How Long Do You Have to Respond to a Statement of Claim in Canada?

Last updated: July 2026. Response deadlines are set by provincial rules of court. These deadlines do not change unless the province amends its legislation. Verify the specific rule for your province and court level before acting.

If you have been served a statement of claim in Canada, the single most important fact is your response deadline. In most provinces, that deadline is 20 days. After it passes, the plaintiff can obtain a default judgment — a court order entered without any hearing, automatically, that says you owe the full amount claimed.

Quick answer: 20 days in Ontario and Alberta. 21 days in BC. 30 days in Quebec. These are calendar days from the date of service, not business days, with an exception when the last day falls on a weekend or holiday. Missing the deadline means a default judgment is entered against you and the creditor can immediately pursue garnishment or bank seizure.

Response Deadlines by Province — Full Table

Small claims courts across Canada have separate procedures and often shorter timelines. If the amount claimed is below your province’s small claims threshold ($35,000 in Ontario, $50,000 in BC, $50,000 in Alberta), different rules apply.

How to Count the 20 Days

The response window starts on the date of service — the date the statement of claim was physically delivered to you or left at your residence by a process server.

Example (Ontario): Served on July 2, 2026.

• Day 1 = July 3
• Day 20 = July 22
• If July 22 is a Saturday: deadline moves to Monday, July 24

What counts as service: Personal service (handed to you), substituted service (left with an adult at your residence and mailed), or service at your last known address per court authorization. A process server’s affidavit of service documents when service occurred — this is the date that starts your clock.

What does not pause the clock: Being out of town, not checking your mail, or having the claim delivered to a former address (if the creditor followed proper substituted service procedure) does not pause the deadline. The clock runs.

What You Are Filing When You Respond

In Ontario, the response is a Statement of Defence — a formal court document filed with Court Services Ontario, served on the plaintiff’s lawyer, and filed with a court fee (approximately $143 for defendant’s claims under $50,000 as of 2026).

The Statement of Defence must:

• Admit or deny each paragraph of the Statement of Claim
• Set out any affirmative defences (limitation period, incorrect amount, wrong defendant)
• Be signed by you or a lawyer/paralegal representing you

A paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Ontario can represent you in Ontario Small Claims Court matters. For Superior Court matters above the small claims threshold, you need a lawyer.

The Alternative to Responding: The Stay of Proceedings

If the debt in the statement of claim is real and you cannot afford to pay it, responding with a Statement of Defence only delays a judgment you will likely still lose. The more effective intervention — if the debt is legitimate but unaffordable — is filing a consumer proposal or bankruptcy through a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) before the deadline.

Under Section 69.3 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA), a filed consumer proposal triggers an automatic stay of proceedings that stops the civil lawsuit completely. The stay:

• Takes effect the moment the LIT files with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB)
• Stops the lawsuit regardless of what stage it is at
• Eliminates the response deadline — the lawsuit cannot proceed while the stay is in force
• Stops any judgment already obtained from being further enforced

The stay is statutory — not something the plaintiff agrees to. Once filed, the court action is stayed by operation of law. The plaintiff receives notice from the OSB.

If the debt is disputed (not yours, past the limitation period, wrong amount), filing a Statement of Defence and raising those arguments is the correct path. If the debt is legitimate but unaffordable, an LIT consultation within the 20-day window is the fastest resolution.

LIT consultations are free. The initial assessment covers the total debt situation, not just the statement of claim.