How do I Register the .CA Version of a .NB.CA Domain?
UPDATE DECEMBER 2010: due to recent changes to the .CA registry, the instructions below no longer apply. We're looking into the new process and will update this post once we have all the details.
We recently ran into a situation where a hosting customer already owned the .NB.CA version of a domain name and wanted to register the .CA version as well. It's fairly well-known that, if you register a province-specific domain name (domain.nb.ca), then no one can register the national-level domain (domain.ca) without your permission. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to find any details on the specific steps needed to provide permission.
CIRA does provide a document detailing the "Registration Of Conflicting Domain Names," though it's barely-comprehensible four pages riddled with bureaucrat-eese and instructions for registrars (that 99% of individual domain owners don't need to know). It turns out that the process is fairly simple (CIRA over-complicating something? Shocking, I know).
The scenario is that you already own domain.nb.ca and you want to purchase domain.ca (note: nb.ca is used as an example, but this information should apply to any province-specific domains - on.ca, sk.ca, ns.ca, etc) . First you need to put in a registration order for the national-level domain (domain.ca), just as you would for any new .CA domain. Within a few minutes CIRA will send a notification EMail to the admin contact of the province-specific domain (domain.nb.ca), requesting permission to register domain.ca.
To grant permission, the process is exactly the same as authorizing any other "non-trivial" change to a .CA domain: you need to login to the CIRA account for the province-specific domain (domain.nb.ca) and click on an "Approve" link. That will take you a page where you can authorize (or reject) registration of the national domain (domain.ca).
Of course you either need to have an up-to-date administrative contact EMail address for the province-specific domain (domain.nb.ca) so that CIRA can send you your login information, or you need to have a copy of your CIRA account information on record. Otherwise, you need to (literally) find a judge or notary public or priest and get started with the dreaded CIRA "Manual Change of Admin Contact" process.
