Deadlines · 8 min read
The deadlines that quietly end claims
A limitation period is a hard stop: miss it and a claim that would have succeeded is simply over, regardless of merit. Most Canadians have heard "two years". Far fewer have heard about the notice requirements measured in days that sit in front of it.
Reviewed May 2026The basic limitation period
Most common-law provinces apply a basic two-year period running from the day the claim was discovered, with a longer ultimate bar that runs regardless of discovery. Québec applies a three-year prescription for most bodily-injury claims. Discovery is the subtle part: the clock starts when you knew, or reasonably ought to have known, that you had been injured, that someone was responsible, and that a proceeding was an appropriate remedy. That is not always the date of the accident.
Notice periods: the real trap
Layered in front of the limitation period are statutory notice requirements — obligations to give written notice within days or weeks, failing which the claim may be barred no matter how strong it is. These vary by province and by defendant, and they are the reason a good file gets assessed immediately rather than "sometime in the next year".
- Claims against municipalities for road or sidewalk disrepair, where notice is commonly measured in days.
- Winter falls on private premises, where some provinces impose a specific written-notice requirement for snow and ice.
- Claims against provincial Crowns, transit authorities, school boards and hospitals, each with their own regime.
- Auto insurance benefits, where notification and application deadlines run from the accident date and are short.
- Denied benefits and disability decisions, where internal review and appeal windows expire long before any limitation period.
In some disability claims the limitation clock can start at the first denial rather than the final one — meaning a year spent politely working through internal appeals can consume the very time you needed. This is one of the most common ways a valid claim dies quietly.
When the ordinary rules do not apply
- Minors: limitation periods are generally suspended until the age of majority, which is why childhood injury claims can be brought many years later.
- Persons under disability: periods may be postponed while a person is incapable of bringing a claim.
- Fraudulent concealment: where a defendant hid the facts, courts have discretion.
- Sexual assault and certain claims: several provinces have removed limitation periods entirely.
What to do if you think you are late
Do not assume you are out of time and stop. Discovery arguments, postponement, and the specific date the period began are all live legal questions, and people write off valid claims on a calendar calculation that turns out to be wrong. Get it assessed. It costs nothing, and it takes a lawyer minutes to tell you where you stand.
Equally: do not treat a two-year period as two years of room. Evidence degrades, witnesses move, footage overwrites, and firms with any judgment decline files brought to them with weeks remaining because they cannot be built properly in that time.