Do I need to take the hunting safety course before applying for my PAL

[Petamocto]

...It's not so much "proving them safe" but "proving them unloaded".

I'll grant you that, but for the vast majority of people that's 90% of the battle. Unless you're hunting (which you need a separate course for anyway), the only time you should ever have ammo in the firearm is when you're ready to shoot it, anyway.