Only registrants with a Canadian presence can hold a .ca: citizens, permanent residents, Canadian corporations and a few other groups. Register it to the business itself, under its exact legal name and the matching registrant type.

A Canadian address with conditions

A .ca address looks like any other domain ending, and most Canadian businesses register one without reading the rules. They qualify without trying.

But the registry that runs .ca only accepts holders with a Canadian presence, and it records exactly who the holder is and what kind of holder they are.

That record decides who owns the address. Not the business named on the website, not whoever pays the renewals: the registrant.

Most of the time the registrant is the business, and nothing more needs thinking about. The trouble starts when it is someone else, or when the business itself does not qualify.

Who qualifies

The fifth is the narrow door for companies based elsewhere. It allows a .ca only for an address containing the exact words of the registered trademark, not for anything else the company might like.

When the parent company is abroad

A company incorporated in another country cannot hold a .ca in its own name. Registering to do business in a province does not change that; it is still a foreign corporation.

The usual answer is a Canadian subsidiary, a company formed under federal or provincial law, which qualifies like any other Canadian corporation and can hold the address for the group.

The other is the trademark route. A parent that owns a trademark registered in Canada can hold a .ca that contains the exact words of that mark, and no address without them.

The shortcut that backfires

When neither route seems quick, someone local registers the address in their own name: the branch manager, an employee, the owner's relative.

It works, and the site goes live. But the registry now records that person as the holder, with every right that comes with it.

Changing the registrant later needs their cooperation. If they have left, fallen out with the business or simply cannot be found, the business is asking for an address it never held.

The same happens, more innocently, when a sole proprietor registers the address personally and later incorporates. The new company uses the domain, but does not own it until someone moves it across.

Matching the registrant type to the business

Every .ca registration records a registrant type: Canadian citizen, permanent resident, corporation, partnership and so on. The name beside it should be the exact legal name of that person or organisation.

For a corporation, that means the name on the incorporation documents, including Ltd. or Inc., or the number of a numbered company trading under another name. A trading name is not a legal person and cannot hold anything.

A business name entered as a Canadian citizen, or a person entered as a corporation, may not stand up when it matters.

The registry can ask a holder to show that it qualifies, and a registration that does not meet the requirements can be cancelled.

A worked example

A security guard company providing site patrols and event staff in the Lower Mainland is the Canadian arm of a firm based in Washington State. It operates through a company incorporated in BC.

When the Canadian website was set up, the head office's technical team tried to register the .ca in the parent company's name and could not.

To get the site live that week, the branch manager registered it in his own name, as a Canadian citizen.

It worked for six years. Then he announced his retirement, and a handover checklist asked who held the domain.

Legally, he did. The website, every staff email address and the address printed on every contract depended on a registration in one employee's name.

He was glad to help. Through the registrar, he authorised a change of registrant to the BC company, entered under its exact legal name as a corporation, and head office was added as a contact.

It took a few days. Had he left on bad terms, it would have needed his cooperation all the same.

What the public lookup shows

Anyone can look up a .ca address on the registry's own lookup page, or through most registrars.

It shows the registrar that manages the address, when it was registered, when it expires and its status. For an individual, personal details are kept private by default. For a corporation or other organisation, the name appears.

So a lookup that shows no business name is a clue worth following. It often means the address is held by a person rather than the company.

The full details, including the registrant type, are in the registrar account. Log in, or ask whoever manages it, and read them.

Changing the registrant

A change of registrant is made through the registrar, and the current holder has to authorise it. The new holder must meet the presence requirements and accept the registry's terms.

Do it while the current holder is reachable and willing. Check the contact email and renewal settings at the same time, so notices reach someone at the business.

The counter-case

Most small Canadian businesses have nothing to fix.

A company that registered its own .ca under its own legal name needs only to confirm the details are still right. A sole proprietor who has not incorporated is correctly registered as an individual.

And a business with no Canadian company and no trademark registered here can still use a .com while it decides whether a Canadian entity makes sense.

For everyone else, the address belongs with the business: registered to it, under its legal name, with the matching type.

The check

  1. Look up your .ca on the registry's site.
  2. Note whose name appears, if any.
  3. Log in to the registrar and read the registrant details.
  4. Confirm the registrant type matches the business.
  5. Arrange a registrant change if a person holds it.
  6. Update the contact email to one the business owns.
  7. Switch on automatic renewal.

Step five is the one that cannot wait for a crisis. It needs the current holder's cooperation, which is easy to get today and hard to get after someone has left.

The login to that registrar account deserves the same care as the ones in passwords from the developer's handover email.

Frequently asked questions

Who can register a .ca address?

People and organisations with a Canadian presence: citizens, permanent residents, corporations formed under Canadian law, and groups such as partnerships, institutions and owners of a trademark registered in Canada.

Can a foreign parent company own our .ca?

Not in its own name, unless it owns a trademark registered in Canada, and then only for an address containing those exact words. A Canadian subsidiary can hold the address instead.

What if an employee registered it personally?

Then it belongs to that person, whoever uses it. Ask them now, while they are reachable, to authorise a change of registrant to the business through the registrar.

What name should the registration use?

The holder's exact legal name: a corporation's full name as incorporated, including a numbered company's number, with the registrant type that matches it.

What does the public lookup show?

The registrar, the dates and the status. An individual's personal details are private by default while an organisation's name appears, so a missing business name is worth checking.

Does a sole proprietor need to change anything?

A sole proprietor registers in their own name, which is correct. If the business later incorporates, move the .ca to the new company so the domain follows the business.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Not sure whose name is on your .ca?

Send us the address. We will look up the registration and tell you whether it is held by the business.

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