Registry status describes a legal or filing condition under the relevant corporate law. Active does not mean profitable, trustworthy, licensed for every activity or up to date on every tax obligation.
Read the status and its detail together
Federal search guidance groups several active sub-statuses under the active filter, including pending dissolution or discontinuance situations. Open the detail record rather than assuming every active result has the same position.
Record the exact wording and date consulted. Do not translate a label into a stronger claim. For example, a pending dissolution entry is not the same as a completed dissolution.
Resolve important uncertainty with the authority
A discontinued corporation may have continued under another jurisdiction, so search the successor registry where indicated. An amalgamation can also change which legal entity you should search.
If a bank, supplier or legal adviser needs formal evidence, ask which certificate and date are required. Our search helps locate the record; it does not issue official certificates or determine a corporation’s authority for a specific transaction.
Keep the status date separate from the date you checked
A review can involve several dates: the document you are assessing, the event recorded by the registry, and your consultation. Put them in separate fields. A current search answers a current-record question; a historical contract may require evidence about an earlier date. Do not silently use today’s label as a description of every past transaction.
For federal corporations, the CBCA glossary distinguishes a certificate of existence, which can concern a particular date or period, from a certificate of compliance concerning required filings and fees on the request date. Ask the recipient which document and date meet its purpose before ordering.
Follow the event rather than stopping at inactive
Read any event wording that accompanies an inactive record. The federal terminology distinguishes amalgamation from discontinuance into another governing law. Use that description to identify the next registry or successor record to investigate, and preserve the link between your original record and the next one. Do not replace an original identifier in your notes without recording why.
Example
Illustrative scenario: an older contract and a changed status
Suppose a contract predates the status change shown in a federal record. Record both dates and the exact event description. If your question is whether the corporation existed when the contract was signed, clarify whether a dated certificate of existence is required. If your question concerns today’s supplier, continue the current-record check. These are different evidence requests even though they begin with the same corporation number.
Sources and review
Content updated October 30, 2026. Source checked October 30, 2026. Examples illustrate the process; they do not describe a real corporation.