.ca

Encyclopedia : C : CA : CA : .ca

.ca is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. Registrants of .ca domains must meet Canadian Presence Requirements as defined by the registry. Examples of valid entities include:

a Canadian citizen of the age of majority,
a permanent resident of Canada,
a legally recognized Canadian organization,
an Inuit, First Nation, Métis or other people indigenous to Canada,
an Indian Band as defined in the Indian Act of Canada,
a foreign resident of Canada that holds a registered Canadian trademark, or
a division of the government
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Registrants can either register domains at the second level (e.g. example.ca) or at the third level in one of the geographic second-level domains defined by the registry (e.g. example.ab.ca).

The domain name was originally allocated by Jon Postel, operator of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), to John Demco of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 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 not for 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.

Any .ca registration has to be ordered via a certified registrar.

Second-level domains

The following second-level domains are a historical artifact from the time before CIRA managed the .ca domain. Federally incorporated companies could have a .ca domain, while provincially incorporated companies required the letters of their province, like .mb.ca. Currently, any of the above listed parties can register a domain with a name of their choosing followed directly by .ca

.ab.ca — Alberta
.bc.ca — British Columbia
.mb.ca — Manitoba
.nb.ca — New Brunswick
.nf.ca — Newfoundland (no longer accepting new registrations, replaced by .nl.ca)
.nl.ca — Newfoundland and Labrador
.ns.ca — Nova Scotia
.nt.ca — Northwest Territories
.nu.ca — Nunavut
.on.ca — Ontario
.pe.ca — Prince Edward Island
.qc.ca — Quebec
.sk.ca — Saskatchewan
.yk.ca — Yukon

N.B. The second-level domain name '.gc.ca' 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.

External links

Country code top-level domains
Active: .ac .ad .ae .af .ag .ai .al .am .an .ao .aq .ar .as .at .au .aw .az .ba .bb .bd .be .bf .bg .bh .bi .bj .bm .bn .bo .br .bs .bt .bv .bw .by .bz .ca .cc .cd .cf .cg .ch .ci .ck .cl .cm .cn .co .cr .cu .cv .cx .cy .cz .de .dj .dk .dm .do .dz .ec .ee .eg .er .es .et .eu .fi .fj .fk .fm .fo .fr .ga .gd .ge .gf .gg .gh .gi .gl .gm .gn .gp .gq .gr .gs .gt .gu .gw .gy .hk .hm .hn .hr .ht .hu .id .ie .il .im .in .io .iq .ir .is .it .je .jm .jo .jp .ke .kg .kh .ki .km .kn .kr .kw .ky .kz .la .lb .lc .li .lk .lr .ls .lt .lu .lv .ly .ma .mc .md .mg .mh .mk .ml .mm .mn .mo .mp .mq .mr .ms .mt .mu .mv .mw .mx .my .mz .na .nc .ne .nf .ng .ni .nl .no .np .nr .nu .nz .om .pa .pe .pf .pg .ph .pk .pl .pm .pn .pr .ps .pt .pw .py .qa .re .ro .ru .rw .sa .sb .sc .sd .se .sg .sh .si .sk .sl .sm .sn .sr .st .sv .sy .sz .tc .td .tf .tg .th .tj .tk .tl .tm .tn .to .tr .tt .tv .tw .tz .ua .ug .uk .us .uy .uz .va .vc .ve .vg .vi .vn .vu .wf .ws .ye .yt .yu .za .zm .zw
Reserved/unassigned: .cs .eh .kp Allocated/unused: .ax .bv .gb .sj .so .um Phaseout: .tp .su Deleted/retired: .cs .dd .zr
See also: Generic top-level domains

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