Help people do the everyday things illness or injury took away: dressing, driving, working, living at home.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$96,000
New grad
$75,000
Senior hospital or private assessor
$114,000
Job Bank's median is $46 an hour, about $96,000 a year full time, with a spread of roughly $36 to $55 an hour. Hospital OTs (occupational therapists) sit on the same union grids as physiotherapists. Private insurance and injury work bills higher.
$36 to $40 an hour
About $75,000 to $83,000 a year full time
Hospitals and home care agencies hire most new grads. Alberta and BC public jobs pay near the top of the range.
$100 to $150 an hour
Billed for insurance assessments, home safety visits and return-to-work plans
In Ontario, car insurance rehab is a big private market for OTs (occupational therapists). Experienced assessors and small-firm owners earn well over $100,000.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a four year undergraduate degree and a two year master of science in occupational therapy at the cheaper end of Canadian tuition, plus the NOTCE (the national occupational therapy certification exam) and your first year of provincial college registration. The high end is the same six years at higher tuition. The master's degree is required, so there is no shorter route into this job. Registration is an annual fee for as long as you practise, and clinical placements are unpaid.
Total tuition around $50,000 to $75,000. Similar to physio, and slightly less competitive to enter.
Pension
HOOPP (the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan) or a provincial equivalent in hospitals and home care.
Union grid and extended health
In public jobs.
Daytime, weekday hours
Few nights or weekends compared with nursing.
Part-time and contract options
Easy to mix a hospital job with private work.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A bachelor's degree, then a 2-year professional master's.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, English, a social science. OT (occupational therapy) programs like both science and people skills.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Any degree with the prerequisites, usually anatomy, physiology, psychology and statistics. Kinesiology, psychology and health science are common.
MScOT (master of science in occupational therapy)
2 years
Two years including about 1,000 hours of fieldwork in hospitals, community and mental health settings. Around 14 programs in Canada.
NOTCE (national occupational therapy certification exam)
After graduation
A written national exam run by CAOT (the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists). Required in every province except Quebec.
Register with your provincial college
A few weeks
For example the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario. Then you can use the title.
Biology
Anatomy and the nervous system come up constantly.
English
You write a lot of reports and care plans.
Psychology or social sciences
Mental health is a big part of the field.
Math
Statistics shows up in the degree.
Occupational therapist is a protected title in every province. You register with your provincial college after passing the NOTCE (national occupational therapy certification exam). Registration moves between provinces with paperwork. Quebec has its own order and exam requirements and works in French.
Around 14 accredited programs in Canada. A few examples:
University of Toronto, McMaster, Western, Queen's, University of Ottawa
Ontario
UBC (University of British Columbia)
British Columbia
University of Alberta, University of Manitoba
Prairies
McGill, Université de Montréal, Laval, Dalhousie
Quebec and Atlantic Canada
Things you don't need, but that help.
Certified hand therapist (CHT)
An extra exam after 3 years of practice; hand clinics and surgeons pay for it.
Driver rehabilitation
Assessing whether people with injuries or dementia can still drive. Specialized and in short supply.
Mental health
Hospitals and community teams; a growing share of the profession.
Ergonomics and return-to-work
Insurers, WSIB (Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) and employers pay for this.
Volunteer with seniors, kids with disabilities or a rehab unit
Shadow an OT (occupational therapist)
Most programs want observation hours and ask about them.
Practical hands: building, sewing, fixing
OTs (occupational therapists) adapt equipment and homes.
Patience
Many OTs (occupational therapists) work outside hospitals: visiting homes, assessing stairs and bathrooms, ordering wheelchairs and lifts. You drive a lot, work alone, and see the real conditions people live in. It pays about the same as hospital work and often comes with a car allowance.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Hospital: assess a stroke patient's ability to dress and make a meal, fit a wheelchair, run a memory screen, then argue for a safe discharge at the team meeting. Community: 4 or 5 home visits across the city, measuring doorways, testing bath rails, teaching a caregiver. Evenings are for reports.
The good
The hard parts
Like the field but not this exact job?
Things people don't tell you.
In OT (occupational therapy), an occupation is anything you need or want to do: eat, dress, work, play, drive. The job is making those possible again.
Canada's first occupational therapy training started at the University of Toronto in 1918, to help wounded soldiers recover through work and craft.
Occupational therapists run the driving assessments used after a stroke, brain injury or a dementia diagnosis. Their report can end or restore a person's licence.
In most hospitals OTs (occupational therapists) and physiotherapists are paid on the same union grid, and the two professions train and work side by side.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.