Canada has no single, unified company registry. Business registration data is split across one federal registry and 13 provincial and territorial registries — each with its own rules, data fields, access methods, and fee structures. This guide maps every registry in the country, what data each one holds, what you can get for free, and where you will need to pay.
How Canadian Business Registries Are Structured
Unlike countries such as the UK (which has a single Companies House) or France (which centralises through INPI), Canada operates a decentralised system. The federal government maintains Corporations Canada for businesses incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA). Every province and territory maintains its own registry for businesses incorporated under local legislation.
This means a company incorporated in Ontario does not appear in the federal registry. And a federally incorporated company still needs to register in each province where it operates. For anyone conducting due diligence, vendor verification, or KYB checks on Canadian companies, this fragmentation is the core challenge.
(~14.5% of companies)
Canada's Business Registries (CBR) portal links 8 of 14 registries for basic search, but it is not comprehensive and does not include all jurisdictions.
Federal Registry: Corporations Canada
Corporations Canada is managed by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). It covers all businesses incorporated under federal legislation — primarily the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA), the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, and the Boards of Trade Act.
It does not include companies incorporated under financial legislation (banks, insurance companies, trust companies) or any company incorporated under provincial or territorial laws.
Corporations Canada (Federal)The federal government also operates Canada's Business Registries (CBR), a collaborative search tool that links to 8 provincial registries for basic entity lookup. It is free but limited — it does not cover all jurisdictions, does not return filings, and does not allow automated access.
Provincial Registries: All 10 Provinces
Each province maintains its own company registry. Data availability, access methods, and fee structures vary widely. Some offer free online search portals with generous data. Others restrict access to authorized agents who charge service fees on top of government fees.
Green = free public search | Yellow = paid or account-based | Red = no direct public portal
Ontario
Quebec
British Columbia
Alberta
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Prince Edward IslandTerritorial Registries
Canada's three territories — Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut — each maintain their own corporate registries. These are generally smaller, more manual operations compared to the provincial systems.
Yukon
Northwest Territories
NunavutSide-by-Side Registry Comparison
| Jurisdiction | Registry Name | Free Search | Directors | Shareholders | BO Data | Financials | Profile Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | Corporations Canada | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ Public | ✗ | Free |
| Ontario | Ontario Business Registry | ✓ | $ | ✗ | ● Internal | ✗ | $8–$40 |
| Quebec | Registraire des entreprises (REQ) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ Public | ✗ | Free |
| British Columbia | BC Registry Services | ✗ | $ | ✗ | ● Coming | ✗ | $7+ |
| Alberta | Corporate Registry | ✗ | $ | $ Top 5 | ✗ | ✗ | $15–$30+ |
| Saskatchewan | ISC Corporate Registry | ● Account | $ | $ | ● Internal | ✗ | ~$25 |
| Manitoba | Companies Office | ● Account | $ | $ | ● Internal | ✗ | ~$40 |
| Nova Scotia | Joint Stock Companies | ✓ | $ | ✗ | ● Internal | ✗ | ~$50 |
| New Brunswick | Corporate Affairs (SNB) | ● $3 | $ | ✗ | ● Internal | ✗ | $3/search |
| Newfoundland | Registry of Companies | ✗ | $ | ✗ | ● Internal | ✗ | ~$40 |
| P.E.I. | Corporate/Business Names | ✗ | $ | ✗ | ● Internal | ✗ | ~$50 |
| Yukon | Corporate Affairs | ✗ | $ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ~$40 |
| NWT | Corporate Registries | ✗ | $ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ~$40 |
| Nunavut | Legal Registries Division | ✗ | $ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ~$40 |
✓ = Free $ = Paid ● = Partial/Internal ✗ = Not available
Beneficial Ownership Transparency in Canada
Canada has been moving toward greater corporate ownership transparency, driven by international pressure from FATF and domestic anti-money-laundering reforms. But implementation is uneven.
At the federal level, CBCA corporations have been required to file beneficial ownership information with Corporations Canada since January 22, 2024. This data is partially public — name, jurisdiction of residence, date of birth (partial), description of control, and date of becoming a significant individual are searchable online. Residential addresses are withheld from public view.
Quebec stands out as the most transparent jurisdiction. Under the Legal Publicity Act, any corporation, partnership, or business entity operating in Quebec — including foreign entities — must disclose beneficial ownership on the publicly accessible Enterprise Register. This effectively makes Quebec's register Canada's closest thing to a national beneficial ownership database.
British Columbia requires private companies to maintain internal transparency registers and is working toward a public registry. Alberta, the three territories, and several smaller provinces have no public beneficial ownership register and no current legislation mandating one.
Starting October 1, 2025, FINTRAC-regulated reporting entities are required to report material discrepancies between their beneficial ownership records and the Corporations Canada database, adding a new enforcement layer for federal corporations.
Benefits and Limitations of Canadian Government Registries
Benefits
- Government-sourced data carries legal weight and is presumed accurate
- Quebec offers one of the most transparent free company registries in North America
- Federal BO registry publicly searchable since 2024 — ahead of the U.S.
- Canada's Business Registries (CBR) offers a cross-jurisdictional basic search at no cost
- Ontario's OBR modernization (launched 2021) significantly improved digital access
- MRAS system streamlines registration across participating provinces
- Profile reports and certificates available digitally in most provinces
Limitations
- No single unified national registry — 14 separate systems with different standards
- Alberta has no direct public search — requires registry agents
- CBR portal covers only 8 of 14 jurisdictions and returns limited data
- No API access for any government registry — all interaction is manual or through portals
- Financial data (revenue, assets, P&L) is not disclosed in any Canadian registry
- Shareholder data is only publicly available in Quebec and partially in Alberta annual returns
- BO legislation is fragmented — 3 territories and Alberta have no BO register
- Update frequency varies — some registries lag by days or weeks
- Automated access (scraping) is explicitly prohibited on most portals
Canadian government registries focus on legal identity, directors, and status. For financial data, employee counts, corporate hierarchies, and machine-readable formats, third-party data providers fill the gap.
Accessing Canadian Company Data at Scale
The reality of working with 14 separate registries, each with different access rules, fee structures, and data standards, makes manual search impractical for compliance teams, data platforms, and enterprise buyers who need to verify hundreds or thousands of Canadian entities.
Global Database connects directly to government registries across 200+ countries — including Canada's federal and provincial registries — and normalises the data into a single, structured format. Canadian company data is available through the API for real-time lookups and bulk downloads for large-scale integration into compliance, KYB, and data enrichment workflows.
What Global Database adds beyond the registries:
Official registry data (entity name, directors, status, registered address) combined with firmographic enrichment (industry classification, employee estimates, contact data), corporate linkage mapping across jurisdictions, and standardised data fields that work the same whether you are looking up a company in Ontario, the UK, or Germany. Coverage spans 600M+ companies across all 200+ countries where government registries publish data.
For teams running KYB verification, vendor onboarding, or anti-money-laundering checks that touch Canadian entities alongside companies in other countries, a single normalised source eliminates the need to navigate each registry individually and removes the manual bottleneck entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Canada does not have a single national business registry. Company registration data is split across one federal registry (Corporations Canada) and 13 separate provincial and territorial registries. The federal government operates Canada's Business Registries (CBR) as a cross-jurisdictional search tool, but it only covers 8 jurisdictions and provides limited data.
It depends on the province. Quebec's Enterprise Register and Ontario's Business Registry offer free basic searches. The federal Corporations Canada database also offers free basic lookups. British Columbia charges $7 per search. Alberta has no direct public portal — you must use a paid registry agent. Most other provinces charge for profile reports and document access.
For federally incorporated companies, beneficial ownership data (Individuals with Significant Control) has been publicly searchable since January 2024 through the Corporations Canada online search. Quebec publicly discloses shareholders, directors, and officers for all entities on the Enterprise Register. In Alberta, the top 5 shareholders are listed in annual returns through registry agents. Most other provinces require companies to maintain internal beneficial ownership registers, but these are not publicly accessible.
NUANS (Newly Upgraded Automated Name Search) is a federal database that compares your proposed business name against existing corporate names and registered trademarks across Canada. A NUANS report is required for federal incorporation and for provincial incorporations in Ontario, Alberta, and several other provinces. It costs approximately $13–$60 and is valid for 90 days. Saskatchewan and Manitoba use their own name reservation systems instead of NUANS.
Federal incorporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) gives a company the right to operate across all provinces and territories with name protection nationwide. Provincial incorporation registers the company in one specific province. Federally incorporated companies must still register in each province where they conduct business. About 14.5% of Canadian companies are federally incorporated; the rest register provincially.
Federal incorporation costs $200 online ($250 by mail). Provincial incorporation fees vary: Ontario is $300, British Columbia is $350, Alberta has no government fee but charges through registry agents, and Quebec ranges from $35–$389 depending on the legal structure. Additional costs include NUANS reports ($13–$60), optional legal services ($100–$400+), and extra-provincial registration fees if operating in multiple provinces.
Yes, at the federal level. Since January 2024, CBCA corporations must file Individuals with Significant Control (ISC) information with Corporations Canada, and a portion of this data is publicly searchable. Quebec has had public beneficial ownership disclosure on its Enterprise Register for years. British Columbia is expected to launch a public transparency register. Alberta and the three territories have no BO transparency legislation. Most other provinces require internal registers only.
No. Canadian government registries do not require or publish company financial statements, revenue figures, or profit data. This differs from jurisdictions like the UK (where Companies House publishes annual accounts) or much of the EU. Financial data for Canadian companies is only available through tax filings (private to the CRA), publicly traded company disclosures (SEDAR+), or third-party data providers that compile financial intelligence from multiple sources.
No Canadian government registry offers a public API for programmatic access. All interactions are through web portals, authorized service providers, or registry agents. For teams that need API access to Canadian company data at scale, third-party providers like Global Database source data from government registries across Canada and deliver it through a REST API with standardised fields, along with bulk data download options.
Canada's Business Registries (CBR) is a free government portal operated by ISED that links to multiple provincial registries through the Multi-Jurisdictional Registry Access Service (MRAS). It allows basic searches across 8 of Canada's 14 jurisdictions, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and the federal registry. Coverage is not complete — it does not include Ontario, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., New Brunswick, or the three territories — and it only returns basic entity status data, not filings or detailed profiles.