this, email sp-licensing-cannabis-licences-sp@hc-sc.gc.ca.

If you already have an existing corporate profile

The owner of the corporate profile will need to follow the steps below.

1. Create a new licence application.
2. Link the corporate profile to the licence application.
3. On the “Licence ownership” page of the CTLS
   • In the “Licence holder” section, select to apply for a cannabis licence as an organization.
   • In the “Senior person in charge” section, enter the CTLS Account ID of the senior person in charge. The senior person in charge can be the same person who created the corporate profile.

Important: The information in your corporate profile needs to be up to date when you submit a new application. Discrepancies, inconsistencies or outdated information can cause a delay in processing your application.

If you don’t have a corporate profile

You’ll need to use your individual user account to create a new corporate profile.

On the “Create corporate profile” page in the CTLS, submit the following information.

• Language preference
  • English or French
  • Full legal name of the organization
  • Any other names registered federally or provincially under which you intend to do business, if applicable
  • Indicate that you’re a cooperative or a partnership, if applicable
  • As provided on the certificate of incorporation
  • If there isn’t an identification number, write "N/A"
  • Indicate your CRA licence number if you have an existing Health Canada cannabis licence under the same name
  • Leave this section blank if you’re a new applicant
  • CTLS Account ID of any controlling organization, if applicable.
  • For correspondence with your organization (such as the head office and not the applicant’s address)
  • If it’s the same as your business address, check the “same as business address” box
  • If it isn’t the same as your business address, uncheck the “same as business address” box and add it

  Important: At this point, save your corporate profile. If not, some of the sections won’t appear later on in the CTLS.

  • Certificate of incorporation or business registration document
    • If you’re a corporation, upload a copy of your certificate of incorporation
    • If you’re a cooperative or a partnership, upload a copy of your business name registration or partnership agreement
    • Submit your corporate organizational chart
    • Add all directors, officers and partners using their CTLS account IDs. Partners need to have “officer” as their role.

    Important: You must have at least 1 director or officer identified in the corporate profile in the CTLS. Otherwise, you won’t be able to submit your licence application.

    Submit your application

    Only the senior person in charge can submit the application in the CTLS once all the information is entered in your application.

    Now that you’re ready to submit the information you’ve prepared for your licence application, follow the applicable instructions on how to submit your application information.

    This section describes how to submit the prepared information in the CTLS. As you go through the application sections, try to fill out each section before starting the next. If not, some fields and information might not appear, depending on your prior selections. Each of the sections must be complete prior to submitting an application to Health Canada.

    Licence ownership

    This refers to the “Licence ownership” page of the CTLS.

    Important: To fill out this section, your senior person in charge needs to have a CTLS account.

    Licence holder

    In the “Licence holder” section of the CTLS, choose 1 of the 2 options, depending on the licence ownership.

    • If you’re applying as an individual, select “Individual” and upload a copy of your valid government-issued ID (such as your driver’s licence or passport) in the “Licence holder photo ID” section
    • If the licence is owned by a corporation, partnership or cooperative, select “Corporation”

    Senior person in charge

    In the “Senior person in charge” section of the CTLS, enter the CTLS Account ID of your senior person in charge.

    In the “Senior person in charge security documentation” section, upload the documents about your senior person in charge:

    • a completed Declaration for designated individuals
    • a copy of their criminal record check and, if applicable, a travel summary or a valid cannabis security clearance

    In the “Photo ID of the senior person in charge” section, upload a copy of your senior person in charge’s valid government-issued photo ID (such as a driver’s licence or passport).

    Mailing address

    This refers to the “Mailing address” page of the CTLS.

    Enter your mailing address. It needs to be the Canadian address where you’d like to receive mailed correspondence.

    Tip: The mailing address isn’t necessarily the same as the site address or business address. For example, you can choose to put your parent (owning) company’s mailing address, or the mailing address of another site belonging to the same corporation.

    Site details

    This refers to the “Site details” page of the CTLS.

    Site address

    In the “Site address” section of the CTLS, enter:

    • the Canadian site address (this can’t be a P.O. box)
    • your site’s latitude and longitude with 6 digits after the decimal point (for example, latitude: 45.423248; longitude: -75.698501)

    Additionally, indicate if you’ll be producing or selling a drug containing cannabis (check all that apply).

    Site additional information

    In the “Site additional information” section of the CTLS, upload:

    • a completed Record keeping attestation
    • a completed Site additional information form
    • a document with your loss or theft prevention protocol standard operating procedures
    • If you intend to sell drugs containing cannabis, submit a blank version of your order form. It needs to contain fields for:
      • the name of the drugs containing cannabis being sold or distributed
      • the quantity of drugs containing cannabis being sold or distributed
      • the signature of the buyer
      • the date of the buyer’s signature

      Buildings

      In the “Buildings” section of the CTLS, add all buildings where there will be cannabis activities. Enter the name of each building and cannabis activities. Choose all that apply.

      Drug establishment licence

      In the “Drug establishment” section of the CTLS, indicate if you also have a drug establishment licence at your site.

      • If you answer yes, upload a copy of you drug establishment licence.
      • If you answer no, please note that Health Canada will reach out to you to provide written confirmation from the DEL team that you don’t require a drug establishment licence. Please send your inquiries to DEL Questions at del.questions-leppp@hc-sc.gc.ca.

      Site personnel

      This refers to the “Site personnel” page of the CTLS.

      Personnel

      In the “Personnel” section of the CTLS, add all your site personnel. Enter their CTLS Account IDs and select their role. Include the following site personnel:

      • qualified person in charge
      • alternate qualified person(s) in charge, if applicable

      Qualified person in charge

      In the “Qualified person in charge and alternate qualified person in charge supporting documents” section of the CTLS, upload the documents relating to your qualified person in charge and each of their alternates:

      • their curriculum vitae
      • a copy of their criminal record check and, if applicable, a travel summary or valid cannabis security clearance
      • a copy of their valid government-issued photo ID (such as a driver’s licence or passport)
      • a completed Declaration for designated individuals
      • a copy of any certification stating that they can practice a profession relevant to their duties (including diplomas, certificates or credentials from a Canadian post-secondary institution)

      Physical security

      This refers to the “Physical security” page of the CTLS.

      Answer the 4 questions about your activities which determine your physical security measures.

      Security site plan

      In the “Security site plan” section of the CTLS, upload your site plans.

      Physical security document

      In the “Physical security document” section, upload your physical security document according to the physical security requirements required based on the activities that you will be conducting on site.

      Self-identification

      This refers to the “Self-identification” page of the CTLS.

      You can choose to self-identify as Indigenous affiliated. Even though self-identification is optional, you do need to fill out this page.

      If you choose to self-identify

      Select “yes” if you choose to self-identify as Indigenous affiliated.

      1. Select “First Nations”, “Inuit” or “Métis” depending on which Indigenous group you identify with.
      2. Explain how your application is Indigenous affiliated.

      If you don’t choose to self-identify

      Select “no” if you don’t self-identify as Indigenous affiliated.

      Associated individuals

      This refers to the “Associated individuals” page of the CTLS.

      Important: Your associated individuals need to have a CTLS account to do this step.

      Enter the associated individuals’ CTLS Account IDs and select “Consent to communicate”.

      Submission

      This refers to the “Submission” page of the CTLS. Only the senior person in charge can submit the licence application.

      On the “Submission” page of the CTLS, you need to:

      • electronically attest to the declarations
      • submit your licence application

      Once your cannabis drug licence application is submitted, it will appear in the “Submitted Licence Applications” section of the CTLS. Each application will have a unique Licence Application ID. All correspondence with Health Canada in relation to the application should include this identifier in the subject title. After you’ve submitted your application, you can only make minor changes without having to withdraw your application.

      Tip: You can check the status of your application in the CTLS at any time during the application process.