> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.topograph.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Canada (British Columbia)

> Identifiers, data sources, and integration details for companies and other entities registered in British Columbia

## Start here

This guide contains public integration notes for `CA-BC`, the British Columbia register. Use it for identifier formats, search behavior, and register-specific caveats. The live source of truth for coverage, pricing, data sources, legal forms, roles, and status values is the pricing page.

<Card title="Canada (British Columbia) coverage, pricing, and sources" icon="arrow-up-right-from-square" href="https://topograph.co/pricing/ca-bc">
  Open the current catalog for supported datapoints, sources, identifiers, and availability.
</Card>

<Warning>
  Canada (British Columbia) is in beta. Check the live pricing page or contact support before relying on it in production.
</Warning>

<Info>
  **`CA-BC` covers entities registered with BC Registries.** In Canada a company is incorporated either federally or in one province or territory, and each keeps its own register. A federal corporation that registers in British Columbia to do business there keeps a BC registration (prefix `A`), which `CA-BC` returns flagged as such, but the company itself is a [Canada (Federal)](/essentials/canada-federal) company: use `countryCode: "CA-FED"` and its corporation number for its directors and beneficial owners. `CA` on its own is not a jurisdiction.
</Info>

## Table of Contents

* [Data Sources](#data-sources)
* [Company Identifiers](#company-identifiers)
* [Search Capabilities](#search-capabilities)
* [Supported Entity Types](#supported-entity-types)
* [Federal and other extraprovincial companies](#federal-and-other-extraprovincial-companies)
* [Quirks & Gotchas](#quirks--gotchas)
* [Mappings](#mappings)
* [Data Availability](#data-availability)

## Data Sources

| Source | Role | What it provides |
| - | - | - |
| BC Registries and Online Services, as published on OrgBook BC | **Primary source** for search and company data | Every BC registration, active and historical: name and former names, entity type, status and the filing or event behind it, registration date, Business Number, home jurisdiction of an extraprovincial registration, names the entity does business as |
| GLEIF | Supplementary | Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), when one matches |

Search and company data are read live from the register's public directory, which BC Registries updates within about 30 minutes of a filing. The directory carries **no address and no people**: BC law keeps them off this publication. Directors and officers are not offered yet: the register lists them only on a report.

## Company Identifiers

### Query Identifiers

| Identifier Type | Format | Example | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| **BC incorporation or registration number** | A letter prefix of 1 to 3 letters followed by 7 digits, no space | `BC0922942` | Assigned by BC Registries. Keep the prefix: it is part of the number. `/v2/company` accepts lower case and spaces and returns the canonical form |

Prefixes observed on the register, with the entity type it records for them:

| Prefix | Entity types |
| - | - |
| `BC` | BC company, BC unlimited liability company, community contribution company, benefit company |
| `C` | Company continued into British Columbia (also as an unlimited liability company) |
| `FM` | Sole proprietorship, general partnership |
| `S`, `CS` | Society, society continued into British Columbia |
| `CP` | Cooperative association |
| `LP`, `LL` | Limited partnership, limited liability partnership |
| `A` | Extraprovincial company (formed outside British Columbia, federal corporations included) |
| `XP`, `XL`, `XS`, `XCP`, `LLC` | Extraprovincial limited partnership, limited liability partnership, society, cooperative, limited liability company |
| `QA` to `QE`, `PA`, `FI`, `LIB`, `B`, `EPR`, `FOR`, `REG`, `LIC` | Older registers and special entities (companies under the acts before 1897, private acts, financial institutions, library associations, former extraprovincial registers) |

<Tip>
  The Business Number (BN) is **not** accepted by `/v2/company`: several registrations can share one (an amalgamated company keeps it, and a company shares it with the sole proprietorships it registers as trade names). Search by BN first and use the registration number it returns.
</Tip>

### Identifiers in API Response

| Identifier | Format | Example | Found In |
| - | - | - | - |
| `incorporationNumber` | Letter prefix + 7 digits | `BC0922942` | Every registration. Same value as `company.id` |
| `businessNumber` | 9 digits (the BN root) | `844222687` | Most registrations. Issued by the Canada Revenue Agency; it links a federal corporation's BC registration to its `CA-FED` record |
| `lei` | 20 letters and digits | | When GLEIF has a unique match |

## Search Capabilities

| Search Type | Example | Match Type | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| By name | `TELUS CORPORATION` | Name | Ranked by the register's relevance. Active and historical registrations |
| By registration number | `BC0922942`, `bc 0922942` | `id` | Exact match |
| By Business Number | `844222687` or `844222687BC0001` | `partialId` | Returns every registration carrying the BN |

<Tip>
  Search is free. Only company data retrieval is charged.
</Tip>

### Active companies only

Search returns historical registrations too (dissolved, amalgamated, cancelled). [`activeOnly=true`](/essentials/search#active-companies-only) is passed to the register, which leaves them out.

## Supported Entity Types

| Entity type | Company data |
| - | - |
| BC companies (limited, unlimited liability, community contribution, benefit) | Yes |
| Cooperatives and societies | Yes |
| Sole proprietorships and partnerships | Yes, under the name the firm is registered with |
| Extraprovincial registrations | Yes, flagged with the home jurisdiction; for a federal corporation, use `CA-FED` |
| Historical registrations | Yes, reported as closed with the filing or event that ended them |

## Federal and other extraprovincial companies

A company formed outside British Columbia registers here as an **extraprovincial** entity (prefix `A`, `XP`, `XL`, `XS`, `XCP` or `LLC`). `CA-BC` returns that registration as it is, never as a BC incorporation:

* `legalForm.localName` is the register's extraprovincial type (for example `Extraprovincial Company`);
* `status.statusDetails.additionalInfo` names the home jurisdiction. For a corporation formed under federal law it reads *"Extraprovincial registration in British Columbia of a corporation formed under federal law (home jurisdiction: Canada, federal). Its own record is Canada (Federal), CA-FED, with Business Number …"*;
* `identifiers.businessNumber` is the link to the `CA-FED` record, where the corporation's directors and beneficial owners are.

When an extraprovincial registration is historical, the **BC registration** has ended (cancelled or withdrawn). The entity may still exist in its home jurisdiction, so the closure reason is never stronger than what the register recorded.

## Quirks & Gotchas

| Quirk | Details |
| - | - |
| **No address** | The register's public directory carries no address. `legalAddress` is absent. |
| **No people** | Directors and officers, and the proprietor or partners of a firm, are not offered yet: the register lists them only on a report. |
| **Firms are registered under their trade name** | A sole proprietorship or partnership (`FM` numbers) is registered under the name it trades under; that is its `legalName`. |
| **Trade names of a company** | Firms a company registered and does business as are returned in `commercialNames`. |
| **Former names** | Earlier registered names are returned in `legacyLegalNames`. |
| **Registration date** | `registrationDate` is when the entity was registered in British Columbia: incorporation, continuation in, amalgamation, or extraprovincial registration. `incorporationDate` is not returned. |
| **Dissolution process** | An active company the register has moved into the administrative dissolution process stays `active: true`, with the standardized status `PENDING_DISSOLUTION` and the event in `additionalInfo`. |
| **No shareholders** | BC Registries does not publish shareholders. |
| **No beneficial owners** | BC companies keep their transparency register of individuals with significant control privately; the public register the province has legislated is not open yet. |
| **No activity codes** | The register records no industry classification. |

## Mappings

### Company Status

| Local Status | `active` | Standardized Status |
| - | - | - |
| Active | `true` | `ACTIVE`, or `PENDING_DISSOLUTION` while the register is dissolving it |
| Historical | `false` | `CLOSED`, with the closure reason read from the filing or event that ended the registration (voluntary or administrative dissolution, amalgamation, liquidation, court order, continuation out) and its label in `additionalInfo` |

## Data Availability

| Datapoint | Available | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Company data | Yes | Legal name, former names, entity type, status, registration date and Business Number, live from the register |
| Legal representatives | Not yet | Not offered yet: the register lists directors and officers only on a report. |
| Shareholders | No | Not published by the register |
| Ultimate beneficial owners | No | Not public in British Columbia; for a federal corporation, see `CA-FED` |
| Documents | No | No document is offered yet |


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