.CA Domain Registration

.CA is the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) designating Canada. .COM is the generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) designating Commercial. The policies and administration of the .CA Domain name will be set by CIRA, and governed by Canadian law. The gTLDs are managed in the United States under American law.

Back to Top

You receive a free business card web page, e-mail forwarding, and domain forwarding with each .CA domain registration.

Back to Top

CIRA stands for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. It is a not-for-profit organization mandated by the Canadian government to operate the .CA top-level domain. CIRA was incorporated in 1998 to set policy for and operate the .CA domain. It assumed responsibility on December 1, 2000 from the University of British Columbia. CIRA significantly changed the rules and requirements for .CA domain registrations making .CA domain registrations easier and more accessible to a wider range of Registrants. For example, it is now possible for Registrants to register an unlimited number of domains. .CA 2nd level domains are now available to anyone with a Canadian presence (not just Canadian corporations).

Back to Top

Ordering .CA domain name is easy. Just enter your domain name in the search box located on any page and follow the steps.

Back to Top

A description of CIRA membership and instructions on how to become a member can be found on the CIRA website http://cira.ca/membership/.

Back to Top

CIRA has determined that the .CA domain space should be developed as a key public resource for the social and economic development of all Canadians. Accordingly, those registering a .CA domain name must meet certain Canadian Presence Requirements. The new Canadian Presence Requirements still require a connection to Canada but enable a much broader group of people to register .CA domain names than the old regulations.

Back to Top

You may register domain names for a period of one (1) to ten (10) years.

Back to Top

Domain names must be not less than two (2) and not greater than fifty (50) characters long.

Back to Top

Acceptable Characters:

No characters other than a combination of the following characters may be used for a domain name registration:

1. Letters a through z (no accents will be accepted). Note that domain names are not case sensitive. This means there will be no distinction made between upper case letters and lower case letters (A = a);
2. The numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and/or 9; and
3. The hyphen character (although it cannot be used to start or end a domain name). Length. Domain names must be not less than two (2) and not greater than fifty (50) characters long.

Reserved Names:

CIRA maintains a list of reserved names that are not available for registration in the CIRA Registry. This list includes, but not is limited to:

1. .all the existing and future generic top level domain (gTLD) three letter names (including .COM.CA, .ORG.CA, .NET.CA, .EDU.CA, .GOV.CA, .INT.CA, .mil.CA); and
2. .the names, and all abbreviations of names, of Canada, of Canadian provinces and territories as well as the names of major Canadian cities and landmarks. A detailed list may be found at http://www.cira.CA. CIRA reserves the right to periodically review and amend this list and to grant registrations of any of the names on the list as it deems appropriate. Geographical names may be made available to corresponding government entities under special conditions to be determined by CIRA in its discretion.

Conflicting Names.

A domain name will not be registered if, at the time the Registration Request is made to CIRA, the domain name is an exact match in all respects to a domain name that is registered in the name of another person in the CIRA Registry at any level, whether second, third or fourth, unless such other person consents in writing to the registration of a domain name at a level different than the one for which the domain name is registered. For example, if xyz.on.CA (third level) is registered, another person cannot obtain a registration for xyz.on.CA , xyz.CA (second level) or xyz.ottawa.on.CA (fourth level) without the written consent of the registrant of xyz.on.CA. CIRA may request DomainPeople to provide evidence of such written consent. Other Restrictions. CIRA, in its sole discretion, has the right to reject and refuse to register any domain name for any reason whatsoever. A domain name Registration may be suspended by CIRA pursuant to the Registrant Agreement (see Section 12) and may be cancelled by CIRA pursuant to the Registrant Agreement (see Section 13).

Back to Top

No. Registrants must go through a CIRA Certified Registrar such as DomainPeople. As part of the CIRA Registrar certification process, DomainPeople (and other Registrars) must provide all registration services including customer and technical support, which CIRA does not provide to Registrants directly.

Back to Top

Any qualifying individual or organization can register an unlimited number of .CA domain names. These new rules are posted at CIRA found at http://www.cira.CA.

Back to Top

No. Applications for the registration of domain names will be considered and either accepted or rejected in accordance with the CIRA rules found at http://www.cira.CA.

Back to Top

CIRA's dispute resolution process to address disputes between domain name Registrants and those who claim trademarks and related rights. The dispute resolution process takes into account the interests of domain name and trademark owners, as well as, Canada's intellectual property laws. More information regarding CIRA's Domain Dispute Policy can be found on its website at http://www.cira.CA

Back to Top

To find out who has registered a .CA domain name or to verify that your own domain name is in the CIRA registry, go to the CIRA web site at http://www.cira.CA and click on Whois. Be aware that it can take up to 24 hours to show up as registered from the time you registered your domain name.

Back to Top