How to check if a company is Canadian-owned

Updated September 28, 2026

A maple leaf in the logo or "Canada" in the name doesn't tell you who owns a company. Here's how to check.

Who owns it?

• Read the company's "About" page and look for a parent company.
• Public companies list their head office and major shareholders in annual reports.
• Search the news for "acquired", "acquisition" or "sold" with the company name. Ownership changes more often than you'd think; see our recent ownership changes.

Where is it made?

The Competition Bureau sets two label rules:

• Product of Canada: at least 98% of the total direct costs of producing the product are Canadian, and the last substantial transformation happened in Canada.
• Made in Canada: the last substantial transformation happened in Canada and at least 51% of total direct costs are Canadian, with a qualifying statement such as "Made in Canada with imported parts".

Where does your data go?

For software, hosting and payments, ask where customer data is stored and processed. Canadian data centres don't always mean Canadian ownership, and the reverse is true too.

Our score does this for you

The Canadian Score weighs ownership, head office, data, jobs, tax and product origin, and each profile shows its source and the date we last checked it.

Official sources

• Competition Bureau: Product of Canada and Made in Canada