Royal Patronage and Title "Royal"

Criteria for Royal patronage

Criteria applied by the Department of Canadian Heritage in preparing the advice to the Governor General on Royal patronage are as follows:

the organization must provide services on a national, or at least regional basis;
it must have been in existence for at least five years;
it must have an active program which it pursues every year;
be solvent; and
it must have aims and objectives that will earn the approval of the person from whom patronage is requested.

Requests should be sent to:

Office of the Governor General
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A1

See the list of Canadian organizations which have received Royal patronage.

Criteria applied by the Department of Canadian Heritage in studying requests and preparing the advice to the Governor General:

An organization seeking the use of the title “Royal” must:

Be of pre-eminence in their field;
Be of long standing (at least 25 years old);
Be in a secure financial position;
Be registered as a non-profit organization under the Income Tax Act;
Have an artistic, scientific or philanthropic mandate (please note that, today, the title “royal” is only granted to sporting organizations on an exceptional basis);
Provide services on at least a regional basis.

Requests should be sent to:

Office of the Governor General
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A1

See the list of civilian organizations with the title "Royal".