Which document wins if the illustration and the policy disagree?
The policy contract wins. An illustration is a sales and disclosure document produced before issue; the contract is the agreement itself, and where the two differ the contract decides. This matters most when a rider, a payment schedule or a coverage amount arrives worded differently from the proposal, because the version on your desk is the one administered.
What kind of answer this is
- Claim type: Contract fact
- Jurisdiction: Contract dependent
That the contract governs is standard in Canadian policy wording. Whether a particular difference is an error or a design change is a question for the insurer in writing.
How it works
A proposal is built months before issue, on figures supplied then and on a design nobody had underwritten. The contract is assembled once the medical file closes and the amount is fixed, and it is what both parties sign up to. Every Canadian contract carries a clause saying exactly that.
The cost or the catch
The cost is that nobody reads the delivered package, so a difference sits undiscovered until a claim or a change exposes it, long after the window for raising it closed. Reading the schedule page against the proposal takes ten minutes, and they are the only ten minutes in which a mistake is free.
Where this answer may not apply
- A difference caused by an underwriting decision is not an error at all, and the revised rating or exclusion will have arrived with its own notice.
- Where a representation induced the purchase, the remedy sits in provincial insurance law and in the courts rather than in the wording, and that is a question for a lawyer.
- The examination or free look window in your province may still be open, and it is the only period in which stepping back costs nothing.
- Some insurers issue an amended illustration with the contract, which supersedes the earlier one without either being wrong.
What to verify in your own contract
- The coverage amount, the payment schedule and every rider name on the contract schedule page, read against the proposal you signed.
- The date the examination window opens and the day it closes, which is printed with the delivered contract.
- Any amendment or endorsement bound into the back of the contract, which is where a change usually sits.
- A written answer from the insurer, obtained through the representative, on any line that does not match.
Continue to the full explanation
Prepare for an existing policy review.
Sources
- The policy contract wording and its schedule page, insurer specific, verified 2026-08-30
- Autorité des marchés financiers, information for consumers, verified 2026-08-30
Accountability and disclosure
- Written by
- José Salloum
- Professional capacity
- Financial security advisor, Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial
- Reviewed by
- Insurance and contract education tier, reviewed under a licensed insurance professional's own authority
- Jurisdiction
- Contract dependent
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30
- Version
- 1.0
- Compensation disclosure
- Canadian Wealth Creation Centre Inc., operating as IBC Financial, may receive insurer paid compensation if a policy is purchased. It takes the form of first year compensation followed by renewal compensation, and the amount varies by insurer, product, age, premium, contract design, riders and the arrangement with the managing general agency. No single figure would describe every contract honestly, and none is published here.
- Report a correction
- Info@ibcfinancial.com. Write without a policy number, medical information or account details.
Last reviewed 2026-08-30. By Jose Salloum, Financial Security Advisor.