Guides
Canadian Videography Insurance Requirements: Client Demands
Canadian videography insurance requirements often come from venue and client contracts; workers’ compensation and insurance oversight vary by province.
What to take away
- Most Canadian venues and corporate clients ask for CAD $2 million in commercial general liability, and some ask for $5 million.
- Wedding work usually needs general liability plus equipment cover; corporate work usually adds certificates naming the client as additional insured.
- Wedding videography insurance cost runs roughly $400 to $1,200 a year for a solo operator, depending on revenue and equipment value.
- Corporate clients often demand a certificate before the shoot date, and slow paperwork is the most common reason a booking stalls.
- Provincial rules differ on whether you must carry workers' compensation cover for a second shooter.
The two client segments
Canadian videography insurance requirements for ordinary shoots are usually contractual: CGL is generally not a legal condition of operating a videography business, and there is no Canada-wide statutory minimum liability limit. Venues and clients set the limits they require. A wedding client is a couple paying from personal funds. A corporate client is a business paying from an operating budget, and that business usually has a risk department that wants paper before anyone signs.
The coverage itself is similar. The demands around it are not. A couple rarely asks to see a policy. A procurement officer will ask for a certificate, a named insured clause and sometimes a waiver of subrogation.
That difference drives cost and admin time more than the shooting does.
The criteria that matter
Wedding work
- Typical liability limit
- CAD $2 million
- Certificate requested
- Sometimes, by venue
- Additional insured
- Rare
- Equipment cover
- Essential
- Errors and omissions
- Rarely requested
- Workers' comp for crew
- Depends on province
Corporate work
- Typical liability limit
- CAD $2 million to $5 million
- Certificate requested
- Almost always, before the date
- Additional insured
- Common
- Equipment cover
- Useful
- Errors and omissions
- Sometimes requested
- Workers' comp for crew
- Often checked
General liability covers bodily injury and property damage on site. Professional liability, also called errors and omissions, covers claims that your work caused a financial loss. The basics of business insurance explain how those two sit apart.
Wedding videography insurance cost
For a solo operator in Ontario or British Columbia, general liability at $2 million commonly runs $400 to $1,200 a year. Treat that as an illustrative range, not a quote. Equipment floaters add roughly 1 to 3 per cent of the insured gear value per year.
Wedding Videography Insurance Costs
- $400–$1,200annual general liability, $2M, solo operator
- 1–3%equipment floater, of insured gear value per year
- $2Mtypical hotel ballroom limit, Toronto or Vancouver
- $5Mmunicipal facility limit
A second shooter changes the maths. In provinces with mandatory workers' compensation, you may need to register and pay premiums on that person's earnings. Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia all run their own boards with different thresholds.
Commercial insurance oversight is also provincial. Examples include the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), and Quebec's Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). Check the regulator for the province where the policy is issued for insurer or broker licensing and complaint information.
Venues drive the limit. A hotel ballroom in Toronto or Vancouver often names $2 million in its contract. A municipal facility may ask for $5 million.
Corporate videography insurance Canada
Corporate buyers usually want a certificate of insurance listing the client as additional insured, and they want it days before the shoot, not on the morning of. There is no single government-prescribed certificate form for every Canadian client. Ask your broker what certificate and policy endorsement the client requires; a certificate alone does not amend the policy or grant additional-insured status.
Some add a waiver of subrogation, which stops your insurer from pursuing the client after a claim. Others ask for primary and non-contributory wording. These are contract terms, not policy features, and your broker has to endorse them.
Agencies working for a large client will pass the same demands down to you. Read the clause before you quote, because endorsements can take a week.
If a corporate client asks for $5 million and a waiver of subrogation, price the admin time into the quote rather than absorbing it.
Where each one wins
Wedding work wins on simplicity. You carry one policy, you rarely issue certificates, and the couple cares about the film, not the paperwork.
Corporate work wins on margin and repeat business. A single client can book quarterly shoots, and the insurance cost spreads across more days.
If you shoot both, keep the corporate policy limit as your baseline. It covers weddings too. The reverse is not true.
For cross-border jobs, read cross-border shoots between the US and Canada, because a US client may demand limits and wording that a Canadian policy does not automatically provide.
What none of them solve
Neither policy covers a lost hard drive, a missed ceremony or a client who refuses to pay. Those are contract and backup problems.
Insurance also does not cover drone flights outside the rules. Transport Canada sets the legal requirements for commercial drone use, and a claim from an illegal flight can be denied. The Canadian Aviation Regulations, Part IX set those limits.
Neither segment solves the GST/HST question either. Coverage is a cost of doing business, and GST/HST obligations for a videography business in Canada explain how to handle that side.
Checking your own file
- List every venue and corporate client you booked in the last year.
- Note the limit and wording each one demanded in writing.
- Compare that list against your current policy limits and endorsements.
- Ask your broker for the certificate turnaround time in writing.
- Add the admin cost to your corporate quotes.
- Certificate template saved and ready to send
- Additional insured endorsement confirmed with broker
- Workers' compensation registration checked for your province
- Drone flights logged and within Transport Canada rules
If you subcontract editing or second shooting, videography day rate vs project rate covers how those arrangements affect your margin and your exposure.
Example
A two-person studio in Calgary quotes a corporate shoot at $6,500. The client's contract asks for $5 million liability, additional insured and a waiver of subrogation. The broker charges $180 for the endorsement and takes four business days. The studio adds $250 to the quote and sends the certificate nine days before the shoot. The booking holds.
The same studio shoots a wedding the following week. The venue asks for $2 million, which the existing policy already meets. No endorsement, no extra cost.
