# Open Canada Dataset Catalogue Scraper (`compass_lab/canada-general-scraper`) Actor

Open Canada scraper and API: export Government of Canada open-data dataset records (title, publisher, licence, file formats, keywords, last update) from open.canada.ca to JSON, CSV or Excel. Official public CKAN API, no login, keyword and organisation search.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/compass\_lab/canada-general-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [COMPASSLAB](https://apify.com/compass_lab) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

**Get Open Canada dataset records as clean JSON, CSV or Excel, from the Apify API or on a schedule. No login, about $1.00 for 1,000 datasets.**

### What does Open Canada Dataset Catalogue Scraper do?

**Open Canada Dataset Catalogue Scraper** extracts structured data from **[open.canada.ca](https://open.canada.ca)**. Collect dataset metadata from the Government of Canada Open Data portal (open.canada.ca) via its public CKAN API, with filters and automatic pagination, for research, data discovery and monitoring of open government data. It works
as an **API for open.canada.ca data**: run it from Apify Console, on a schedule, or from your own code, and get clean,
typed JSON with numbers as numbers and dates in ISO 8601.

### What you get

| | |
|---|---|
| **Data** | 12 fields per item: `url`, `id`, `name`, `title`, `organization`, `datasetUrl`, ... |
| **Formats** | JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, or the Apify API |
| **Price** | $1.00 per 1,000 datasets, pay per result |
| **Access** | Public open.canada.ca data only: no login, no cookies, robots.txt respected |
| **Licence** | Open Government Licence – Canada |

### Why use Open Canada Dataset Catalogue Scraper?

- **Data journalists and researchers**: find every dataset on a topic, with its licence, publisher and files.
- **Govtech and civic tech**: watch a portal for new or updated datasets and their download links.
- **Data catalogue aggregation**: merge several open-data portals into one searchable index.
- **AI agents and RAG**: give an LLM the portal's metadata and file links as clean JSON.

Main features:

- Follows pagination up to `maxPages` pages per start URL and stops at `maxItems` results.
- Filters: `query` (search query), `organization` (organization), `pageSize` (page size), so you only get (and pay for) the results you need.
- Polite by default: respects robots.txt, at most `maxConcurrency` parallel requests and a delay between requests.
- Checks every result against field validators, so layout changes show up as clear data-quality warnings.
- Runs on the Apify platform: scheduling, API access, integrations, monitoring and datasets you can export.

### What data can Open Canada Dataset Catalogue Scraper extract?

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `url` | string | API page URL the dataset was scraped from |
| `id` | string | Unique dataset identifier (UUID) |
| `name` | string | Dataset URL slug |
| `title` | string | Dataset title (English, falls back to French if missing) |
| `organization` | string | Publishing organization name |
| `datasetUrl` | string | Public dataset page on open.canada.ca |
| `notes` | string | Dataset description (may be truncated to 900 characters) |
| `license` | string | License title |
| `resourceCount` | integer | Number of resources (files/links) in the dataset |
| `formats` | array | Distinct resource formats (e.g. CSV, JSON, XLSX) |
| `keywords` | array | Dataset tags/keywords |
| `metadataModified` | ISO 8601 date | Last modified date of the metadata (ISO 8601 date) |

### How to scrape open.canada.ca

1. Open Open Canada Dataset Catalogue Scraper in Apify Console and go to the Input tab.
2. Enter what to scrape (see the Input section below), for example the start URLs.
3. Set **Max items** to the number of results you need.
4. Click **Start** and wait for the run to finish.
5. Download the results from the Output tab, or fetch them with the API.

### How much will it cost to scrape open.canada.ca?

This Actor is priced **per result**: $1.00 per 1,000 results, with no extra charge for platform usage. That is about $1.00 for 1,000 datasets: 100 results cost $0.10 and 10,000 results cost $10.00. Set a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops when it is reached.

### Input

See the Input tab for full configuration options.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | no | Optional free-text query (CKAN 'q' parameter) added to each start URL, e.g. 'climate'. |
| `organization` | string | no | Optional organization name (slug) to filter datasets, e.g. 'statcan'. Applied as an fq filter. |
| `maxItems` | integer | no | Maximum number of items to return (0 = unlimited). |
| `startUrls` | array | no | package\_search API URLs to scrape, e.g. https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package\_search?rows=50. Query parameters such as q, fq and sort are preserved; start is advanced automatically for pagination. |
| `pageSize` | integer | no | Number of datasets requested per API call (rows parameter, 1-1000). |
| `maxPages` | integer | no | Maximum listing pages to follow per start URL (pagination). |
| `maxConcurrency` | integer | no | Maximum parallel requests (politeness; 1-10). |
| `requestDelayMs` | integer | no | Minimum delay between requests, in milliseconds (at least 250). |
| `proxyType` | string | no | none (direct connection), datacenter (Apify Proxy, cheapest) or residential (opt-in, billed per GB, fewer blocks). The actor never switches by itself. |
| `proxyCountry` | string | no | Two-letter country code for the proxy IP (optional). |

Example input:

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 75,
  "maxPages": 3,
  "maxConcurrency": 2,
  "requestDelayMs": 1000,
  "proxyType": "none",
  "pageSize": 50
}
```

### Output

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel. Example results
from a real run:

```json
[
  {
    "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50&start=0",
    "id": "7c03f039-3753-4093-af60-74b0f7b2385d",
    "name": "7c03f039-3753-4093-af60-74b0f7b2385d",
    "title": "Government of Canada - Consultations",
    "organization": "Privy Council Office | Bureau du Conseil privé",
    "datasetUrl": "https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/7c03f039-3753-4093-af60-74b0f7b2385d",
    "notes": "**This dataset consolidates all the consultations submitted by departments and agencies in the Government of Canada.** Please note that consultations that were entered before January 2018 may be missing information such as description and subject(s). In spring of 2018, consultation information from…",
    "license": "Open Government Licence - Canada",
    "resourceCount": 4,
    "formats": [
      "CSV",
      "JSON",
      "XLSX"
    ],
    "keywords": [
      "Public engagement",
      "Consultations",
      "Open dialogue"
    ],
    "metadataModified": "2026-10-01"
  },
  {
    "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50&start=0",
    "id": "b27ec3ef-7338-4e76-a6fd-128339a92df5",
    "name": "b27ec3ef-7338-4e76-a6fd-128339a92df5",
    "title": "Who we regulate",
    "organization": "Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada | Bureau du surintendant des institutions financières Canada",
    "datasetUrl": "https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/b27ec3ef-7338-4e76-a6fd-128339a92df5",
    "notes": "We regulate and supervise approximately 350 financial institutions. In this dataset you’ll find a list of these institutions. We regulate and supervise approximately 1200 private pension plans for employees working in federally regulated industries. Here you’ll find a list of these plans, or see our…",
    "license": "Open Government Licence - Canada",
    "resourceCount": 10,
    "formats": [
      "CSV",
      "DOCX"
    ],
    "keywords": [
      "FRFI",
      "Federally Regulated Financial Institutions",
      "Domestic Banks",
      "Foreign Banks"
    ],
    "metadataModified": "2026-10-01"
  },
  {
    "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50&start=0",
    "id": "ededff77-a021-48d6-89a5-cdbcd75fb4ff",
    "name": "ededff77-a021-48d6-89a5-cdbcd75fb4ff",
    "title": "Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) List of Formulants",
    "organization": "Health Canada | Santé Canada",
    "datasetUrl": "https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/ededff77-a021-48d6-89a5-cdbcd75fb4ff",
    "notes": "This dataset contains a list of formulants that are found in pest control products currently registered in Canada under the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations. This list is updated twice a year to reflect the addition of new formulants and the deletion of formulants no longer found in registe…",
    "license": "Open Government Licence - Canada",
    "resourceCount": 5,
    "formats": [
      "HTML",
      "XLSX",
      "CSV"
    ],
    "keywords": [
      "Regulation of Formulants; formulant",
      "pest control product"
    ],
    "metadataModified": "2026-10-01"
  }
]
```

### Integrations and API

- **Apify API**: start a run and get the results in one HTTP request:

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/compass_lab~canada-general-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"startUrls": [{"url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50"}], "maxItems": 75, "pageSize": 50}'
```

- **Python** (`pip install apify-client`):

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("compass_lab/canada-general-scraper").call(run_input={"startUrls": [{"url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50"}], "maxItems": 75, "pageSize": 50})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)
```

- **JavaScript** (`npm install apify-client`):

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('compass_lab/canada-general-scraper').call({"startUrls": [{"url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50"}], "maxItems": 75, "pageSize": 50});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
```

- **Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, webhooks**: use the Apify integrations (Integrations tab) to send each
  run's results where you need them, or to start a run from your workflow.
- **Schedules**: run it hourly, daily or weekly from Apify Console (Schedules) and always have fresh datasets.

### Tips and advanced options

- Keep **Max items** and **Max pages** as low as you need: fewer pages means a faster, cheaper run.
- Raise **Delay between requests** if the site responds slowly; keep **Max concurrency** low to stay polite.
- Missing values are `null`. Fields that often come back empty are listed in the run log as data-quality warnings.

### FAQ, disclaimers and support

#### Is it legal to scrape open.canada.ca?

Vetted by the autonomy policy (green tier) on 2026-10-01: Green tier (autonomy policy, 2026-10-01): robots.txt exists and permits /data/api/action/package\_search (no matching Disallow); public endpoint; platform family 'open-data-ckan' confirmed by Mouad on 2026-10-01: Open-source portal software, government open-data licences

The data is published under the **Open Government Licence – Canada**: you may reuse it, including commercially, provided you credit the source as the licence requires.

Our Actors are ethical and do not extract any private user data, such as email addresses, gender, or location.
They only extract what the user has chosen to share publicly. We therefore believe that our Actors, when used
for ethical purposes by Apify users, are safe. However, you should be aware that your results could contain
personal data. Personal data is protected by the GDPR in the European Union and by other regulations around the
world. You should not scrape personal data unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. If you're unsure whether
your reason is legitimate, consult your lawyers.

#### How many results can I get?

Up to `maxItems` per run (0 means no limit), as many as the source lists. Each result is one dataset item, and
you are only charged for items that are saved.

#### Can I run it on a schedule or from my own code?

Yes. Schedule it in Apify Console (Schedules), or call it with the `run-sync-get-dataset-items` endpoint or the
Python/JavaScript clients shown in **Integrations and API** above.

#### What are the limitations?

- Only dataset metadata is returned, not the contents of the data files themselves
- The portal is a government service, so very large runs should be kept moderate to avoid rate limiting or temporary errors
- Many datasets are bilingual; the Actor returns English text first and falls back to French when English is missing
- Descriptions are truncated to 900 characters to keep results compact
- The CKAN API may cap deep pagination, so very broad searches should be split using the query or organization filters
- Some datasets have no formats, tags or license, so those fields can be empty

#### Where can I get help?

Report problems or ideas on the Issues tab. To call this Actor from your own code, see the API tab.

### Related actors

**Open Data Suite**: the same clean, typed output across sources, so you can combine them in one dataset.

| Actor | What it scrapes | Price |
|---|---|---|
| [data.gouv.fr Dataset Catalogue Scraper](https://apify.com/compass_lab/data-gouv-datasets-scraper) | Dataset records from data.gouv.fr | $1.00 / 1,000 |

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Optional free-text query (CKAN 'q' parameter) added to each start URL, e.g. 'climate'.

## `organization` (type: `string`):

Optional organization name (slug) to filter datasets, e.g. 'statcan'. Applied as an fq filter.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of items to return (0 = unlimited). You pay per result, so this also caps the cost.

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

package\_search API URLs to scrape, e.g. https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package\_search?rows=50. Query parameters such as q, fq and sort are preserved; start is advanced automatically for pagination.

## `pageSize` (type: `integer`):

Number of datasets requested per API call (rows parameter, 1-1000).

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Maximum listing pages to follow per start URL (pagination).

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Maximum parallel requests (politeness; 1-10).

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Minimum delay between requests, in milliseconds (at least 250).

## `proxyType` (type: `string`):

none (direct connection), datacenter (Apify Proxy, cheapest) or residential (opt-in, billed per GB, fewer blocks). The actor never switches by itself.

## `proxyCountry` (type: `string`):

Two-letter country code for the proxy IP (optional).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 20,
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50"
    }
  ],
  "pageSize": 50,
  "maxPages": 3,
  "maxConcurrency": 2,
  "requestDelayMs": 1000,
  "proxyType": "none"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

All scraped items (overview view)

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxItems": 20,
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50"
        }
    ],
    "pageSize": 50,
    "maxPages": 3,
    "maxConcurrency": 2,
    "requestDelayMs": 1000,
    "proxyType": "none"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("compass_lab/canada-general-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "maxItems": 20,
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50" }],
    "pageSize": 50,
    "maxPages": 3,
    "maxConcurrency": 2,
    "requestDelayMs": 1000,
    "proxyType": "none",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("compass_lab/canada-general-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxItems": 20,
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/api/action/package_search?rows=50"
    }
  ],
  "pageSize": 50,
  "maxPages": 3,
  "maxConcurrency": 2,
  "requestDelayMs": 1000,
  "proxyType": "none"
}' |
apify call compass_lab/canada-general-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,compass_lab/canada-general-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/m4MpgcDgqzdgaKgXU/builds/Y3CpciZDAuN72Nx35/openapi.json