Instant Canadian Business Verification

Canada Business Registry Lookup API: Search by Company Name and Province

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Updated November 2026

This guide shows how to look up a company in Canada by name and province with Verifik’s API: the endpoint, its parameters, a request you can paste into a terminal, the documented response and errors, and what to watch for when you put it in production. Everything below comes from the official endpoint documentation.

Company records in Canada

Canada has no single company register. Businesses incorporate either federally, through Corporations Canada, or in a province or territory, and the Canada Revenue Agency assigns each of them a nine-digit Business Number (BN). That is why a company search in Canada needs a province as well as a name.

Verifik’s endpoint takes the business name and a two-letter province code and returns the business number, business type, status and status date, registry ID and registered office.

To follow this guide with your own integration, open a Verifik account and generate your access token.

How to call the Canada name and province API

Endpoint: GET https://api.verifik.co/v2/ca/company. Send your token in the Authorization: Bearer header. Parameters, as documented:

ParameterRequiredDescription
businessYesCompany name.
provinceYesCanadian province code.

Request example with placeholder values (replace them with your user’s data):

curl --location --request GET 'https://api.verifik.co/v2/ca/company?business=BAI%20HENG%20PACKAGING%20SUPPLIES%20INC&province=ON' \
--header 'Accept: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'

200 response from the docs (personal data masked):

{
  "data": {
    "business": "BAI HENG PACKAGING SUPPLIES INC",
    "businessNumber": "783439201",
    "businessType": "ONTARIO BUSINESS CORP.",
    "compayName": "BAI HENG PACKAGING SUPPLIES INC.",
    "province": "ON",
    "regOfficeCity": "Richmond Hill",
    "regOfficeProvince": "Ontario",
    "registryId": "2859292",
    "status": "Active",
    "statusDate": "2021-08-10"
  },
  "signature": {
    "dateTime": "October 10, 2025 4:19 PM",
    "message": "Certified by Verifik.co"
  },
  "id": "1J9CJ"
}

A successful call returns HTTP 200 with a data object containing: business, businessNumber, businessType, compayName, province, regOfficeCity, regOfficeProvince, registryId, status, statusDate. Every response also carries a signature (timestamp and “Certified by Verifik.co”) and a unique id you can store as evidence of the check.

Documented errors for /v2/ca/company

  • 401 UNAUTHORIZED (“Authentication required”): the token is missing or invalid; check the Authorization header.
  • 404 NotFound (“Record not found”): no record was found; do not treat it as a match and route the case to review or ask for another document.
  • 500 InternalServerError (“Server error”): a server or source error; retry with backoff and log the request id.

Integration tips

  • Send province as the two-letter code (for example ON for Ontario).
  • Search with the exact legal name, including suffixes such as INC. or LTD., for the best match.
  • Use status and statusDate to block inactive or recently dissolved entities.
  • A 404 means no business matched that name in the province; try the legal name instead of the trade name.

Personal data and terms of use

Company records can include personal data about partners, officers or representatives. Use the API only for a lawful purpose you can document, such as onboarding, fraud prevention or contract checks, collect consent where the local law requires it, and keep only the fields you need. Usage is governed by the smartCHECK terms and conditions.

Pricing

Each successful request consumes credits from your Verifik plan. Current plans and per-endpoint costs are on the smartCHECK pricing page.

Related guides and documentation

Start testing

Create a Verifik account to get your API token, or book a meeting if you want to review coverage and volumes with the team.

Miguel Treviño - Co-founder and CTO, Verifik

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

➖

Why does the Canada company endpoint need a province?

Canadian businesses can be registered federally or in a province, so the documented endpoint requires the business name and a province code.

➕

Which endpoint looks up a company in Canada?

GET https://api.verifik.co/v2/ca/company, with the parameters business, province and your Bearer token.

➕

What errors can the Canada company lookup endpoint return?

The documentation lists HTTP 401, 404, 500. In short, a 404 means no record was found; a 500 is a server or source error worth retrying later.

➕

How is the Canada company lookup check priced?

Each successful request consumes credits from your Verifik plan. See the smartCHECK pricing page for current plans.

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