In May 2020, Canadians registered a record number of .CA domain names making it the biggest single month in the more than 20-year history of the .CA registry.
OTTAWA – June 10, 2020 – New data from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) suggests that Canadian businesses and organizations are starting new e-commerce websites and pivoting online at a pace never seen before.
In May 2020, Canadians registered a record number of .CA domain names making it the biggest single month in the more than 20-year history of the .CA registry. This continues a trend seen since the beginning of the pandemic as Canadians start new businesses, build personal websites, and pivot to online services.
Key facts
- In May 2020, 54,129 .CA domain names were registered, an increase of 38 per cent over May 2019 (39,319). This represents the largest single month for .CA registrations since CIRA was founded in 1998.
- According to an informal poll of 213 .CA registrants over the two-month period, 40 per cent were creating a new business website; 15 per cent were building an e-commerce website; and 17 per cent were creating a personal website.
- Hundreds of new .CA businesses and organizations have been launched in the past few months; including:
- conquercovid19.ca: an organization working to provide masks, gloves, and other supplies to frontline workers
- thenextsip.ca: a BC-based business helping small cafes across Canada to sell their beans
- canadasews.ca: movement of volunteers across Canada providing fabric masks and scrub caps to front line workers in need.
- bestbacon.ca: Ottawa-based bacon delivery service
- artwrk.ca: online e-commerce space for artists to host their creations
- neighbourhoodcoffee.ca: a Toronto-based community café that embraces local makers and products
- wiki.ourcanadian.ca: a crowdsourced wiki of Canadian products and services developed by students at the University of Victoria.
- This is the second straight month of double-digit growth as April 2020 saw an increase of 28 per cent over the previous year (40,922 to 52,196)
- From April 1 to May 31, 2020, CIRA recorded its best-ever two-month period with a total of 108,018 .CA domains registered
- Ontario recorded 47 per cent of all .CA registrations over the two-month period, followed by British Columbia (18 per cent) and Quebec (15 per cent).
Executive quotes
Additional resources
- Find out why Canadians trust .CA domain names.
- Learn more about the .CA domain Canadian Presence Requirements.
- Learn how CIRA is keeping the .CA domain registry safe.
About the Canadian Internet Registration Authority
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. CIRA also develops technologies and services—such as CIRA DNS Firewall and CIRA Canadian Shield—that help support its goal of building a better online Canada. The CIRA team operates one of the fastest-growing country code top-level domains (ccTLD), a high-performance global DNS network, and one of the world’s most advanced back-end registry solutions.
