Small claims court limit by province.

Every jurisdiction's limit

Sources, read 24 September 2026: each jurisdiction's own court or government site — ontariocourts.ca, gov.bc.ca, albertacourts.ca, sasklawcourts.ca, Manitoba Courts, quebec.ca, gnb.ca, courts.ns.ca, PEI's Supreme Court small claims rules, court.nl.ca, yukoncourts.ca and nwtcourts.ca. Nunavut's $20,000 figure could not be confirmed against nunavutcourts.ca in this build (the site returned no result on both known small-claims URLs) and is carried from third-party legal directories only — verify before relying on it. Filing fees are confirmed only for Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick; other jurisdictions' fees are not shown because they were not independently confirmed.

How to use the small claims limit checker

Pick the province or territory where you would file and, if you like, type the amount you are claiming. The tool shows that jurisdiction’s monetary limit, the court that hears the claim and the base filing fee where the fee has been confirmed. If you entered an amount, it tells you either how much room you have under the limit or that your claim is over it. The table above lists all thirteen jurisdictions, from highest limit to lowest, with a flag on any figure that could not be confirmed against an official source.

What the limit means

A small claims limit is the largest claim a court in that province will hear under its simplified procedure. It is a cap on the amount you claim, not a promise that you will win that much. Provinces and territories set their own figures, so there is no single Canadian number, and the limits have been rising: Ontario moved from $35,000 to $50,000 on 1 October 2025, Alberta from $50,000 to $100,000 on 1 August 2023 and Saskatchewan from $30,000 to $50,000 on 1 April 2024, according to the sources recorded on this page. Always check the date next to a figure before relying on a website, because many pages still carry the old numbers.

Worked examples

• A $42,000 unpaid invoice in Ontario. The limit is $50,000, so the claim is within it, with $8,000 of headroom. The Government of Ontario says you can sue in Small Claims Court for money or the return of personal property, and that you do not need a lawyer or paralegal.
• A $60,000 claim in Ontario. This is $10,000 over the limit. Ontario’s guidance says that if you are owed more you can still file in Small Claims Court if you give up the amount over $50,000, and that larger claims go to the Superior Court of Justice. Giving up the excess means you cannot recover it later.
• A $4,000 dispute in British Columbia. Most small claims up to $5,000 go to the online Civil Resolution Tribunal, not to a courtroom. Provincial Court Small Claims handles claims up to $35,000. The same $4,000 claim in Alberta would be in the Alberta Court of Justice Civil division, whose maximum is $100,000.
• An $18,000 claim in Quebec. The Small Claims Division limit is $15,000 before interest. Quebec’s government says you can reduce the claim to $15,000 or less so it can be heard there, and you must state in your application that you reduced it. You cannot split one debt into several claims to get under the cap.

The steps once you are inside the limit

The details vary by province, so use Ontario as an illustration of the general shape. The Ontario guidance describes six steps: decide whether to sue and whether you could collect; file a Plaintiff’s Claim with the court; serve the defendant within six months; wait for the defendant, who has 20 days to file a defence; attend a settlement conference if the claim is disputed, then trial if there is no agreement; and enforce any judgment through garnishment or seizure if the defendant does not pay. Winning a judgment does not by itself collect the money, so think about whether the other side can pay before you spend time and fees.

Time limits

Ontario states that a claim generally cannot be filed more than two years after the incident, under the Limitations Act, 2002. Other provinces have their own limitation periods and exceptions, and this checker does not list them. If a deadline might be close, check the rule for your province or ask a lawyer or legal clinic before you do anything else.

What fees look like

Ontario charges an infrequent claimant $108 to start a claim and a frequent claimant $228, with a frequent claimant defined as someone who has filed 10 or more claims in the calendar year. Ontario’s fee page also lists later steps, for example $308 for an infrequent claimant to set a hearing date and $94 to request default judgment, and says you may ask for a fee waiver if you cannot afford the fees. The checker shows confirmed base fees for Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick only. For other jurisdictions the fee is deliberately blank rather than guessed.

What this checker does not do

It does not decide whether you have a good claim, whether your case belongs in small claims at all (for example, some disputes over land or defamation are excluded in some provinces), how interest or costs are counted against the cap, or what your time limit is. Saskatchewan, for example, says disputes involving title to land, slander, libel, bankruptcy, false imprisonment or malicious prosecution must go to a higher court. The one limit that could not be confirmed against an official site, Nunavut’s $20,000, is flagged in the table. This page is general information and not legal advice. For related tools see the date calculator for counting days between dates and the child support calculator for family-law amounts.