How to access online services for environmental permissions

To access online services for environmental permissions, you need to:

  • create your My Ontario Account
  • set up your profile to create your ministry account

There are 2 ways to sign-in through your My Ontario Account to access online services for environmental permissions:

  • sign in with a user ID and password
  • sign in with a sign-in partner

If this is your first time accessing environmental permissions online, select Access Environmental Permissions from the Online services for environmental permissions landing page and follow the steps for the option you prefer.

Option 1: Sign in with a user ID and password

  1. Create a My Ontario Account using your email address and create a password.
  2. You will get an email asking you to verify your account. You have 1 hour to start the activation. If you don’t see the email in your inbox, check your junk or spam folder.
  3. Once you complete the activation, you will be taken to Online services for environmental permissions.

Option 2: Sign in with a sign-in partner

  1. Click the Sign-in Partner button and select a sign-in partner from the list provided.
    • If you chose a banking sign-in partner, an online banking session is not opened as part of this process. No confidential information will be shared with the sign-in partner or the Ontario government.
  2. Enter your email address. A verification code will be sent to your email. You will have 5 minutes to verify your email by entering the verification code.
  3. Once you complete the verification, your My Ontario Account will be created and you will be taken to Online services for environmental permissions.

If you have an existing profile and an existing ONe-key ID

If you created a profile prior to July 18, 2020, and have not used it since this date, you will need to create a new My Ontario Account and link it to your profile. Learn more about profile recovery.

Ministry profiles

There are 3 types of profiles you can set up under your ministry account:

  1. Business
  2. Individual
  3. Representative

In some circumstances, you may need to have multiple profiles if you need to access environmental permissions services as an individual in addition to your business. Learn more about multiple profiles.

Business profile

A business profile is required by every company or organization that needs to submit an environmental permission or a post-approval report for their business. This includes:

  • sole proprietor
  • partnership
  • corporation
  • co-operative
  • municipality
  • not-for-profit organization

There can only be 1 ministry business profile per company. The business accountable person must have legal authority to bind the company and will be required to attest to the information in the submission.

We recommend discussing who in your organization will create your business profile and who will have a representative profile. A business profile can have multiple representative profiles linked to it.

If your organization is medium or large and has multiple departments that may need to obtain an environmental permission, you should consider using a central office to create the business profile.

Learn more about what you need to set up your business profile.

If you have someone working on your behalf, such as a consultant or member of your business, they can be linked to your business profile. Learn more about how to manage representatives. Learn more about how to manage your representatives.

Individual profile

An Individual profile is required if you need to submit an environmental permission under your personal name. For example, to apply for a pesticide exterminator licence or a Permit to Take Water (PTTW).

Learn about what you need to set up your individual profile.

If you have someone working on your behalf, such as a consultant, they can be linked to your individual profile and complete the necessary work. Learn more about how to manage your representatives.

Representative profile

A representative profile is required for a consultant, qualified person or employee working on behalf of a business or individual.

You must have your own representative profile if you are a consultant, qualified person or employee.

Once you set up your representative profile, you can link your profile to a business or individual profile to complete work on their behalf. As a representative, you can perform tasks based on the permission types, access level and roles that have been granted to you.

Learn more about what you need to set up your representative profile.

How to set up your profile

When setting up your profile, you will be asked question(s) to help you set up the correct business, representative or individual profile. Based on your selections, the system will determine your profile type.

If a profile already exists for the information you provided, you will be prompted to complete a profile reset or profile recovery to regain access to your profile. Learn more about profile reset and profile recovery.

What you need to set up your business profile

Here is a checklist of items to keep handy as you complete the profile setup process:

  • Physical address and mailing address information.
  • Legal name of the business (as registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The legal name is case sensitive).
  • 9-digit business number (as registered with the CRA, if applicable).
  • Postal code of the physical address (as registered with CRA. Enter all capitals with no spaces).
  • Business ownership type (as registered with the CRA).
  • Information for the business accountable person, including name, email and phone number.
  • Information for the contact person (if different than the business accountable person), including name, email, and phone number.

A 9-digit Business Number (GST/HST Number) is issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for businesses that qualify. If you qualify for a Business Number, you will need to register your business with the CRA at 1-800-959-5525 or online before you enroll with the ministry.

What you need to set up your individual profile

Here is a checklist of items to keep handy as you complete the profile setup process:

  • your personal contact information, including name, email and phone number
  • your physical address and mailing address

The physical address refers to the location of your administration, corporate or head office (business office). If your business office is represented by more than 1 adjacent address, the civic or survey address should represent the physical location of your front door main entrance.

What you need to set up your representative profile

Here is a checklist of items to keep handy as you complete the profile setup process:

  • your personal contact information including name, email and phone number
  • your physical address and mailing address

The physical address refers to the location of your administration, corporate or head office (business office). If your business office is represented by more than 1 adjacent address, the civic or survey address should represent the physical location of your front door main entrance.

Manage representatives

You can link a representative profile to a business or individual profile. Once the profiles are linked, you can grant different permission types, access levels and roles so your representative can complete work on your behalf.

This means you can have different representatives carry out different tasks related to your submission. For example, 1 representative could complete part of the application, while another can pay the required fees.

Roles available for representatives

Representatives can be granted full access or custom access in the system for each permission type, depending on the type of work they need to complete.

Only an individual that has the authority to legally bind the company or organization should attest to applications and registrations, not consultants who are hired by the company.

Full access

A representative with full access can:

  • view all applications, submissions, registrations, permits or licenses associated with the profile
  • manage or remove other representatives with custom access
  • create, update, view, attest to applications, registrations and certify applicable technical sub-sections
  • delete environmental permissions and Sites (such as Brownfields, ECA, PTTW, EASR or Pesticides)
  • pay for environmental permissions

Representatives with full access do not have permission to edit business information in a business profile.

Custom access

If you do not want a representative to have full access to your ministry profile, you should provide custom access.

For example, a business or individual may want their consultant to create an EASR registration, but not have the ability to attest to the registration or see other applications related to their business.

A representative with customized access can:

  • only view applications, submissions, registrations, permits and licences that they created or had directly assigned to them
  • perform tasks on behalf of a business or individual according to the roles granted, including:
    • creating, updating, viewing, assigning and attesting to applications and registrations
    • certifying applicable technical sub-sections
    • deleting
  • pay for environmental permissions

How to link profiles

To link profiles, the representative must initiate the process while logged into their profile.

  1. Visit the Manage access tab and search for the business or individual profile you wish to link to.  
  2. Select the permission type(s), access level and roles you wish to be granted.
  3. The profile linkage request will be sent by email to the contact for the business or individual profile. This could be the business accountable person or representatives with full access, if applicable.

Once the profile linkage email request is sent, the business or individual contact (or a representative with full access, if applicable) must decide on the request:

  • When you are notified a profile link was requested, visit either the:
    • Manage representative tab, if you are in a business profile
    • Manage access tab, if you are in a representative profile with full access
  • There are 2 options you can choose:
    • Approve the request as is, or if necessary, you can edit the assigned permission type, access level and roles before approving
    • Cancel the request

Once the request is approved:

  • the profiles will be linked
  • the representative will be notified of the decision by email
  • the representative can complete work according to the permission type(s), access level and roles granted

Changing or removing representative access

At any time, changes to permission type(s), access level or roles can be:

  • requested by the representative
  • changed by the business or individual

The business or individual, or a representative with full access, can remove representative access at any time.

How to manage your account

How to update your My Ontario Account settings

You can update certain My Ontario Account settings by selecting My Ontario Account in your profile. You will be able to:

  • update your email address
  • change your password
  • add or remove email verification

Multiple profiles

You may need to have multiple profiles if you need to access environmental permissions services as an individual, in addition to getting permissions for your business.

How to add multiple profiles

  • Visit the Profile tab and select ‘Add a new Profile’.
  • This will take you to online services for environmental permissions where you will answer the questions to set up your new profile.
  • Once you successfully created the new profile, you will need to log back into environmental permission services again to select the profile you would like to access.

How to select a different profile

If you have multiple profiles associated with your account, your profiles will be shown in a list. You can choose 1 of these profiles to use when browsing the platform.

If you want to change the profile you’re currently using, you need to:

  • Log out of environmental permissions.
  • Log in to environmental permissions again.
  • Select the other profile you want to use.

My Ontario Account password recovery

If you have forgotten the password you use to sign in through My Ontario Account, you can reset your password by selecting “Forgot your password?” on the sign in page. You will receive an email at the email address you used to sign in with instructions on how you can reset your password.

If you cannot access the email you used to sign in, you can recover your profile through a profile reset or profile recovery.

Profile reset and profile recovery

How to reset an individual or representative profile

If you are an individual or representative, you may need to recover your profile if you:

  • forgot your My Ontario Account login credentials
  • are unable to reset the password for your My Ontario Account
  • only used the sign-in partner to access environmental permission services and your banking information has changed

To recover your profile, you should create a new My Ontario Account using a new email address. When you set up your profile, provide the same information you used when you first created your profile. You will receive a message saying ‘profile reset or profile recovery required’.

If you have access to the displayed email, select 'Send code' to be sent a code to regain access to your profile. If you do not have access to the email, contact us for next steps.

How to recover a business profile

You may need to recover your business profile if:

  • you forgot your My Ontario Account login credentials
  • you are unable to reset the password for your My Ontario Account
  • you only used the sign-in partner to access environmental permission services and your banking information has changed
  • the account creator left the organization and did not share the My Ontario Account login credentials
  • the account creator left the organization and only used the sign-in partner to access environmental permission services
  • someone else from the organization is attempting to gain access to the business profile

To begin the profile recovery process, you should create a new My Ontario Account using a new email address. When you set up your business profile, provide the same information you used when you first created your profile. If a profile does exist, you will be prompted with the message ‘profile reset or profile recovery required’.

If you are the business accountable person on file and have access to the displayed email, click 'Send code' to be sent a code to regain access to your profile.

If you are not the original creator or cannot access the profile, click 'Continue' to complete the profile recovery form.

The ministry will review the profile recovery form and provide you with next steps to recover the business profile.

Contact us

For more information, you can contact the Client Services and Permissions Branch: