http://www.firearmstraining.ca/main.htm

If you are thinking of getting you P.A.L. keep in mind that it takes 3 to 6 months for the paperwork to go through and if you want your restricted licence it might take longer. To all who are new to fire arms, dont think that the law knows best. Dont stop at the safty guidlines they give you, try to put as many locks on you fire arms as you can and keep your ammo locked up in a very safe place. You may be using them for your safty but it is your responsibility to keep others safe from your fire arms! If i cant get two locks on my guns i take them appart and they all get stored in my safe. I have 2 safes, one is for my guns and one is for ammo. My guns are as safe as I can make them!

Thanks I was needing that information. Regarding the waiting period - that would be after you take the course and the exam before you get your official paperwork back??

My husband has his PAL. There are courses all over the place.

For a non restricted gun - rifles, shotguns (as opposed to hand gun which is more involved)

It was a 2 day course - you can challenge the exams whenever you want - but if you fail, you fail.
The course was a weekend course - 8 hrs of hunter safety training on Sat, and 8 hrs of PAL training...
You need both, whether you hunt or not.

You do the exam at the end and they give you an application and certificate showing you did the course.
The application is quite detailed - you have to get two people who know you to sign that you are not a harm to yourself or others (not joking) and give their personal info. Basically, if you go crazy and shoot people, they will be held responsible.

The application then gets mailed away to Ministry - takes about 4 to 6 weeks to get your PAL.

There are tons of rules and regulations on gun safety and buying/handling/storing guns.
They teach you that on the course - how to make sure gun is safe, etc and give you a book with all of that for future reference.

Hope this helps you!

I don't think you NEED the hunting ed course for your PAL but if you intend to hunt it's better to do a one stop course to get both your PAL and hunting license. Restricted PAL will be an additional few hours.

no need for having the hunters ed with PAL, many people just choose to go shoot at ranges or even have a restricted for their job but wish not to hunt. At least that was the answer i was given and i took the course 3 weeks ago.

mason.

you take the course over a weekend and 3 weeks later you get your paperwork in the mail you then need to fill a few things out and get a pasport picture and send it away and it should take 3-6 months from that point. on your paper work you must have 2 people who have their P.A.L. to use as a refrences. its a long drawn out process and if you mess up your paper work it takes forever so check it over ten times before you send it away!

here is a link for the PAL form, tells you pretty much everything you need to know.

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/form-formulaire/pdfs/921-eng.pdf

It does indeed take a long time. Im in the Durham region too and i just sent away my paperwork and picture (just like a passport app) last thursday. I took both the restricted and non restricted course in Feb this year, it took until last week to get my test results stamped and sent back to me. I called the RCMP and asked how long it might take from today (the day i sent my completed app) until i get my card. With the 28 day waiting period where your app sits on a shelf it will be another 2 months.

Most instructors when i was searching for a course were fully booked for months, they say there has been more people this year trying to get their license then any other year they can remember in 20 years. My instructor said he thinks it might be something to do with 2012. I chuckled inside and said "Maybe so".

My instructor does each course in 1 day. He has a very well laid out classroom in his basement and a great variety of firearms to learn on. I did non restricted on one Sat and the restricted on the following Sat. Again all others were a full wknd for each course.

Heres a link to all instructors in Ontario:

http://fsesoi.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=12

I would hope first reason preppers are getting their PAL is to shoot at animals to eat rather than ..........something else.
I must admit though, when we heard about where they shot the bear in Burlington my first thought was "almost in range". Bear protection is something I hadn't thought would come up.