CA. is Canada's country code TLD (ccTLD) and is administered by CIRA, the Canadian internet registration authority. CIRA has a few requirements and restrictions that must be adhered to.
Residency requirements
Any person or party that wishes to register a . CA domain must meet Canadian presence requirements (CPR). An organization name must be provided if the legal type for the registrant is anything than what is considered a natural person. The following are categories that fall under the natural person legal type.
- Aboriginal peoples.
- Canadian citizens.
- Permanent residents.
- Legal representatives of a Canadian citizen.
| Aboriginal Peoples (individuals or groups) indigenous to Canada | Any individual belonging to any Inuit, First Nation, Metis, or other people indigenous to Canada, and any collectivity of such Aboriginal peoples. |
| Canadian Educational Institution | Any of the following: (i) a university or college which is located in Canada and which is authorized or recognized as a university or college under an Act of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada; (ii) a college, post-secondary school, vocational school, secondary school, pre-school or other school or educational institution which is located in Canada and which is recognized by the educational authorities of a province or territory of Canada or licensed under or maintained by an Act of Parliament of Canada or the legislature of a province or territory of Canada |
| Canadian Hospital | A hospital located in Canada and which is licensed, authorized, or approved to operate as a hospital under an Act of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada. |
| Canadian Library, Archive, or Museum | An institution, whether or not incorporated, that (i) is located in Canada and (ii) is not established or conducted for profit or does not form part of, or is not administered or directly or indirectly controlled by, a body that is established or conducted for profit, in which is held and maintained a collection of documents and other materials that is open to the public or researchers. |
| Canadian Political Party | A political party registered under a relevant electoral law of Canada or any province or territory of Canada. |
| Canadian Trade Union | A trade union that is recognized by a labour board under the laws of Canada or any province or territory of Canada and which has its head office in Canada. |
| Canadian Unincorporated Association | An unincorporated organization, association, or club: At least 80% of whose members: (A) are ordinarily resident in Canada (if such members are individuals); or (B) meet one of the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) to (f) above (if such members are not individuals); and at least 80% of whose directors, officers, employees, managers, administrators or other representatives are ordinarily resident in Canada |
| Canadian citizen | A Canadian citizen of the age of majority under the laws of the province or territory in Canada in which they reside or last resided |
| Corporation (Canada or Canadian province or territory) | A corporation under the laws of Canada or any province or territory of Canada. |
| Government or government entity in Canada | A province or a territory; an agent of Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, a province or a territory; a federal, provincial, or territorial Crown corporation, government agency, or government entity; and a regional, municipal or local area government. |
| Her Majesty the Queen | Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada |
| Indian Band is recognized by the Indian Act of Canada. | Any Indian band defined in the Indian Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-5, as amended from time to time, and any group of Indian bands. |
| Legal Representative of a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident |
An executor, administrator, or another legal representative of a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident. |
| Official mark registered in Canada | A Person who does not meet any of the foregoing conditions, but is a Person intended to be protected by Subsection 9(1) of the Trade-marks Act (Canada) at whose request the Registrar of Trade-marks has published notice of adoption of any badge, crest, emblem, official mark or other marks according to Subsection 9(1), but in this case, such permission is limited to an application to register a .ca domain name consisting of or including the exact word component of such badge, crest, emblem, official mark or other marks in respect of which such Person requested publications. |
| Partnership Registered in Canada | A partnership, more than 66 2/3 % of whose partners meet one of the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) to (e) above, is registered as a partnership under the laws of any province or territory of Canada. |
| Permanent Resident of Canada | A permanent resident as defined in the Immigration Act (Canada) who is ordinarily resident in Canada (as defined below) and of the age of majority under the laws of the province or territory in Canada in which they reside or last resided. |
| Trade-mark registered in Canada (by a non-Canadian owner) | A Person who does not meet any of the foregoing conditions but which is the owner of a trade-mark that is the subject of registration under the Trade-marks Act (Canada), but in this case, such permission is limited to an application to register a .ca domain name consisting of or including the exact word component of that registered trade-mark |
| Trust established in Canada | A trust established and subsisting under the laws of a province or territory of Canada, more than 66 2/3 % of whose trustees meet one of the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) to (d) above. |
Renewals
A .CA domain name can be renewed for 1-10 years. After a renewal has been processed, the domain status will display auto-renew grace in WHOIS for 40 days after the expiry date.
Reminder emails are sent to the registrant and the Reseller 90, 60, 30, and 0 days before the domains expire.
We hold a .CA domain for 40 days after the expiry date (Renewal Grace Period). On the 40th day, the domain enters into the Redemption Grace Period, which lasts for 30 days. During the Renewal and Redemption Grace periods, the domain can be restored by completing the restoring domain from the redemption process.
WHOIS privacy
CIRA limits the personal information of .CA Registrants are available to the public via the WHOIS lookup service. By default, the .CA public WHOIS does not provide personal information for individual domain name registrants.
Interested third parties can contact the registrant by using a contact form on CIRA’s website (similar to other WHOIS privacy services).
Registrant information for domains registered to corporations continues to be provided. Corporations and organizations can request similar WHOIS protection in certain circumstances, but this feature is disabled by default.
The current authoritative WHOIS server for .CA. domain is the CIRA domain lookup.
Nameserver requirements
.CA domains must have at least 2 Nameservers, and each nameserver must have a unique IP, meaning none of the nameservers can have the same IP.
When the registry cannot verify the CPR, a serverHold status is placed on the nameservers, which stops them from resolving. Please check with the registrant to see if they've received a request from CIRA to upload proof of Canadian presence.
Restricted words
The CIRA registry has some specific rules around domain registrations with them. These words are not permitted by CIRA as first or last names for the contact info in any portion of a .CA domain name registration:
- academic
- academie
- academy
- access
- admin
- administration
- administrations
- administrator
- adult
- adventure
- alb
- alberta
- alliance
- american
- and
- animal
- animals
- animaux
- arts
- assistance
- associate
- associates
- association
- authority
- autorite
- available
- band
- bc
- breakfast
- british
- business
- businesses
- calgary
- canada
- canadian
- canadien
- canadienne
- capital
- capitale
- care
- carpet
- carpets
- central
- city
- classic
- club
- clubs
- co-op
- college
- comission
- commerce
- communication
- communications
- compagnie
- company
- computer
- conseiller
- conseillers
- consultant
- consultants
- consultation
- consulting
- coop
- corporation
- cottages
- council
- country
- cyber
- cybercafe
- design
- designs
- development
- developpement
- digital
- disabilities
- disability
- disponible
- distribution
- district
- DNS
- domain
- domaine
- domaines
- domains
- drink
- droits
- economic
- economique
- educational
- eglise
- electronic
- electronics
- electronique
- electroniques
- entreprise
- ergonomic
- ergonomics
- ergonomique
- essential
- essentials
- essentiel
- essentiels
- evenement
- evenements
- event
- events
- farm
- farms
- ferme
- fermes
- film
- films
- financial
- financiere
- food
- foreign
- free
- fund
- funds
- gallerie
- gestion
- golf
- graphic
- graphics
- graphique
- graphiques
- group
- groupe
- halifax
- hamlet
- health
- hebdomadaire
- help
- hosting
- hotel
- hotels
- immobilier
- individu
- individual
- individuals
- individus
- industrie
- industries
- industry
- information
- instruments
- interest
- international
- internet
- journal
- laboratoire
- laboratoires
- laboratories
- laboratory
- leasing
- liberal
- local
- location
- locations
- management
- manitoba
- mb
- mechanic
- mechanics
- medecine
- media
- medical
- montreal
- motel
- motels
- motoneige
- motoneiges
- motor
- motors
- nb
- network
- networking
- new
- new brunswick
- newfoundland
- nf
- northerns
- nova
- nova scotia
- of
- office
- online
- ontario
- org.
- organisation
- organization
- ottawa
- outlet
- outlets
- pei
- photographie
- photography
- picture
- pictures
- product
- production
- productions
- products
- program
- programs
- properties
- property
- public
- publishing
- punk
- quarterly
- quebec
- realty
- remote
- rental
- rentals
- restaurant
- rights
- rues
- rural
- sa
- sask.
- saskatoon
- school
- scotia
- services
- sex
- ski
- snowmobible
- snowmobibles
- societe
- society
- solution
- solutions
- sport
- sports
- student
- studio
- supplies
- supply
- system
- systems
- teacher
- teachers
- teaching
- technical
- technologie
- technology
- the
- theatre
- tm
- toronto
- town
- treats
- trimestriel
- ultimate
- universal
- universel
- universite
- university
- vacation
- vacations
- vancouver
- vente
- verte
- village
- ville
- virtual
- virtuel
- webmaster
- website
- weekly
- winnipeg
- xxx
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