DomainHELP

.CA domains are administered by CIRA: the Canadian Internet Registration Authority who sets out how .CA domains are to be transferred.

There are two things to consider when transferring a .CA domain:

1) Transferring a .CA domain to a new registrar
.CA domains are registered and maintained in the registry by registrars and from time to time you may want to move a domain from one to another (consolidation, customer service level, packaging with other services, etc)

2) Transferring a .CA domain to a new registrant
The registrant is the entity who the name is registered to. (Think of it as a "domain owner", but in a strict sense, the CIRA registration agreement does not confer ownership of a name, but rather the right to register or use the name).

Depending on if you're doing one or both of the above, the procedures are as follows:

Transfer .CA domain to a new registrar

The gaining registrar files a transfer request for the name and CIRA sends an email to the email address listed in the Admin-Mailbox field of the domain's whois record (to see a .CA domain's whois record, use a whois lookup like easyWhois) asking for confirmation.

The domain's admin contact needs to log into the CIRA website (not the registrar's website) and confirm the transfer. If the user doesn't have the login info for the CIRA website, the current regsitrar can force an email containing login details to the Admin-Mailbox of the domain.

This process costs the gaining registrar a year with the registry, so most often the end user is charged a fee but it ends up looking like "adding a year" to the registration. No unused time is lost, the registration is extended a year.

Transfer to a new registrant, same registrar

The current registrar files the change with CIRA, it also will extend the registration by one year.

CIRA will first email the old registrant to the Admin-Mailbox address and ask for confirmation.

Upon receiving confirmation, the new registrant will also be sent a confirmation email by CIRA to accept the new domain (if the gaining registrant does not yet have a registrant profile setup with CIRA, the registrar needs to create one before it can accept the domain)

Transfer the registrar to a new registrant

This basically combines both the procedures above, and so it follows that after it is said and done, the registration will have been extended by two years.

This can be done in one step with the co-operation of a friendly "losing registrar", that is if the registrar that is losing the domain is helpful, they can initiate both a transfer to a new registrar and a change of registrant from their side.

All of the same requisite confirmations are required, however at the end of it, only one domain year will have been added (and presumeably, charged to the end user)

Keep in mind you cannot do a domain transfer or a change of registrant on any .CA domain until after a domain is 45 days old. This is a rule implemented at the registry level to help registrars screen for chargebacks, etc.