Canada Federal Corporation Search

Search the Corporations Canada federal registry for any federally incorporated business by name, corporation number, or 9-digit business number. This Apify actor queries the official ISED (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) database to retrieve structured data on registered corporations -- including corporation name, status, incorporation date, governing legislation, registered office address, director limits, annual return history, corporate activity timeline, and all historical name changes. Filter by status, governing legislation, or province and receive clean JSON output ready for due diligence, compliance screening, lead generation, or integration into business intelligence workflows.

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Why use Canada Federal Corporation Search?

Searching the Corporations Canada website manually is slow, limited to one lookup at a time, and provides no way to export results in a structured format. The search interface requires navigating HTML forms, clicking through individual corporation pages, and manually copying data. This actor eliminates all of that friction. Provide a search query, click Start (or call the API), and receive clean, structured JSON with every field normalized and ready for analysis. No HTML parsing, no manual data entry, no infrastructure to maintain.

Running on Apify's cloud platform gives you scheduled runs for continuous corporate monitoring, built-in dataset storage with export to JSON, CSV, and Excel, and one-click integrations with Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, and hundreds of other services. For compliance teams, this means automated daily or weekly verification of corporation status. For research workflows, it means bulk corporation discovery by name that would take hours through the government website completed in seconds.

The actor uses a two-phase approach for maximum data richness: it first searches the Corporations Canada HTML form to discover matching corporations, then fetches full details for each match through the official ISED JSON API. This delivers far more data than the search results page alone -- including annual return history, activity timelines, director limits, and historical name changes. No API keys or paid subscriptions are required. The actor queries the freely accessible Corporations Canada government database directly.

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Key features

• Search by name, number, or business number -- Enter a company name like "Shopify", a corporation number like "8048894", or a 9-digit CRA business number to find matching corporations instantly
• Smart query detection -- Automatically determines whether your query is a numeric lookup (1-9 digits) or a name search based on the input format, routing to the optimal search strategy
• Filter by corporation status -- Narrow results to Active corporations only, or search specifically for Amalgamated, Discontinued, or Dissolved entities
• Filter by governing legislation -- Search under the Canada Business Corporations Act, Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, Canada Cooperatives Act, Boards of Trade Act, Special Act of Parliament, or other federal statutes
• Filter by province -- Restrict results to corporations with a registered office in any of Canada's 13 provinces and territories
• Rich 17-field output -- Each result includes corporation number, business number, name, status, governing legislation, incorporation date, corporation type, full registered office address, director limits, annual returns, activities, historical names, and source URL
• Direct government source -- All data comes straight from the ISED Corporations Canada database, ensuring accuracy and currency
• Historical name tracking -- The corporationNames array includes all past and present names with effective dates, making it easy to trace companies that have rebranded or been renamed
• Annual return history -- Full filing history with meeting dates, filing years, and corporation type classification for compliance analysis
• Batch processing with rate limiting -- Fetches up to 100 corporations per run in batches of 5 with built-in delays to respect government server resources

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How to use Canada Federal Corporation Search

Using Apify Console

1. Navigate to the Canada Federal Corporation Search actor page on the Apify Store and click Try for free.
2. On the Input tab, enter your search query -- a corporation name (e.g., Shopify), corporation number (e.g., 8048894), or 9-digit business number.
3. Optionally select filters for Corporation Status, Governing Legislation, or Province of Registered Office.
4. Set Maximum Results to control how many records to return (default is 25, maximum is 100).
5. Click Start to run the actor.
6. Once the run finishes, open the Dataset tab to view, filter, and export results as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Using the API

Call the actor programmatically using the Apify REST API, official client libraries, or cURL:

cURL:

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/qRm91UGwsbhpvnEyu/runs" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "query": "Shopify",
    "status": "1",
    "maxResults": 10
  }'

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Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
query	String	Yes	--	Corporation name, corporation number (1-9 digits), or 9-digit CRA business number to search for.
status	Select	No	Any	Filter by corporation status. Options: Any, Active (1), Inactive - Amalgamated (9), Inactive - Discontinued (10), Dissolved (11).
governingLegislation	Select	No	Any	Filter by governing legislation. Options include: Canada Business Corporations Act (6), Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (14), Canada Corporations Act Part II (3), Special Act of Parliament (9), Boards of Trade Act Part I (7) and Part II (8), Canada Cooperatives Act (12), Pension Fund Societies Act (5), Other (13).
province	Select	No	Any	Filter by province of registered office. All 13 Canadian provinces and territories are supported: AB, BC, MB, NB, NF, NT, NS, NU, ON, PE, QC, SK, YT.
maxResults	Integer	No	25	Maximum number of results to return (1--100). Only applies to name searches. Direct number lookups always return a single result.

Example input

{
    "query": "Shopify",
    "status": "1",
    "province": "",
    "governingLegislation": "",
    "maxResults": 25
}

Query detection rules

The actor uses the following logic to determine the search strategy:

• 1-9 digits (e.g., 8048894 or 818338881) -- treated as a numeric lookup. Tries direct JSON API first, falls back to HTML form search for partial matches.
• Anything else (e.g., Shopify, Air Canada) -- treated as a corporation name search via the Corporations Canada HTML form.

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Output

Each result in the dataset contains the following structure. Here is an example with all 17 fields populated:

{
    "corporationNumber": "8048894",
    "businessNumber": "818338881",
    "corporationName": "SHOPIFY INC.",
    "status": "Active",
    "governingLegislation": "Canada Business Corporations Act",
    "incorporationDate": "2004-09-28",
    "corporationType": "Distributing corporation with 50 or more shareholders",
    "registeredOfficeAddress": "126 York Street, Suite 200, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 5T5, Canada",
    "registeredOfficeCity": "Ottawa",
    "registeredOfficeProvince": "Ontario",
    "registeredOfficePostalCode": "K1N 5T5",
    "registeredOfficeCountry": "Canada",
    "directorLimits": {
        "minimum": 3,
        "maximum": 15
    },
    "annualReturns": [
        {
            "annualMeetingDate": "2024-05-29",
            "yearOfFiling": "2024",
            "typeOfCorporation": "Distributing corporation with 50 or more shareholders"
        }
    ],
    "activities": [
        {
            "activity": "Incorporation",
            "date": "2004-09-28"
        },
        {
            "activity": "Annual return",
            "date": "2024-07-15"
        }
    ],
    "corporationNames": [
        {
            "name": "SHOPIFY INC.",
            "nameType": "Primary",
            "current": true,
            "effectiveDate": "2011-11-15"
        },
        {
            "name": "JADED PIXEL TECHNOLOGIES INC.",
            "nameType": "Primary",
            "current": false,
            "effectiveDate": "2004-09-28",
            "expiryDate": "2011-11-15"
        }
    ],
    "canadaUrl": "https://ised-isde.canada.ca/cc/lgcy/fdrlCrpDtls.html?lang=eng&corpId=8048894"
}

Output fields

Field	Type	Description
corporationNumber	String	The unique Corporations Canada corporation number
businessNumber	String	The 9-digit Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) business number
corporationName	String	Current primary name of the corporation
status	String	Registration status -- typically Active, Amalgamated, Discontinued, or Dissolved
governingLegislation	String	The federal act under which the corporation is governed (e.g., "Canada Business Corporations Act")
incorporationDate	String	Date the corporation was incorporated (YYYY-MM-DD)
corporationType	String	Classification from the most recent annual return (e.g., "Distributing corporation with 50 or more shareholders")
registeredOfficeAddress	String	Full formatted registered office address including street, city, province, postal code, and country
registeredOfficeCity	String	City of the registered office
registeredOfficeProvince	String	Full province or territory name of the registered office (e.g., "Ontario", "British Columbia")
registeredOfficePostalCode	String	Canadian postal code of the registered office
registeredOfficeCountry	String	Country of the registered office (typically "Canada" or "United States")
directorLimits	Object or null	Minimum and maximum number of directors allowed, or null if not specified
annualReturns	Array	Filing history with annual meeting dates, filing years, and corporation type classifications
activities	Array	Timeline of corporate events -- incorporation, annual returns, amendments, name changes, and other milestones
corporationNames	Array	All current and historical corporation names with name type, effective dates, and expiry dates
canadaUrl	String	Direct URL to the corporation's detail page on the Corporations Canada website

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Use cases

• Business verification -- Confirm that a Canadian federal corporation is in active standing before entering into a business relationship, signing a contract, or extending credit
• Due diligence -- Research potential partners, suppliers, or acquisition targets by retrieving their full registration details, incorporation date, and governing legislation
• Compliance screening -- Automate corporation status verification as part of KYC (Know Your Customer) and vendor onboarding workflows across Canadian jurisdictions
• Lead generation -- Search by industry-related keywords to discover federally incorporated businesses for sales prospecting and outreach campaigns
• Corporate monitoring -- Schedule daily or weekly runs to track status changes, new annual return filings, or corporate activity events for a portfolio of companies
• Competitive intelligence -- Research competitors' corporate structure, incorporation history, registered office locations, and director configurations
• Legal research -- Look up corporations by number for litigation support, corporate governance analysis, or regulatory compliance investigations
• Name change tracking -- Use the corporationNames array to trace a company's full naming history, useful for brand research and historical corporate analysis
• Cross-border research -- Combine with UK Companies House, Australia ABN Lookup, or NZ Companies Search for multi-jurisdiction corporate due diligence
• Nonprofit research -- Filter by the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act to find and analyze federally registered Canadian nonprofits

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API & Integration

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run_input = {
    "query": "Shopify",
    "status": "1",
    "maxResults": 10,
}

run = client.actor("qRm91UGwsbhpvnEyu").call(run_input=run_input)

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['corporationName']} -- #{item['corporationNumber']} -- {item['status']} -- {item['incorporationDate']}")

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from "apify-client";

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: "YOUR_API_TOKEN" });

const run = await client.actor("qRm91UGwsbhpvnEyu").call({
    query: "Shopify",
    status: "1",
    maxResults: 10,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
for (const item of items) {
    console.log(`${item.corporationName} -- #${item.corporationNumber} -- ${item.status} -- ${item.incorporationDate}`);
}

cURL

# Start a run
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/qRm91UGwsbhpvnEyu/runs" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"query": "Shopify", "status": "1", "maxResults": 10}'

# Fetch dataset results (use defaultDatasetId from the run response)
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?format=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN"

Integrations

Connect Canada Federal Corporation Search to your existing tools and workflows:

• Google Sheets -- Automatically export corporation data to a spreadsheet for team review, compliance tracking, and record-keeping
• Slack / Email -- Get notified when monitored corporations change status using Apify webhooks
• Zapier / Make -- Route corporation data to CRMs, compliance systems, databases, or hundreds of other third-party apps
• REST API -- Fetch results programmatically from any language or platform using the Apify dataset API
• Scheduled runs -- Set up Apify schedules to run daily, weekly, or monthly corporation verification checks automatically
• Webhooks -- Trigger downstream actions (notifications, database writes, compliance alerts) whenever a run completes

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How it works

The actor follows a two-phase pipeline to retrieve corporation data from the Corporations Canada registry:

1. Query analysis -- Parses the input query and determines the search strategy. Numeric queries (1-9 digits) are routed to direct lookup; all other queries are treated as name searches.
2. Direct number lookup -- For numeric queries, attempts a direct JSON API call to corporations/{id}.json for instant results. If the direct lookup fails (partial number or business number format), falls back to the HTML form search.
3. Name search via HTML form -- For name queries, constructs a POST request to the Corporations Canada search form with the query, status, governing legislation, and province filters. Parses the HTML response using regex to extract corporation IDs and basic metadata.
4. Batch detail fetching -- For each matched corporation ID, fetches full details from the ISED JSON API endpoint. Processes in batches of 5 with 500ms delays between batches to respect server resources.
5. Data transformation -- Raw API responses (which arrive as [data, null] arrays) are normalized into a clean 17-field output schema. Province codes are mapped to full names, country codes to full names, and the current primary corporation name is identified from the names array.
6. Dataset push -- Results are pushed to the Apify dataset for export and integration. Logging tracks search progress, batch processing, and final result counts.

Input Query
     |
     v
[Detect Query Type] ---> Numeric (1-9 digits)? or Name?
     |                          |
     |                    [Direct JSON API Lookup]
     |                          |
     |                    Success? ---> Transform + Push
     |                          |
     |                    Fail? ---> Fall back to HTML Form
     |                          |
     v                          v
[POST HTML Search Form] ---> Parse corporation IDs from HTML
     |
     v
[Batch Fetch Details] ---> 5 concurrent requests, 500ms delay
     |
     v
[Transform to 17-field Schema] ---> Normalize names, addresses, dates
     |
     v
[Push to Apify Dataset] ---> JSON, CSV, Excel export

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Performance & cost

Scenario	Results	Approx. duration	Memory	Estimated cost
Direct number lookup	1	2--5 seconds	256 MB	< $0.001
Name search (10 results)	10	5--10 seconds	256 MB	~$0.001
Name search (25 results)	25	10--20 seconds	256 MB	~$0.002
Name search (50 results)	50	15--30 seconds	256 MB	~$0.003
Name search (100 results)	100	30--60 seconds	256 MB	~$0.005

• The actor makes lightweight HTTP requests only -- no browser rendering or heavy crawling.
• No API keys or paid subscriptions are required. The Corporations Canada database is freely accessible.
• Apify's free tier includes $5/month of platform credits, which covers thousands of typical runs.
• Cost scales primarily with the number of detail API calls (one per matched corporation).
• Scheduled runs for daily monitoring of a corporation portfolio are extremely economical.

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Limitations

• Federal corporations only -- This actor searches the Corporations Canada federal registry. Corporations registered only at the provincial level (e.g., Ontario Business Registry, Registraire des entreprises du Quebec) are not included.
• Maximum 100 results per run -- Name searches are capped at 100 results per execution. For broader coverage, run multiple searches with different query terms, province filters, or status filters.
• No director names -- The ISED JSON API returns director minimum/maximum limits but does not expose individual director or officer names.
• No financial data -- The registry contains registration and filing data only. Revenue, assets, employee counts, and other financial metrics are not available.
• HTML parsing dependency -- The search results page is parsed using regex patterns. If ISED changes the HTML structure of the search results page, the name search may need updating. Direct number lookups use the stable JSON API and are unaffected.
• Rate limiting -- The actor respects government server resources by processing in batches of 5 with 500ms delays. Large searches of 100 results may take up to 60 seconds to complete.
• No address history -- Only the current registered office address is returned. Historical address changes are not available through the API.

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Responsible use

• Respect government resources -- The actor includes built-in rate limiting (batches of 5, 500ms delays) to avoid overloading the Corporations Canada servers. Do not modify these settings to bypass rate limits.
• Public data only -- All data returned by this actor is publicly available on the Corporations Canada website. No private, confidential, or restricted information is accessed.
• Comply with applicable laws -- Ensure your use of corporate registry data complies with Canadian privacy legislation (PIPEDA) and any applicable provincial privacy laws, particularly when combining corporate data with personal information.
• No scraping circumvention -- This actor accesses the publicly available Corporations Canada search form and JSON API in the same manner as any web browser would. It does not bypass access controls, CAPTCHAs, or authentication.
• Attribute the source -- When publishing or redistributing data obtained through this actor, attribute the source as Corporations Canada / Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).

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FAQ

What corporations are included in this database? This actor searches the Corporations Canada federal registry, which contains all corporations incorporated under federal legislation -- primarily the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) and the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA). Provincial corporations registered only at the provincial level are not included.

Can I search by business number? Yes. Enter a 9-digit CRA business number as your query, and the actor will detect it as a numeric query and look it up directly via the JSON API.

Can I search by corporation number? Yes. Enter a corporation number (typically 6-8 digits) and the actor will attempt a direct JSON API lookup. If the direct lookup fails, it falls back to the HTML form search.

How current is the data? All data comes directly from the live Corporations Canada database maintained by ISED. It reflects the most recent filings and updates submitted to the federal registry at the time of the API call.

What does the status field mean?

• Active -- The corporation is in good standing and currently registered.
• Inactive - Amalgamated -- The corporation has merged with another corporation under an amalgamation.
• Inactive - Discontinued -- The corporation has been voluntarily discontinued by its directors or shareholders.
• Dissolved -- The corporation has been dissolved, either voluntarily or by the Director for non-compliance (such as failure to file annual returns).

What is the difference between corporation number and business number? The corporation number is assigned by Corporations Canada when a federal corporation is created. The business number (BN) is a 9-digit number assigned by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for tax purposes. Both can be used to look up a corporation.

Do I need an API key? No. The Corporations Canada database is freely accessible. No API keys, registration, or paid subscriptions are required to use this actor.

Can I use this actor on a schedule? Yes. Use Apify's built-in scheduler to run the actor daily, weekly, or at any custom interval. This is useful for monitoring status changes, new filings, or corporate events for specific corporations over time.

Is there a rate limit? The actor self-limits by processing corporation detail requests in batches of 5 with 500ms delays between batches. The maximum of 100 results per run is sufficient for most use cases and keeps request volume within responsible limits.

Can I find provincial corporations? No. This actor only searches the federal Corporations Canada registry. For provincial corporations, you would need to search the relevant provincial registry (e.g., Ontario Business Registry, BC Corporate Registry). The OpenCorporates Search actor may help for cross-jurisdictional searches.

What is the governing legislation field? This indicates which federal act a corporation is registered under. The most common is the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) for for-profit companies. Nonprofits are typically under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA). Other options include the Canada Cooperatives Act, Boards of Trade Act, and Special Acts of Parliament.

What information is in the annual returns array? Each annual return entry contains the annual meeting date, filing year, and the corporation type classification at the time of filing. Gaps in filing years may indicate compliance issues or a dissolved corporation.

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Related actors

Actor	Description	Link
UK Companies House	Search the UK Companies House register for company details, officers, directors, and filing history. Pairs with this actor for UK-Canadian cross-border business research.	apify.com/ryanclinton/uk-companies-house
OpenCorporates Search	Search the world's largest open database of company information covering 140+ jurisdictions, including Canada. Useful for cross-referencing federal registry data with international corporate records.	apify.com/ryanclinton/opencorporates-search
Australia ABN Lookup	Search the Australian Business Register for businesses by ABN, ACN, or name. Ideal for multi-country corporate due diligence workflows alongside Canadian federal data.	apify.com/ryanclinton/australia-abn-lookup
NZ Companies Office	Search the New Zealand Companies Office register for company details and status. Combine with this actor for Commonwealth-wide business research.	apify.com/ryanclinton/nz-companies-search
GLEIF LEI Lookup	Search the Global Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) database for corporate entity identifiers. Useful for cross-referencing Canadian corporations in global financial regulatory contexts.	apify.com/ryanclinton/gleif-lei-lookup