🇨🇦How to verify a supplier in Canada
To verify a supplier in Canada, look the company up for free in the official Canada's Business Registries (federal + provincial, one search) and confirm it is registered and currently active. The registry returns registered name, corporation number, status, registered office, the filing history of annual returns, and the directors; the search spans the federal register AND the provincial registers (Alberta, BC, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan) so you also learn WHERE the company is incorporated.
The official registry
- Registry
- Canada's Business Registries (federal + provincial, one search)
- Company ID
- corporation number, or the 9-digit Business Number (BN) from the CRA
- Cost
- Free basic lookup
- Active status
- Status reads Active or Dissolved, but read the ANNUAL RETURN history next to it: a company that has stopped filing is drifting toward being struck off, and that shows up long before the status flips.
- Canada has TWO levels of incorporation and they are not interchangeable. Federal (CBCA) lets a company trade under one name nationwide; provincial is cheaper and local, and needs an Extra-Provincial Registration to operate in another province. If a supplier claims a national footprint, check that the paperwork matches the claim.
- The Business Number (BN, 9 digits) is the spine of everything: GST/HST, payroll, and import-export (the import account is the same BN with an RM suffix, e.g. 123456789RM0001). Ask for it, then use it in the checks below.
- The strongest free check for a DISTRIBUTOR or IMPORTER: the Canadian Importers Database (ised-isde.canada.ca, built from Canada Border Services Agency customs data). It lists the companies that actually import a given HS product code. If a firm says it is a major importer of your product but does not appear there under your HS code, it either buys through brokers or is overstating its volumes. That is a concrete, checkable red flag no marketing page can fake.
- Food businesses: the Safe Food for Canadians licence registry (active.inspection.gc.ca) shows every company licensed by the CFIA to import, export or process food, and for WHICH categories. A licence for produce does not authorise meat.
- Bulk and machine-readable: Corporations Canada publishes the full federal register as a free CSV on the Open Government portal (open.canada.ca), Open Government Licence, with a documented API. There is no need to scrape, and the consolidated registry explicitly forbids automated collection.
- Consumer goods must be labelled in BOTH official languages, English and French, and Quebec enforces French especially hard (Bill 96 / OQLF). A supplier that cannot produce bilingual labelling is not ready for the Canadian shelf, whatever the quality of the goods.
Before you sign: five asks no registry can answer
The register proves the company exists and who signs. It says nothing about whether the supplier survives a bad quarter, a fire or a key person leaving. Serious suppliers answer these five asks without friction; hesitation on any of them is information too.
- Business continuity: what happens to your order if their plant loses power, a strike hits or their systems go down? Ask for the plan, not a reassurance.
- Liability insurance: is product or professional liability insured, with which insurer and to what ceiling? A certificate of insurance is a one-page email for a real firm.
- Exit terms: how do you terminate if it goes wrong, what notice and fees apply, and how do you get your tooling, molds or data back?
- Support in numbers: ask for response and resolution times as figures, not adjectives. A supplier who commits to hours in writing has a support process; one who writes fast support does not.
- Named people: who exactly runs production and who owns your account? Continuity of a named team matters more than a polished sales deck, and employee-review sites often show whether that team stays.
General commercial hygiene, not legal advice.
Verify it in four steps
- 1
Open the Canada's Business Registries (federal + provincial, one search)
Canada's Business Registries (federal + provincial, one search) is the official government record of companies in Canada. Basic name or number search is free.
- 2
Search the exact legal name or ID
Search the supplier's registered name or its corporation number, or the 9-digit Business Number (BN) from the CRA. If the name does not match cleanly, treat it as a red flag, it may be a trade name, a different entity, or wrong.
- 3
Confirm it is active, not struck off
Status reads Active or Dissolved, but read the ANNUAL RETURN history next to it: a company that has stopped filing is drifting toward being struck off, and that shows up long before the status flips.
- 4
Check it makes what it sells
A real factory carries a manufacturing activity code and a consistent trade history; a middleman reselling everything is the most common mismatch.
This is a factual pointer to public records, not legal advice. For the full method, see the 7 checks that separate a real supplier from a scam.
We do this check for you
On every Canada company we list, we show what the open record says, each linked to its free public source so you can re-check it yourself, no paid badge. And we go past the big directories to the local and craft makers who are too small for them but real, then verify and sort them, so you find genuine Canada suppliers, not just the loudest.
Canada suppliers by sector
Every company on these pages shows what the open record says about it, each fact linked to its free public source.
Related guides
Questions
Is checking a Canada supplier free?
Yes. A basic name or number lookup in the Canada's Business Registries (federal + provincial, one search) is free. Some full official extracts are paid, but confirming a company exists and is active costs nothing.
What ID does a Canada company have?
Its corporation number, or the 9-digit Business Number (BN) from the CRA. Ask the supplier for it, then confirm it in the Canada's Business Registries (federal + provincial, one search) and check the registered name matches.
How do I know a Canada supplier is a real manufacturer, not a reseller?
The registry's activity code is the tell: a manufacturing code means a real maker, a wholesale or retail code means a trader. Canada has TWO levels of incorporation and they are not interchangeable. Federal (CBCA) lets a company trade under one name nationwide; provincial is cheaper and local, and needs an Extra-Provincial Registration to operate in another province. If a supplier claims a national footprint, check that the paperwork matches the claim.