Method

How we decide

"Canadian" is not one question, it's two, and most sites collapse them. We keep them apart.

The two questions

Who owns it? Where the parent company is domiciled and controlled — which is where the profit ends up.

Where is it made? Which plant produced the thing in your hand — which is where the jobs are.

A brand can pass one and fail the other. French's ketchup is made in Toronto from Ontario tomatoes and owned by an American spice company. Arc'teryx is designed in North Vancouver and owned through a Chinese sports conglomerate. Neither is a simple yes or no, so we don't pretend otherwise.

The four verdicts

Canadian

Canadian-owned and manufactured in Canada.

Made here

Manufactured in Canada, owned abroad.

Cdn owned

Canadian-owned, manufactured abroad.

Foreign

Neither.

Where the information comes from

Corporate filings, company statements, and product packaging, with the date of the check shown on every listing. Where a claim is contested or we haven't finished verifying it, the panel says so rather than quietly guessing.

What we get wrong

Ownership moves faster than any directory can track. Brands are acquired quietly, plants close, production shifts between countries mid-year. Every page carries a correction link, and reader corrections are reviewed against a source before anything changes. If you find something wrong, say so.