.CA Domain Name Character Rules

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has established rules for what characters can be used in a .CA domain name.

A domain name may only include a combination of the following:

• Letters a through z
  • Domain names are not case-sensitive, meaning there is no difference between uppercase and lowercase letters (A = a)
  • No accented characters are accepted in standard (ASCII) domain names
• Numbers 0 through 9
• Hyphens (-)
  • Hyphens cannot be used at the beginning or end of a domain name

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs)

As of 2013, CIRA began offering Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), which allow the use of accented French characters.

CIRA offers IDNs in bundles, meaning they are tied to the non-IDN (ASCII) version of the domain and include accented variations.

For example:

• Registering cafe.ca includes variations such as:
  • café.ca
  • cafè.ca
  • cafë.ca
  • càfe.ca
  • çafe.ca

Being the registrant of one of these domains gives you the exclusive right to register its accented variations.

• All IDN variations must have the same registrant and registrar
• These variations cannot be separated from the bundle

Registering IDN Domains Separately

IDN domains can also be registered on their own, if the non-IDN version is not already registered.

For example:

• café.ca can be registered if cafe.ca is not already taken

In this case, registering the IDN domain also grants you exclusive rights to its variations, just like registering the non-IDN version.