.ca
Encyclopedia
.ca is the Internet
country code
top-level domain
(ccTLD) for Canada
. The domain name registry
that operates it is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority
(CIRA). Registrants of .ca domains must meet the Canadian Presence Requirements as defined by the registry. Examples of valid entities include:
Registrants can register domains at the second level (e.g. example.ca). Third level registrations in one of the geographic third-level domains defined by the registry (e.g. example.ab.ca) were discontinued on October 12, 2010, but existing third-level domain names will continue to be supported.
, operator of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA), to John Demco of the University of British Columbia
(UBC) in 1988. The first .ca domain was registered by the University of Prince Edward Island
in January 1988.
In 1997, at the Canadian annual Internet conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia
, the Canadian Internet community, with a view to liberalize registration procedures and substantially improve turnaround times, decided to undertake reform of the .ca Registry.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority
(CIRA) is a non-profit Canadian corporation that is responsible for operating the .ca Internet country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) today. It assumed operation of the .ca ccTLD on December 1, 2000 from UBC. On April 15, 2008, CIRA registered its one millionth .ca Internet domain name.
Any .ca registration has to be ordered via a certified registrar
.
, .org
and .net
registrations, despite the then-higher cost.
Currently, any of the above listed parties can register a domain with a name of their choosing followed directly by .ca. CIRA stopped accepting new registrations for third-level domains on October 12, 2010 citing complexity and the low number of new third domain registration as the reason for the change. As a result, the following domains at the third-level are no longer available for registration:
The second-level domain name '.gc.ca
' (Government of Canada) is commonly mistaken as one of the regional domains under which CIRA will allow Government of Canada registrations. gc.ca is actually a standard domain like all other .ca domain names. CIRA does not register domain names under .gc.ca directly.
The .mil.ca second-level domain name is also a standard domain and is registered to the Department of National Defence
(DND). The .mil.ca suffix is used internally by DND on its intranet
, the Defence Information Network (DIN) or Defence Wide Area Network (DWAN), to distinguish intranet-only websites.
, domain names that begin with the four characters xn-- are not available for registration.
Names which match the name of an existing generic top-level domain, such as com.ca, or the Canadian top level country code .ca, are reserved and therefore not available for new registrations. Certain expletives are not accepted as names. Municipal names of individual cities and localities within Canada are also reserved nationwide; all of these names are also reserved both at second and third level. However, entities with existing registrations (such as St. Lawrence College
's sl.on.ca) are able to retain them. There are a handful of existing .ca registered names as short as two characters in length, but these tend to be rare as many two-letter combinations match the names of existing country-code TLDs
. A notable exception includes the frequently accessed website of the Canadian Governor General
at gg.ca.
Names which exist at any of the levels (.ca or an individual province or territory) are blocked in their availability elsewhere in the .ca hierarchy. Registration, if it can be done at all, requires manual intervention by the prospective registrar and the permission of all existing registrant(s) must be obtained by CIRA. For instance, if the province of New Brunswick
were to want to register "gouv.nb.ca", CIRA's normal automated WHOIS
and registration tools would simply return the following error:
Since Ontario
, PEI
and Quebec
already use "gouv" on their provincial second-level domains for the French-language versions of their government websites, this domain is unavailable through the normal registration process. However, with the agreement of these three parties New Brunswick would indeed be able to register and use gouv.nb.ca.
Domains which receive no bids are then released and made openly available for new registrations.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
country code
Country code
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The best known of these is ISO 3166-1...
top-level domain
Top-level domain
A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...
(ccTLD) for Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The domain name registry
Domain name registry
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names registered in a top-level domain. A registry operator, also called a network information center , is the part of the Domain Name System of the Internet that keeps the database of domain names, and generates the zone files which convert...
that operates it is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority
Canadian Internet Registration Authority
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is the organization that manages the .CA country code top-level domain, the policies that support Canada’s Internet community and Canada’s involvement in international Internet governance. CIRA is a member-driven organization...
(CIRA). Registrants of .ca domains must meet the Canadian Presence Requirements as defined by the registry. Examples of valid entities include:
- a Canadian citizen of the age of majorityAge of majorityThe age of majority is the threshold of adulthood as it is conceptualized in law. It is the chronological moment when minors cease to legally be considered children and assume control over their persons, actions, and decisions, thereby terminating the legal control and legal responsibilities of...
- a permanent residentPermanent resident (Canada)A Permanent Resident in Canada is someone who is not a Canadian citizen but who has been granted permission to live and work in Canada without any time limit on his or her stay...
of Canada - a legally recognized Canadian organization
- an InuitInuitThe Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
, First Nation, MétisMétis people (Canada)The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
or other people indigenous to Canada - an Indian Band as defined in the Indian ActIndian ActThe Indian Act , R.S., 1951, c. I-5, is a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves...
of Canada - a foreign resident of Canada that holds a registered Canadian trademark
- an executor, administrator or other legal representative of a person or organization that meets the requirements
- a division of the government
- Elizabeth II in her capacity as head of state of CanadaMonarchy in CanadaThe monarchy of Canada is the core of both Canada's federalism and its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government and each provincial government...
Registrants can register domains at the second level (e.g. example.ca). Third level registrations in one of the geographic third-level domains defined by the registry (e.g. example.ab.ca) were discontinued on October 12, 2010, but existing third-level domain names will continue to be supported.
History
The domain name was originally allocated by Jon PostelJon Postel
Jonathan Bruce Postel was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards...
, operator of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers...
(IANA), to John Demco of the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
(UBC) in 1988. The first .ca domain was registered by the University of Prince Edward Island
University of Prince Edward Island
The University of Prince Edward Island is a public liberal arts university in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the sole university in the province. Founded in 1969, it traces its roots back to its two earlier predecessor organizations, St. Dunstan's University and Prince of Wales...
in January 1988.
In 1997, at the Canadian annual Internet conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, the Canadian Internet community, with a view to liberalize registration procedures and substantially improve turnaround times, decided to undertake reform of the .ca Registry.
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority
Canadian Internet Registration Authority
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is the organization that manages the .CA country code top-level domain, the policies that support Canada’s Internet community and Canada’s involvement in international Internet governance. CIRA is a member-driven organization...
(CIRA) is a non-profit Canadian corporation that is responsible for operating the .ca Internet country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) today. It assumed operation of the .ca ccTLD on December 1, 2000 from UBC. On April 15, 2008, CIRA registered its one millionth .ca Internet domain name.
Any .ca registration has to be ordered via a certified registrar
Domain name registrar
A domain name registrar is an organization or commercial entity, accredited by both ICANN and generic top-level domain registry to sell gTLDs and/or by a country code top-level domain registry to sell ccTLDs; to manage the reservation of Internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of...
.
Third-level (provincial) and fourth-level (municipal) domains
UBC's registry operations once favoured fourth-level names (such as city.toronto.on.ca) for purely local entities or third-level names for entities operating solely within one province. Federally incorporated companies could have a .ca domain, while provincially incorporated companies required the letters of their province, like .mb.ca. Only an entity with presence in two or more provinces was typically registered directly under .ca; this complex structure (and the long delays in getting .ca registration) caused many Canadian entities to favour the .com.com
The domain name com is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from commercial, indicating its original intended purpose for domains registered by commercial organizations...
, .org
.org
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain of the Domain Name System used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization....
and .net
.net
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from network, indicating its originally intended purpose for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies...
registrations, despite the then-higher cost.
Currently, any of the above listed parties can register a domain with a name of their choosing followed directly by .ca. CIRA stopped accepting new registrations for third-level domains on October 12, 2010 citing complexity and the low number of new third domain registration as the reason for the change. As a result, the following domains at the third-level are no longer available for registration:
- .ab.ca — AlbertaAlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
- .bc.ca — British ColumbiaBritish ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
- .mb.ca — ManitobaManitobaManitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
- .nb.ca — New BrunswickNew BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
- .nf.ca — NewfoundlandNewfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
(replaced by .nl.ca) - .nl.ca — Newfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
- .ns.ca — Nova ScotiaNova ScotiaNova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
- .nt.ca — Northwest TerritoriesNorthwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
- .nu.ca — NunavutNunavutNunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
- .on.ca — OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
- .pe.ca — Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
- .qc.ca — QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
- .sk.ca — SaskatchewanSaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
- .yk.ca — YukonYukonYukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
The second-level domain name '.gc.ca
.gc.ca
.gc.ca is a privately held second level domain for the Government of Canada, run by Government Telecommunications and Informatics Services. They hold all third level domains under the .gc.ca banner.-External links:*http://registry.gc.ca*http://www.gc.ca...
' (Government of Canada) is commonly mistaken as one of the regional domains under which CIRA will allow Government of Canada registrations. gc.ca is actually a standard domain like all other .ca domain names. CIRA does not register domain names under .gc.ca directly.
The .mil.ca second-level domain name is also a standard domain and is registered to the Department of National Defence
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
(DND). The .mil.ca suffix is used internally by DND on its intranet
Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...
, the Defence Information Network (DIN) or Defence Wide Area Network (DWAN), to distinguish intranet-only websites.
Naming restrictions
In preparation for the implementation of internationalized domain names (IDN)Internationalized domain name
An internationalized domain name is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label that is displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in a language-specific script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi or the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics,...
, domain names that begin with the four characters xn-- are not available for registration.
Names which match the name of an existing generic top-level domain, such as com.ca, or the Canadian top level country code .ca, are reserved and therefore not available for new registrations. Certain expletives are not accepted as names. Municipal names of individual cities and localities within Canada are also reserved nationwide; all of these names are also reserved both at second and third level. However, entities with existing registrations (such as St. Lawrence College
St. Lawrence College, Ontario
St. Lawrence College is a College of Applied Arts and Technology with three campuses in Eastern Ontario, namely Brockville , Cornwall and Kingston .-History:...
's sl.on.ca) are able to retain them. There are a handful of existing .ca registered names as short as two characters in length, but these tend to be rare as many two-letter combinations match the names of existing country-code TLDs
Country code top-level domain
A country code top-level domain is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, a sovereign state, or a dependent territory....
. A notable exception includes the frequently accessed website of the Canadian Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
at gg.ca.
Names which exist at any of the levels (.ca or an individual province or territory) are blocked in their availability elsewhere in the .ca hierarchy. Registration, if it can be done at all, requires manual intervention by the prospective registrar and the permission of all existing registrant(s) must be obtained by CIRA. For instance, if the province of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
were to want to register "gouv.nb.ca", CIRA's normal automated WHOIS
WHOIS
WHOIS is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system, but is also used for a wider range of other information. The protocol stores...
and registration tools would simply return the following error:
The domain name provided conflicts with at least one other registered domain name (e.g. xyz.ca conflicts with xyz.on.ca). Registering this domain name requires permission from the Registrant(s) that already holds the domain name(s): gouv.on.ca, gouv.pe.ca, gouv.qc.ca. Contact CIRA for more information.
Since Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, PEI
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
already use "gouv" on their provincial second-level domains for the French-language versions of their government websites, this domain is unavailable through the normal registration process. However, with the agreement of these three parties New Brunswick would indeed be able to register and use gouv.nb.ca.
Expired domains
After a thirty-day redemption period, intended to provide the original registrant one final chance to reclaim a suspended name, the expired names are assigned a to-be-released (TBR) status. These names are made available through a weekly auction process, in which lists of available names are posted online and advance bids are placed by prospective registrants through the various .ca registrars.Domains which receive no bids are then released and made openly available for new registrations.