Ontario fish licensing rules updated: outdoors cards, cross-border fishing rights, and language modernized

Plain-language summary · AI-assisted · not legal advice

A package of amendments to Ontario's fish licensing regulation makes several practical changes taking effect in mid-2026. The definition of 'outdoors card' is broadened so that a card identified on a licence summary counts as an outdoors card, and the licence summary itself is updated to also cover falconry licences and outdoors cards — not just fishing and hunting licences. The temporary carry-the-paper-copy workaround (for people awaiting their physical outdoors card in the mail) is being removed, meaning anglers will need to have their actual card or a qualifying document. Cross-border fishing rights are updated: Manitoba residents fishing specified Ontario border waters must now carry an 'angling licence' (replacing the old 'regular fishing licence' reference), the list of eligible Manitoba lakes is revised, and Quebec residents with valid Quebec sport fishing licences are formally recognized as able to fish in specified Ontario boundary waters. Active Canadian Forces members can now use a Temporary Identification Card (NDI 10) — in addition to the existing NDI 20 — as their deemed fishing licence, while veterans' eligibility is narrowed to the Veteran's Service Card only. The two species (Round Goby and Tubenose Goby) that require a licence to buy or sell are reclassified as 'invasive species' rather than 'fish that do not exist in Ontario waters.' Throughout, gendered pronouns are replaced with gender-neutral language.

Who this affects: sport anglers in Ontario · Manitoba and Quebec residents fishing Ontario boundary waters · Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans · commercial bait licence holders · fish transporters