Canada (Federal)

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This guide contains public integration notes for CA-FED, the federal register of Canada. 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.

Canada (Federal) coverage, pricing, and sources

Open the current catalog for supported datapoints, sources, identifiers, and availability.

Canada (Federal) is in beta. Check the live pricing page or contact support before relying on it in production.

CA-FED covers corporations incorporated under a federal act only. In Canada a company is incorporated either federally or in one province or territory, and each keeps its own register. A company incorporated in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia or any other province or territory is not in this register, even if it operates nationwide. Provinces and territories are separate jurisdictions (CA-ON, CA-QC, and so on), the same way US states are. Use countryCode: "CA-FED" on /v2/company; CA on its own is not a jurisdiction.

Data Sources
Company Identifiers
Search Capabilities
Supported Entity Types
Quirks & Gotchas
Mappings
Data Availability
Example API Responses

Data Sources

All CA-FED data comes from Corporations Canada, the federal corporate register run by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). It holds every corporation incorporated, continued or amalgamated under a federal act: the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA, 1975), the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (2009), the Canada Cooperatives Act (1998), and a few older or special acts.

Source	Role	What it provides
Corporations Canada, federal corporation record	Primary source for company data, directors and beneficial owners	Names and name history, status, governing act, registered office, Business Number, annual filings, directors, individuals with significant control
Corporations Canada open data	Search	Every federal corporation, active and inactive, published by the register daily under the Open Government Licence - Canada
GLEIF	Supplementary	Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), when one matches the corporation number

Company data, directors and beneficial owners are read live from the corporation’s public record at Corporations Canada, so every request reflects the register as it stands. One read serves all three datapoints.

Beneficial owners are filed by business corporations only. Since 22 January 2024, corporations governed by the CBCA must file their individuals with significant control with Corporations Canada, which publishes part of that information. Not-for-profit corporations, cooperatives and the other federal forms have no such obligation.

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifier Type	Format	Example	Notes
Corporation number	Digits only, no leading zero. 4 to 8 digits in the records we have seen	`8660115`	Assigned by Corporations Canada. The register displays it with a hyphen before the last digit (`866011-5`) and sometimes zero-padded (`059585-3`); `/v2/company` accepts both and returns the canonical form (`8660115`, `595853`).

The Business Number (BN) is not accepted by /v2/company, because several corporations can share one (an amalgamated corporation keeps one of its predecessors’ BNs). Search by BN first and use the corporation number it returns.

Identifiers in API Response

Identifier	Format	Example	Found In
`corporationNumber`	Digits only, no leading zero (4 to 8 digits seen)	`8660115`	All corporations. Same value as `company.id`
`businessNumber`	9 digits (the BN root)	`835752437`	Almost every active corporation. Issued by the Canada Revenue Agency; program account suffixes (`RC0001`) are dropped
`lei`	20 letters and digits		When GLEIF has a unique match (see below)

A federal corporation that registers to do business in a province also gets a provincial registration number there. That number is not the corporation number and is not returned under CA-FED.

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

GLEIF is the supplementary data source for this identifier. company.identifiers.lei is returned when the corporation number has a unique match against a GLEIF record registered with Corporations Canada. An LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) has 20 uppercase letters and digits, ending in two check digits. Coverage varies by entity. The field is omitted when no unambiguous match is available. Lapsed or retired LEIs may be returned; annulled records are excluded.

Search Capabilities

Search Type	Example	Match Type	Notes
By name	`MINDANGLER CAPITAL`	Name	Full-text match on the name in either official language
By corporation number	`8660115`, `866011-5`, or the zero-padded `059585-3`	`id`	Exact match
By Business Number	`835752437`	`id`	Returns every corporation that shares the BN
By BN program account	`835752437RC0001`	`id`	Resolved to the 9-digit BN

Search runs on the register’s daily open data. A corporation incorporated since the latest daily publication is found by search the next day. Its corporation number can usually be passed to /v2/company before then, since company data is read live from the register, but the register itself can take a short while to publish a brand new record.

Search is free. Only company data retrieval is charged.

Active companies only

Search returns inactive and dissolved corporations too. Each result carries the register’s status, so activeOnly=true removes the inactive ones.

Supported Entity Types

Entity type	Supported	Notes
Business corporations (CBCA)	Yes	The large majority of the register. Directors and beneficial owners
Not-for-profit corporations	Yes	Directors. No beneficial owners (not filed under this act)
Cooperatives	Yes	Directors. No beneficial owners
Boards of trade, special act corporations, pension fund societies	Yes	Directors. No beneficial owners
Inactive, amalgamated and dissolved corporations	Yes	Reported as closed, with the date and, for an amalgamation, the successor
Provincially incorporated companies	No	Not on the federal register. Covered by the provincial jurisdictions as they ship
Sole proprietorships and partnerships	No	Registered with the provinces, not with Corporations Canada

Quirks & Gotchas

Quirk	Details
Federal only	A company incorporated in a province is not in this register. Ontario and Quebec companies are not found under `CA-FED` unless they were incorporated federally.
Two official-language names	A corporation can have an English and a French form of its name. The first is `legalName`; the other form is returned in `commercialNames`. Name search matches either.
Name history	Former names are returned in `legacyLegalNames`.
Two dates	`incorporationDate` is the date of the certificate of incorporation or amalgamation. `registrationDate` is the date the corporation came under its current act, which differs for a corporation that was continued from another jurisdiction or amalgamated.
Business Number is shared after amalgamations	An amalgamated corporation keeps one of its predecessors’ BNs, so a BN search can return the inactive predecessor and the active successor. Pick by status.
Directors only, no officers	Corporations Canada records directors (name and address). Officers such as the president or secretary are not filed with the register.
Director addresses	The register publishes the address a director filed. Many directors file the corporation’s own address (“c/o”), so the address is not always residential.
No shareholders	Corporations keep their securities register at their own records office; the federal register does not publish shareholders. Beneficial owners are the ownership answer.
Beneficial owners: current only	Individuals who have ceased to have significant control are not returned.
Beneficial owners: ranges, not exact percentages	The register publishes a band (for example “more than 75% of the shares”), returned as `percentageRange`.
Beneficial owners: empty lists are answers	`ultimateBeneficialOwners` succeeds with `[]` when the corporation has not filed yet, when it is a public corporation listed on a designated stock exchange or its wholly-owned subsidiary (excluded by law), or when its act has no beneficial-ownership filing (not-for-profits, cooperatives, other federal forms). Individuals under 18 are not made public by the register.
Annual filings	The register states whether each of the last annual returns was filed, overdue or not yet due. That is returned in `statutoryFilings.annualFiling` as years, without a due date, because the register gives the filing window as a month and day only.
Dissolution pending is still active	A corporation the register intends to dissolve for non-compliance stays `active: true`, with the standardized status `PENDING_DISSOLUTION`.
No activity codes	The federal register records no industry classification.
No documents yet	Certificates and filed documents are ordered from Corporations Canada and delivered by email. They are not offered yet.

Mappings

Company Status

The register publishes a status and, for most cases, a status detail. status.localName is the detail when there is one, else the status. Extra wording the register prints (such as the section of the act) and the successor of an amalgamation go to status.statusDetails.additionalInfo; the date of a closure goes to closureDate.

Local Status	Meaning	`active`	Standardized Status
Active	Active	`true`	`ACTIVE`
Active - Dissolution Pending (non-compliance)	The register has started dissolving it for failing to file	`true`	`PENDING_DISSOLUTION`
Active - Intent to Dissolve Filed	The corporation has filed to dissolve itself	`true`	`PENDING_DISSOLUTION`
Active - Discontinuance Pending	Moving to another jurisdiction	`true`	`ACTIVE`
Inactive	Inactive	`false`	`CLOSED`
Inactive - Amalgamated	Merged into another corporation	`false`	`CLOSED` (merger)
Inactive - Discontinued	Continued under the law of another jurisdiction	`false`	`CLOSED`
Dissolved	Dissolved	`false`	`CLOSED`
Dissolved for non-compliance	Dissolved by the register for failing to file	`false`	`CLOSED` (administrative dissolution)
Dissolved by the corporation	Voluntary dissolution	`false`	`CLOSED` (voluntary dissolution)
Dissolved by court order	Court-ordered dissolution	`false`	`CLOSED` (court order)
Dissolved by Corporations Canada	Dissolved by the register	`false`	`CLOSED` (administrative dissolution)
Dissolved – Part II of CCA	Dissolved under the former Canada Corporations Act; the value alone does not say how	`false`	`CLOSED` (voluntary dissolution when the corporation filed its own dissolution, otherwise no reason)

Legal Forms

The federal register records no legal form as such: a corporation’s form is the act it is governed by. legalForm.localName is that act.

All federal governing acts

Local Name (governing act)	English Translation	Standardized	ISO 20275
Canada Business Corporations Act	Business corporation (CBCA)	Corporation	`UDLA`
Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act	Not-for-profit corporation	Nonprofit Organization	`D90J`
Canada Cooperatives Act	Cooperative	Cooperative	`MGE0`
Boards of Trade Act - Part I	Board of trade	Nonprofit Organization	`59T2`
Boards of Trade Act - Part II	Board of trade	Nonprofit Organization	`59T2`
Special Act of Parliament	Corporation created by a special Act of Parliament	Other	`6TRA`
Pension Fund Societies Act	Pension fund society	Other	`M4IF`
Other	Other federal act	Other	-
Canada Corporations Act - Part II (discontinued)	Corporation without share capital (former act)	Nonprofit Organization	`D90J`
Canada Corporations Act Part I - Private (discontinued)	Private company (former act)	Corporation	-
Canada Corporations Act Part I - Public (discontinued)	Public company (former act)	Corporation	-
Canada Cooperative Associations Act (discontinued)	Cooperative association (former act)	Cooperative	`MGE0`
More than 1 Act Applicable (discontinued)	Governed by more than one act	Other	-

Legal Representatives

Local Role Name	English Translation	Standardized
Director	Director	`Director`

Directors are always individuals under federal law. Each is returned with type: "individual", corporateBody: "board", and the address the director filed in individual.residenceAddress. The register publishes no appointment dates for directors.

Ultimate Beneficial Owners

Corporations Canada calls beneficial owners individuals with significant control (ISC). An ISC owns, controls or directs 25% or more of the shares (by votes or by value), alone or jointly, or has control in fact over the corporation.

What the register states	How it is returned
Owns, controls or directs 25% or more of the shares	`control.types: ["ownership-of-shares"]`, with the band in `control.details[].percentageRange`
Has control in fact without owning shares	`control.types: ["significant-influence-or-control"]`, no band
Held directly / indirectly	`control.details[].nature`: `direct` / `indirect` (`null` when the register says both)
Band, such as “More than 75% of the shares”	`percentageRange: { "lower": 75, "upper": 100 }`
Address for service, else residential address	`residenceAddress`

The register’s own wording (type of interest, how the shares are held, individually or jointly, the band, the start date) is kept in control.description.

Addresses

legalAddress is the registered office. The province or territory code is in state (on search results too), Newfoundland and Labrador is returned as NL, postal codes read A1A 1A1, and countryCode is CA. When the registered office is in someone’s care, that party is in careOf, not in the street lines. Directors and beneficial owners living abroad are returned with their own country and no province.

Activity Code Mapping

Not applicable. The federal register records no industry classification, so activities is not returned.

Data Availability

Data Point	Available	Notes
Company profile (`company`)	Yes	Legal name, other-language name, former names, status, governing act, incorporation date, registered office, Business Number, annual filings
Legal representatives (`legalRepresentatives`)	Yes	Directors, with the address they filed. Every federal act
Ultimate beneficial owners (`ultimateBeneficialOwners`)	Business corporations (CBCA)	Current individuals with significant control. In a random sample of 120 federal corporations checked in August 2026, 90% had them on record. Empty for listed corporations and for forms that do not file them
Other key persons	No	Officers are not filed with the register
Shareholders	No	Not published by the register
Establishments	No	Not recorded by the federal register
Activity codes	No	Not recorded by the federal register
Statutory filings	Yes	`statutoryFilings.annualFiling`: last filed year, next year and whether it is overdue
Documents	No	Not offered yet

Example API Responses

All examples use placeholder data.

Search by Business Number

curl "https://api.topograph.co/v2/search?country=CA-FED&query=700000001" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

[
  {
    "id": "7654321",
    "legalName": "EXAMPLE HOLDINGS INC.",
    "countryCode": "CA-FED",
    "matchReason": { "matchType": "id" },
    "address": { "city": "Toronto", "state": "ON", "countryCode": "CA" }
  }
]

Active business corporation: company and directors

curl -X POST "https://api.topograph.co/v2/company" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"countryCode": "CA-FED", "id": "765432-1", "dataPoints": ["company", "legalRepresentatives"]}'

{
  "company": {
    "id": "7654321",
    "countryCode": "CA-FED",
    "identifiers": { "corporationNumber": "7654321", "businessNumber": "700000001" },
    "legalName": "EXAMPLE HOLDINGS INC.",
    "commercialNames": ["PLACEMENTS EXEMPLE INC."],
    "legacyLegalNames": ["7654321 CANADA INC."],
    "status": { "localName": "Active", "active": true, "statusDetails": { "status": "ACTIVE" } },
    "legalForm": {
      "localName": "Canada Business Corporations Act",
      "englishTranslation": "Business corporation (CBCA)",
      "standardized": "Corporation",
      "iso20275Code": "UDLA"
    },
    "incorporationDate": "2010-05-12",
    "registrationDate": "2010-05-12",
    "legalAddress": { "addressLine1": "100 Example Street", "addressLine2": "Suite 200", "city": "Toronto", "state": "ON", "postalCode": "M5V 0A1", "countryCode": "CA" },
    "statutoryFilings": {
      "annualFiling": {
        "cadence": "annual",
        "lastFiled": { "year": 2025 },
        "next": { "year": 2026, "overdue": false },
        "source": "corporations_canada"
      }
    }
  },
  "legalRepresentatives": [
    {
      "type": "individual",
      "role": { "localName": "Director", "standardized": "Director" },
      "corporateBody": "board",
      "individual": {
        "name": { "fullName": "Jane Example" },
        "residenceAddress": { "addressLine1": "1 Sample Avenue", "city": "Toronto", "state": "ON", "postalCode": "M4W 1A1", "countryCode": "CA" }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Ultimate beneficial owners

curl -X POST "https://api.topograph.co/v2/company" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"countryCode": "CA-FED", "id": "7654321", "dataPoints": ["ultimateBeneficialOwners"]}'

{
  "ultimateBeneficialOwners": [
    {
      "name": { "fullName": "Jane Example" },
      "residenceAddress": { "addressLine1": "1 Sample Avenue", "city": "Toronto", "state": "ON", "postalCode": "M4W 1A1", "countryCode": "CA" },
      "control": {
        "types": ["ownership-of-shares"],
        "details": [{ "type": "shares", "percentageRange": { "lower": 75, "upper": 100 }, "nature": "direct" }],
        "description": "Individual with significant control (Type of interest or control: Owns, controls or directs 25% or more of shares; Holds the shares: Directly; Significant control held: Individually; Holds: More than 75% of the shares; Since 2010-05-12)."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Amalgamated corporation

{
  "company": {
    "id": "7000002",
    "countryCode": "CA-FED",
    "identifiers": { "corporationNumber": "7000002", "businessNumber": "700000001" },
    "legalName": "EXAMPLE OPERATIONS LTD.",
    "status": {
      "localName": "Inactive - Amalgamated",
      "active": false,
      "statusDetails": {
        "status": "CLOSED",
        "closureReason": "MERGER",
        "closureDate": "2024-06-05",
        "additionalInfo": "Amalgamated into EXAMPLE HOLDINGS INC. (corporation number 7654321)"
      }
    }
  }
}

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Offshore Centers

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Canada (Federal) coverage, pricing, and sources

Table of Contents

Data Sources

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifiers in API Response

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

Search Capabilities

Active companies only

Supported Entity Types

Quirks & Gotchas

Mappings

Company Status

Legal Forms

Legal Representatives

Ultimate Beneficial Owners

Addresses

Activity Code Mapping

Data Availability

Example API Responses

​Start here

Canada (Federal) coverage, pricing, and sources

​Table of Contents

​Data Sources

​Company Identifiers

​Query Identifiers

​Identifiers in API Response

​Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

​Search Capabilities

​Active companies only

​Supported Entity Types

​Quirks & Gotchas

​Mappings

​Company Status

​Legal Forms

​Legal Representatives

​Ultimate Beneficial Owners

​Addresses

​Activity Code Mapping

​Data Availability

​Example API Responses

Start here

Table of Contents

Data Sources

Company Identifiers

Query Identifiers

Identifiers in API Response

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

Search Capabilities

Active companies only

Supported Entity Types

Quirks & Gotchas

Mappings

Company Status

Legal Forms

Legal Representatives

Ultimate Beneficial Owners

Addresses

Activity Code Mapping

Data Availability

Example API Responses