Private company due diligence in Canada
Canadian private deals sit across a federal registry, provincial registries and a separate Quebec system. A lien filed in one province does not show in another, so each search has to name the right one.
We read Corporations Canada, the provincial and Quebec registries, PPSA (provincial personal property security registers) and RDPRM (the Quebec equivalent) lien searches, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) insolvency records, court records and SEDAR+ (securities filings).
Where Kubr stands in Canada
Stage: Scoping. The planned launch covers registry reads and a company-supplied financial pack. Bank-data and accounting-ledger connections in Canada are still being confirmed with local counsel.
Clients here: permitted clients.
For permitted clients only. Kubr does not give investment advice.
Canada is a scoping market where we plan to start with registry, lien and insolvency reads and company-supplied financial packs.
Registers and records we read in Canada
| Source | What it holds | How we get it |
|---|---|---|
| Corporations Canada (ISED) | Federal corporations: status, registered office, directors, name history, filed documents, and individuals with significant control information published from 22 January 2024. | Read by Kubr |
| Ontario Business Registry | Ontario corporations and business names: status, filings, and directors and officers as filed. | Read by Kubr |
| Corporate Registry (British Columbia) | BC companies: status, filings and directors. A public transparency register of significant individuals was announced for 2026; whether it is live is to be confirmed. | Read by Kubr |
| Alberta Corporate Registry | Alberta corporations and partnerships: status, filings and directors. Access route and depth to be confirmed. | Read by Kubr |
| Registraire des entreprises du Quebec (REQ) | Quebec enterprises: number (NEQ), status, names used, officer and director contacts, and ultimate beneficiaries. The search is free of charge. | Read by Kubr |
| Provincial PPSA registries and the RDPRM (Quebec) | Security interests in personal property (lenders' claims over movable assets) registered against a debtor, by province. Quebec uses the RDPRM, which also records hypothecs (Quebec security over assets) and related rights. | Read by Kubr |
| Bank Act Security Registry | Security registered under section 427 of the Bank Act. Searches are offered online, by notice and in person. | Read by Kubr |
| Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) | Bankruptcy and insolvency records under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA), and filings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA, court-supervised restructuring) since 18 September 2009. Searches by name or file number carry a per-search fee. | Read by Kubr |
| Courts and CanLII | Decisions from courts and tribunals. Coverage is not complete, and how far automated retrieval is allowed under CanLII's terms is to be confirmed. Docket searches at individual courts are separate. | Supplied by the company |
| SEDAR+ and the National Registration Search (CSA) | Issuer filings, cease-trade orders, the disciplined list, insider reports, and registration of firms and individuals. | Read by Kubr |
| CRA GST/HST Registry | Confirms whether a GST/HST account number is valid for a named business on a given date. QST checks go through Revenu Quebec. | Read by Kubr |
| Company-supplied tax and filing documents | Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) notices of assessment, GST/HST and payroll remittance history, and T2 returns (corporate income tax returns), supplied by the company or its authorised representative. | Supplied by the company |
Rules that shape the work
- Company law and registry
- A company is federal (Canada Business Corporations Act, Corporations Canada) or provincial (for example Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, or Quebec with its own register, the REQ, the Quebec enterprise register). Each has its own registry, so we search the jurisdiction of incorporation and every province where it does business. Corporations Canada publishes directors, registered office and individuals with significant control for federal corporations.
- Data protection
- PIPEDA, the federal privacy law, applies to private-sector personal information across most of Canada. Quebec's Law 25, its privacy reform, adds duties, including a privacy impact assessment before personal information leaves Quebec. Our design keeps data in Canada, and how each rule applies to our exact flows is to be confirmed with local counsel.
- Financial data
- Canada's Consumer-Driven Banking Act, its open banking law, is law, but the supporting regulations were only pre-published on 26 June 2026, with a staggered start. Whether and when business accounts can be read through it is to be confirmed. Until then, statements come from the company or from a consented connection to its accounting ledger.
- Securities regulator
- There is no single national regulator. Each province and territory has a securities commission, coordinated by the Canadian Securities Administrators. Registration and issuer records sit on SEDAR+. Kubr does not give investment advice and does not hold or apply for registration.
- Speed
- Registry and lien searches are designed to run in minutes to hours. Packs that depend on company-supplied statements start when the company uploads or connects, and aim for 2 to 5 days from then.
- Reliability
- Searches are by province, and a lien or court record filed in one province will not show in another. A group with entities in several provinces needs several searches, and we state which jurisdictions were searched in every report.
How we check sales and cash here
Canada has no feed of sales-tax returns that a third party can read. CRA data reaches us only when the company, or a representative it has authorised, supplies it. Bank data through the Consumer-Driven Banking Act is not yet available to us and its coverage of business accounts is to be confirmed.
Where your data is held
As a design commitment, made before launch, data on Canadian companies is sourced from providers licensed in Canada and handled inside Canada. We have no Canadian production environment yet and this statement describes what we are building to.
Sourced from: Canadian-licensed registry and lien-search access providers, court-record and insolvency-record sources, and consent-based financial data providers accredited in Canada once that framework operates. Public authorities are read directly where their terms allow.
Storage and processing are designed to run in Canadian data centres, with analyst access from Canada. Nothing crosses borders by design. Any exception, and what Quebec's Law 25 requires for it, is to be confirmed with local counsel.
Reports available in Canada
- Verified SnapshotFull
Registry, lien, insolvency, securities and court-record searches across the federal and named provincial jurisdictions, with a GST/HST validity check where a number is given. Limits: Only the jurisdictions searched are covered. Court coverage is not complete. Ownership depth outside federal and Quebec records depends on what each province publishes. Typical turnaround: 2 to 5 working days from a complete data set. - Financial diligencePartial
Statements, bank statements and ledger data supplied by the company, reconciled and compared with CRA documents the company or its representative provides. Limits: No CRA feed and no live business bank-data route yet. Depth depends on what the company supplies. Typical turnaround: 2 to 5 working days from a complete data set. - Promoter profilesPartial
Director and officer records from Corporations Canada and provincial registries, with insolvency and court searches on named individuals. Limits: Individual-level records need care under PIPEDA and Quebec's Law 25. Some records are searchable only by name, which risks false matches. Typical turnaround: 2 to 5 working days from a complete data set.
Not yet available here: Legal diligence support (planned); IC note (planned); Portfolio monitor (planned); Model check (planned); Valuation context (planned); Rating history (not offered); Borrower monitor (planned); Proceeds tracer (planned). See all eleven reports or read the sample report.
Work that needs a licensed professional
- Legal opinions and advice on title, security and contracts: A lawyer called to the bar of the relevant province, or a Quebec avocat or notary.
- Audit and review engagements, assurance reports: A licensed public accounting firm. Licensing is provincial and to be confirmed.
- Investment advice and dealing in securities: A registrant of the relevant provincial securities commission.
- Insolvency and restructuring work: A licensed insolvency trustee (Licensed Insolvency Trustee under the BIA).
- Credit ratings: A provider under the relevant regulatory regime, to be confirmed with local counsel.
Kubr is not a registered dealer, adviser or portfolio manager with any provincial securities commission, is not a licensed public accounting firm, is not a law firm and is not a licensed insolvency trustee. We give no investment, legal, tax or audit advice and issue no ratings or opinions. How Canadian securities law, including National Instrument 31-103, applies to our services is to be confirmed with local counsel.
PIPEDA applies to personal information handled in the course of commercial activity, and Quebec's Law 25 adds duties on consent, incident handling and transfers out of Quebec. Director and officer records are personal information, so we limit their use to the diligence purpose and confirm the legal basis with local counsel.
Read next
- Canada Company Search: Federal & Provincial Registries
- Private Company Due Diligence: A Records-Based Guide
- Lender’s Checklist: Verifying a Borrower Company
- Kubr casebook: 483 sourced corporate-failure cases, with its methodology and summary counts
Request a quote for a Canada company, or browse the services.
Other markets
Kubr is a technology platform, not an adviser, law firm, auditor, rating agency or credit bureau. Reports are for the named client only and are not investment advice, an audit or a legal opinion. Full disclosures. Source data for this page: the Kubr market pack for Canada, reviewed 3 November 2026.