20 unusual side jobs in Canada that can help cover the bills

Someone in Canada will pay to have court papers handed to a person who is avoiding them. Someone else will pay a stranger to walk through their empty house every week while they winter in Arizona. Companies pay people to photograph supermarket shelves, and owners who live in another city pay someone to photograph their building site.

These are the side hustles that never make the usual lists, and several of them need no experience at all. Most won't replace a paycheque, but a few can cover a phone bill, a grocery run or a car payment, which is often what a side hustle is for.

For the more familiar options, see 15 real side hustles in Canada. Be ready for the part most articles skip: the hard bit is usually finding the first customer, not doing the work. Where nobody publishes reliable Canadian pay figures, the entry says so instead of making one up. If you want the quick picks, the easiest to start with no special skills are paid research studies, a pet-visit or odd-jobs profile on a platform that already has customers, and one mystery shop. If you can drive and don't mind awkward doorsteps, process serving is the strangest real trade on the list.

Jobs you probably didn't know existed

1. Process serving

Some court papers must be handed to a person directly, which is called personal service. In BC Supreme Court, a civil lawsuit's notice of claim has to be served this way. For family cases, Family Law in BC says you can ask a friend or relative who is 19 or older, or hire a professional process server. Either way, the server then signs an affidavit of personal service, a sworn statement saying who got the papers, when and where.

People pay because the person being served is often not eager to be found. One directory listing for a North Vancouver firm shows $65 to $85 per serve depending on the area. The listing is undated, and it's what a customer pays, so a subcontractor gets less. It's hard because of repeat attempts, evenings, tense moments and getting the affidavit exactly right. Start by asking local process-serving firms whether they use subcontractors. Verdict: situational, best for a reliable driver with flexible evenings.

2. Mystery shopping

You visit a store, restaurant or bank, or phone a company, and report how the service went. In Canada, Ipsos runs a platform called iShopFor. Registering is free, shoppers are paid only for completed shops, and the payment and reimbursement for each job are shown before you accept it. You need to be 18 or older, have a smartphone and have a PayPal account to get paid.

Pay per shop varies, and a $20 job that takes 45 minutes of travel plus an hour in and around the store works out to a modest hourly rate. Verdict: situational. It suits errands you already make.

3. Shelf audits and price checks

Brands want to know whether their product is on the shelf at the right price. Field Agent, which now redirects to the retail-intelligence company Storesight, pays people to photograph shelves through an app. Third-party reviewers describe single jobs paying roughly $3 to $20. Those reports aren't Canadian-specific and Storesight doesn't publish worker pay, so treat them as a rough guide. Photo recognition is slowly taking over some of this work. Verdict: probably not worth starting for income, though fine if you're already in the store.

4. Paid research studies

Companies pay people for their opinions: interviews, product tests, online focus groups. User Interviews, a research recruitment platform, says its average study pays over $45, and that online focus groups run 1 to 3 hours for $40 to $200 or more. It doesn't state a currency, and it describes its recruiting as worldwide without naming Canada, so sign up and see what you're matched with. You're picked only if you fit what the researcher wants. Verdict: worth trying, as a small bonus rather than steady income.

5. Apostille and document errands

An apostille is a certificate that lets another country accept a Canadian official document, such as a birth certificate or degree, without a longer chain of stamps. Canada joined the Hague Apostille Convention on January 11, 2024. Global Affairs Canada handles some documents, and some provinces issue apostilles for their own documents.

People pay because the steps are fiddly and they're often abroad. But Global Affairs Canada says you don't need a third-party company to submit a request, and its own processing time is listed at 25 business days, plus mailing. A helper adds value only by handling originals, mail and follow-up, and a mistake can cost your customer a visa deadline. You can't give legal advice, and no reliable pay figures exist. Verdict: probably not worth starting from scratch.

6. Vacant-home checks

You visit a home while its owner is away, usually weekly. You look for burst pipes, check the heat in winter, collect the mail and send a few photos. Snowbirds, landlords between tenants and people selling a house are the usual customers. No platform dominates and there are no reliable Canadian pay figures. Customers come through neighbours and local groups, and trust is everything because you hold a key. Look into insurance before you start. Verdict: situational.

7. Property and construction photos

An owner, lender or investor who lives elsewhere wants proof of what's happening at a build or rental. You take dated photos in a consistent pattern: foundation, framing, finishes. A decent phone camera is enough to start, but a drone brings Transport Canada rules and extra insurance. There's no published Canadian price list worth quoting. Customers are small builders, property managers and out-of-town owners. Verdict: situational.

Small services people pay for because they're inconvenient

8. Scanning and digitizing paper

People inherit boxes of files, and small offices still keep paper. You scan, label and file. It's repetitive and private, since you're handling tax and medical papers, and anyone can scan their own. No reliable rate data. Verdict: situational.

9. Organizing records

Sorting the shoebox of receipts before tax time, or helping a family find the papers an estate needs. The value is a calm person who knows what to keep, and you shouldn't advise on tax or legal questions. Verdict: situational.

10. In-home technology setup

Setting up a new phone, router or printer for someone who's stuck. The need is steady, especially among older adults. AI chat tools can walk some people through it, though many still prefer a human in the room. No reliable pay data. Verdict: worth trying if you're patient.

11. Furniture assembly and odd jobs

Taskrabbit operates in Canada, and its Canadian site shows customer starting prices of $47 for furniture assembly and $56 for mounting. Those are what customers pay, not what a Tasker receives, and Taskrabbit's public pages don't state the Tasker fee. The platform says Taskers are background checked and that Taskprotect offers up to $1,000 of coverage under its terms. You'll need your own tools and often a car. The platform brings the customers, which solves the hardest problem. Verdict: situational.

12. Pet visits

On Rover, pet owners book sitters and walkers. Rover's Canadian help pages say every sitter must pass a background check, and they describe a service fee taken from sitters' earnings, reported as 20% on one page and 15% on another, so check your own account. Owners pay a fee on top, listed as 11%. Demand peaks around holidays and summer, which suits a side income. Verdict: worth trying if you like animals.

13. Passport and ID photos

Pharmacies and photo shops already do this cheaply, and customers want it now. No reliable pay data. Verdict: probably not worth starting from scratch.

Skills you might already have

14. Small business bookkeeping

You record a small business's income and expenses, reconcile bank statements and prepare the books for the accountant. Job Bank puts the national median wage for bookkeepers at $28.02 an hour, with a range of about $19.55 to $45.07, from 2023 to 2024 survey data. Those are employee wages, not freelance rates. Accounting software automates much routine matching, so the paid work that remains is judgment: unusual transactions, missing receipts, keeping the owner honest. Customers come through referrals from accountants and other small business owners. Verdict: situational, best with a bookkeeping credential and one or two anchor clients.

15. Spreadsheet repair and invoice reconciliation

Fixing a broken spreadsheet or matching supplier invoices to payments. AI can build a simple spreadsheet in seconds, so basic work no longer pays. What's left is a messy file that matters to a business and a person who understands that business. No reliable pay data. Verdict: situational.

16. Translation

Job Bank puts the national median wage for translators at $33.95 an hour (about $20 to $51 across the range), based on 2023 to 2024 employee data. For a freelancer, plain French–English translation is the most exposed part, because machine translation is good enough for everyday text. High-stakes work such as legal and immigration documents has its own credentials and professional bodies in most provinces. Verdict: probably not worth starting from scratch unless you're credentialed or specialized.

17. Tax return preparation

A paid preparer can file returns electronically only after the CRA approves them for EFILE. Applying is free and needs a RepID, and the CRA says processing can take up to 30 business days. You also need certified software and the client's signature on a form authorizing the filing. Software and AI have cut the value of basic returns, so the money is in complicated situations, and the responsibility for accuracy and privacy is real. Verdict: situational, only if you're serious about learning.

18. French tutoring

Parents hire tutors for children in French immersion or French class, and adults prepare for work or exams. Language apps compete for beginners, but a patient human for conversation practice is still scarce. No reliable pay data. Neighbourhood groups and school communities are your best sources. Verdict: worth trying if you're fluent.

19. Small website fixes

Fixing a broken contact form or updating a restaurant's hours. Website builders and AI tools have made simple fixes cheap, so recurring care for a few local businesses beats one-off jobs. No reliable pay data. Verdict: probably not worth starting from scratch.

20. Renovation quote comparison

Reading three contractors' quotes side by side and flagging what's missing, such as permits, cleanup or a finish one quote leaves out. It's useful because a homeowner can't easily compare quotes, but you can't judge structural or electrical work you're not qualified to judge, and customers are hard to reach. Verdict: situational.

The comparison at a glance

These ratings are judgment calls based on the evidence above, not measured statistics. "Unknown" means no reliable Canadian pay figures were found.

What it adds up to

An advertised price is what a customer pays, not what you get. What counts is your pay for every hour you spend, including the driving, waiting and paperwork: (money earned − what it cost you) ÷ total hours.

Two hypothetical examples, to show the arithmetic and not as market averages. Say a firm pays $40 for a process serve, and you make two trips totalling 90 minutes with $9 of gas and parking. That's about $20.67 an hour. Say a mystery shop pays $20 plus a reimbursed $15 purchase, with 45 minutes of travel, 30 in the store and 30 writing the report, and $4 of gas. The reimbursement just repays you, so it isn't earnings, and the job comes to about $9.14 an hour.

At those rates, an extra $200 a month takes roughly 10 hours of process serving or 22 hours of mystery shopping, before you count the time spent finding the work.

Four ideas to cross off a beginner's list

Some side hustles circulate on lists as if you could start next month. In BC, these four can't be.

Notary public. Practising as a non-lawyer notary means joining the Society of Notaries Public of BC. You complete its Notary Education Program, and to be enrolled you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, hold the SFU Master of Arts in Applied Legal Studies or a Canadian law degree, complete an approved accounting course and agree to credit and criminal record checks. The program runs once a year.

Commissioner for taking affidavits. A commissioner can witness a sworn document. The BC government's program appoints people only for the specific purposes of their employment or volunteer work, and says commissioners can't provide commissioning services to the general public. The appointment costs $50 and takes at least 12 weeks. Lawyers and notaries public are commissioners because of their jobs. So this isn't a way to open a signing service in BC.

Marriage commissioner. BC appoints marriage commissioners only to fill posted vacancies in particular communities, and it doesn't make temporary appointments. The government sets the fee: $75 plus GST for a civil ceremony, including one hour of preparation, travel and the ceremony. It's a community role more than a side hustle.

Home inspector. In BC, home inspection requires a licence from Consumer Protection BC, with approved education and an approved exam, plus $1 million each of professional and general liability insurance. You take on professional responsibility for what you tell a buyer. Other provinces set their own rules, so check yours.

Which side jobs is AI making less profitable?

Work a chatbot or software can do in seconds is losing its price: generic translation, simple spreadsheets, basic website setup, routine admin and form-filling. Routine bookkeeping and basic tax preparation are also exposed, because software already does the matching and calculating. What's left is judgment about an unusual case, and being the person a client trusts.

Work that needs a body in a place has little direct exposure: handing over papers, checking a home, photographing a site, assembling a bookshelf. That doesn't make it pay well, since travel and waiting eat the hourly rate. Retail audits sit in between, because photo recognition is changing how much of that work is needed.

Finding your first assignment

Start with a place that already has customers. In Canada, that includes Ipsos iShopFor for mystery shopping, Storesight's Field Agent app for shelf checks, User Interviews for paid research, Taskrabbit for odd jobs and Rover for pet care. None guarantees work, and each decides which jobs you're offered. For process serving, call two or three local firms and ask about subcontracting. For everything else, tell neighbours, building groups and former colleagues exactly what you do. Try one job before you spend money on equipment, courses or ads.

How to spot a scam

• You're asked to pay first. A real mystery-shopping company doesn't charge you to become a shopper. Market Force says plainly that shoppers should never have to pay a fee.
• A cheque arrives and you're told to deposit it and send money elsewhere. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has described this pattern for years: the cheque looks real, the bank later finds it's fake, and you owe the money you sent.
• Someone wants you to receive or move money for a stranger. That's not a job.
• The offer arrives unsolicited and promises easy pay. Look for the company yourself rather than clicking a link in a text.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre takes reports at 1-888-495-8501.

Keep it legal

Self-employment income goes on your tax return, and the CRA's guide to business income explains what you can deduct. Keep your receipts for six years, as the CRA's record-keeping page says. You only need to register for GST/HST once your sales pass $30,000 in a single quarter or across four quarters in a row, under the CRA's small supplier rules. Many cities require a licence for a home-based business (Victoria lists $100 a year), and some services are regulated by the province. Ask your insurer whether your policy covers work, and read your employment contract for any rule about outside work.

Frequently asked questions

What are the easiest side hustles to start in Canada?

Paid research studies, a pet-visit or odd-jobs profile on a platform that already has customers, and mystery shopping, because you register and the customers are already there. Easy to start doesn't mean they pay well.

Can you make an extra $200 a month without a second job?

Often, yes, but check the hours. At a hypothetical $20 an hour, $200 takes about 10 hours a month. At $9 an hour, it takes about 22. Add the time you spend finding the work.

Do you need a business licence for a side hustle?

Often, yes. Many cities require a licence for a home-based business, and some provinces regulate specific services. Check with your city and with the regulator for your type of work.

Can you get paid to notarize documents in Canada?

Not casually. In BC, notary services come from lawyers and members of the Society of Notaries Public, which requires a professional education program. The provincial commissioner program appoints people only for their own work and says they can't serve the general public. Rules differ by province, so check your own.

Which side hustles are least affected by AI?

Jobs that need you physically present: delivering papers, checking a home, assembling furniture, visiting pets. They're hard to automate, but they pay only what your time and travel allow.