CA Domain Introduction (Please Read)
Second level/national domain name ie. yourcompany.ca
Third level/ provincial or territorial ie. yourcompany.ab.ca
Fourth level/municipal ie. yourcompany.edmonton.ab.ca
Guide to Choosing Your Domain Name
Important Details!

CA Domain Introduction

This document is an overview the CA domain parameters and restrictions as set out by the authority which currently oversees and regulates submission of subdomain names.
Please note that in order for CA Subdomain name applications to be accepted by the authority that handles the registration your application must be submitted by an internet service provider such as UNIServe who may or may not charge for submitting your application and for pointing your registered subdomain name to a static IP address in order for your information to be found by internet browsers. Subdomain name registration charges are subject to change without notice.
After determining which level of domain name your organization qualifies for go to the Guide to Choosing Your Domain Name section.

Domain name levels: Second level or national domain name

(ending in ".ca")
Domain name example: yourcompany.ca

How to qualify for a second level domain name:

To qualify for a second level domain, your organization must have offices or other points of presence (such as computer hosts or dial-up facilities wholly owned by your organization) in more than one province or territory, or be incorporated or chartered nationally, or own a trademark which is registered with the Canadian Registrar of Trade-marks and which is being put forward in full as the organizational part of the subdomain name. A given organization may register at most one CA subdomain, with two exceptions. Organizations applying for a second level domain name must provide supporting information such as your incorporation number, office locations, etc.

Exception 1)

Is an allowance for a temporary overlap interval while changing from one CA subdomain name to another. This may happen, for example, when a provincial or territorial organization becomes federally incorporated and wishes to change from a third-level to a second-level subdomain name.

Exception 2)

Is for an organization whose legal name has both an English form and a French form, and which wishes to apply for one CA subdomain corresponding to each form.

Please note: "Location" is defined as follows (and no, we're not kidding!):

The latitude and longitude of the subdomain. (This can be taken as the location of the main organizational machine, or the headquarters, or the contact persons; usually the machine is used.) Give as much precision as you know; if you can determine the location only to the nearest minute, or the nearest few minutes, that's satisfactory. Include "city" only if you are using the location of your city center, for which information is often available in an atlas, at a library, City Hall, or a nearby airport. At a minimum, please provide the location of your city center. This field is used to draw maps.

For example:
52 04 05 N / 97 37 46 W
or
52 04 N / 97 37 W city

Third level or provincial or territorial domain name

(ending in ".ab.ca")
Domain name example: yourcompany.ab.ca

How to qualify for a third level domain name:

To qualify for a third level domain, your organization must have offices or other points of presence (such as computer hosts or dial-up facilities) in more than one locality, or be incorporated or registered provincially or territorially. Provincial and territorial governments, referral hospitals, and post-secondary degree or certificate granting educational institutions such as universities and colleges should have third level subdomain names. Organizations applying for a third level domain name must provide supporting information such as your incorporation number, office locations, etc.

Please note: "Location" is defined as follows (and no, we're not kidding!):

The latitude and longitude of the subdomain. (This can be taken as the location of the main organizational machine, or the headquarters, or the contact persons; usually the machine is used.) Give as much precision as you know; if you can determine the location only to the nearest minute, or the nearest few minutes, that's satisfactory. Include "city" only if you are using the location of your city center, for which information is often available in an atlas, at a library, City Hall, or a nearby airport. At a minimum, please provide the location of your city center. This field is used to draw maps.

For example:
52 04 05 N / 97 37 46 W
or
52 04 N / 97 37 W city

Fourth level or municipal domain name

(ending in ".edmonton.ab.ca")
Domain name example: yourcompany.edmonton.ab.ca

How to qualify for a fourth level domain name:

Small organizations such as companies which do most of their business in one locality and bulletin board systems should apply for a fourth level or municipal subdomain name, as should organizations such as local hospitals, libraries, municipal governments, and schools.

Please note: "Location" is defined as follows (and no, we're not kidding!):

The latitude and longitude of the subdomain. (This can be taken as the location of the main organizational machine, or the headquarters, or the contact persons; usually the machine is used.) Give as much precision as you know; if you can determine the location only to the nearest minute, or the nearest few minutes, that's satisfactory. Include "city" only if you are using the location of your city center, for which information is often available in an atlas, at a library, City Hall, or a nearby airport. At a minimum, please provide the location of your city center. This field is used to draw maps.

For example:
52 04 05 N / 97 37 46 W
or
52 04 N / 97 37 W city

Guide to Choosing Your Domain Name

"yourcompany" is a string that represents the proper name of your organization, or is your registered trademark in full. Determining the string is a matter of establishing the "corporate electronic identity" of your organization for years to come. This is something you should discuss with the individual in your organization whose authority includes the "corporate image".

Please note:
*Obscene names are not permitted. *Geographical place names, such as municipality and province names, are reserved.

Legal Characters:

Legal characters are letters, digits, and the hyphen. You may mix upper and lower case, or use all upper or all lower case. Software will ignore case, and users can type in whatever case they like. You should capitalize your subdomain name as you wish it to appear in machine generated lists, such as the return address generated in your outgoing electronic mail. Hyphens may be used to separate words if necessary or consistent with normal references to the proper name of your organization.

Hyphens are also used to replace spaces, e.g., Niagara-Falls, New-Westminster. In some situations--in particular when the locality name is very long--it may be appropriate to use the abbreviation approved by a responsible official of the government of the locality. Either the full locality name or its approved abbreviation may be used; however, it is very desirable that any particular locality should have just one subdomain name.

Provincial and Territorial Abbreviations:

The following are provincial and territorial abbreviations, as recommended by the Department of the Secretary of State:

AB, BC, MB, NB, NF, NS, NT, ON, PE, QC, SK, and YK.

We suggest that you use the following steps to determine the string for which you are applying:

1) Start with the full proper name by which your organization conducts its business. e.g.: "AB Systems Incorporated"

2) Remove all the blanks. e.g.: "ABSystemsIncorporated"

3) Remove truly extraneous components, if there are any. e.g.: "ABSystems"

4) If it is excessively long, abbreviate by trimming the parts whose removal will result in the least loss of recognizability outside the sphere in which your organization is already well known. e.g.: "ABSystems"

5) Please choose a descriptive abbreviation of your organization's name, and try to avoid a cryptic abbreviation that defeats the objective of step (4) above.
Your application is being made on behalf of your entire organization. It is particularly important that the person in charge of your organization's corporate image approve the choice of subdomain name.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you have the right to use the name you have chosen. Registering a domain name does not confer any legal rights to that name; you should consider registering a trademark if you have not already done so. Any disputes between parties over the rights to use a particular name are to be settled between the contending parties using normal legal methods.

IMPORTANT:

Accurate information must be provided. The CA domain registrar is the final authority on all matters relating to registration and subsequent use of your subdomain name. Your subdomain name must be approved by the CA domain registrar before it is used in network communications. If you devise further subdomains of your domain name, then you in turn will have final authority on matters relating to the use of those subdomains.
Since the CA domain was first created, the requirements and guidelines have been modified from time to time. Although all existing registrations remain in effect, some registered subdomain names might not be permitted if applied for today. New applications and voluntary applications for re-registration will be considered using the current guidelines.