The Way of the Keys

A corporation is a new legal entity created when incorporating. In Canada, a corporation has the same rights as a person. Any business and not-for-profit operating in Canada can incorporate federally. This dataset includes:

• (1) business corporations created under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA),
• (2) not-for-profit corporations created under the Canada Corporations Act, Part II (CCA II),
• (3) not-for-profit corporations created under the Canada Not-for profit Corporations Act (NFP),
• (4) cooperatives created under the Canada Cooperatives Act (COOP),
• (5) board of trades created under the Boards of Trade Act (BOTA), and
• (6) other corporations regulated by Corporations Canada (e.g., special act corporation).

This dataset does not include corporations created under financial legislation (such as financial institutions, insurance companies or loan and trust companies) or those created under provincial/territorial legislation or corporate legislation from another jurisdiction.

Information about federal corporations is public information, including a corporation's registered office address, and the names and addresses of its directors, as required by corporate laws that govern federal corporations. This applies even after a corporation has been dissolved, amalgamated or discontinued. Corporate information is made public to help people, like investors, financial institutions and other stakeholders, make timely and informed decisions about corporations, and let people know who is responsible for the corporation. Information and documents filed are not removed from the corporate records even when new information or documents are filed, including documents previously filed, filed for previous years or filed by mistake. Corporate laws require the public disclosure of this information.