Canada Business Registry Search: How to Look Up Any Company (Federal and Provincial)

A Canada business registry search is free: Canada's Business Registries, a federal-provincial service, searches British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Corporations Canada in one go, by name, business number or registry ID. Full details and official documents still come from the company's home registry, and those often cost a small fee.

Canada has no single national company register. A business is incorporated either federally or in one province or territory, and each keeps its own records. This guide shows which tool to use for each, what's free, and how to check that a Canadian company is real.

Where do you search for a company in Canada?

What is Canada's Business Registries?

Canada's Business Registries (CBR) is a free government service, built on the Multi-jurisdictional Registry Access Service and published by the official business registries of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Corporations Canada. It says more registries will be added as they become available.

You can search by:

• Name: the corporate name or a registered trade name
• Business Number (BN): the CRA's nine-digit number, where the registry holds it
• Registry ID: for example, the Ontario Corporation Number, Alberta's Corporate Access Number or Quebec's NEQ

Results show the business type, the city and province of the registered office, the date created and a link to the official registry source. CBR displays business corporations and limited partnerships, and it does not cover financial institutions such as banks or insurers. Some registries update CBR daily and others monthly, so always confirm on the official source before relying on a result.

How do you do a federal corporation search?

Federal corporations are created under federal laws such as the Canada Business Corporations Act and are kept by Corporations Canada, part of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Its federal corporation search finds them by corporate name, corporation number or business number. You can filter by province of registered office, status and governing law.

The federal database is one of the most open in Canada. Corporations Canada publishes the registered office address, the names and addresses of directors and the governing legislation. Its fee schedule lists:

Federal beneficial ownership is public

Since January 22, 2024, every CBCA corporation must file information about its individuals with significant control (ISC) with Corporations Canada. The public can see each ISC's full name, the dates they became and stopped being an ISC, a description of their control, and an address for service (or their residential address if no service address is given). You search by corporation, not by the person's name. Corporations file this with their annual return, so some records may not show ISC data yet.

If you plan to set up a federal company, a federal name search is built into online incorporation. Our federal NUANS service covers the cases where a report is still required.

How do you search each provincial business registry?

For a company incorporated in a province, its home registry holds the full record. Here is where to search and what costs money.

Each territory also keeps its own corporate registry. Fees change, so check the registry's current fee schedule before ordering. For an Ontario company, our guide to Ontario corporation searches goes into more detail.

Why a company can appear in more than one registry

A corporation registers in its home jurisdiction. If it carries on business in another province, it usually registers there too as an extra-provincial corporation. So a federal corporation operating in Ontario may show up in both the federal database and the OBR. The home registry has the authoritative record of its existence and status.

Business name search in Canada: trademarks and names

A business name search in Canada can mean two things: checking whether a company exists, or checking whether a name is free to use. Registry searches answer the first. For the second, you also need to look at trademarks.

• Canadian Trademarks Database (CIPO): free to search. It includes active marks and many inactive ones. CIPO won't run searches for you, and unregistered marks protected by common law won't appear.
• NUANS reports: compare a proposed name against existing corporate names, business names and trademarks. Several provinces, including Ontario, require one to incorporate a named company.
• Provincial name tools: British Columbia, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba run their own name approval systems.

Can you look up a company by its business number?

Partly. Canada's Business Registries and the federal database both search by business number, as long as the registry holds the BN. For tax purposes, the CRA's GST/HST Registry is free and confirms whether a business charging you GST/HST is registered. You need three things: the first nine digits of its GST/HST number, its legal or trade name, and the transaction date. The CRA designed it to help you make sure you only claim input tax credits for tax charged by registered suppliers.

How do you check that a Canadian company is legit?

1. Find it in the right registry. Start with Canada's Business Registries, then open the official source. A company that claims to be incorporated but appears nowhere is a red flag.
2. Check the status. It should be active, not dissolved, cancelled or struck off.
3. Match the details. Compare the exact legal name, registry number and registered office with the invoice, contract or website.
4. Look at the directors. Federal, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia records show directors; compare them with the people you're dealing with.
5. Verify the GST/HST number on any invoice using the CRA's GST/HST Registry.
6. Get official proof for anything significant: a certificate of status (or federal Certificate of Compliance). See our guide to certificates of status.

If you need records from several jurisdictions, or certified copies for a bank, lawyer or foreign authority, we can run a business records search for you.