How We Define What Products We Call “Canadian”

As Canada’s oldest women’s magazine, Chatelaine has been celebrating Canadian-made products and brands for almost 100 years. It’s always been a good idea to buy close to home: it supports local economies, keeps manufacturing domestic where possible and cuts down on the energy spent shipping products across the globe. But with looming U.S. tariffs, buying Canadian is more important than ever these days. 

And thanks to your letters—and the ever-growing popularity of our Canadian shopping content—we know it matters to you, too. So what do we mean when we say “buy Canadian”? 

In short, it’s complicated. Our solution? To be as transparent as possible. In order to be considered Canadian for our purposes, a product must fall into one of two categories: 

An array of Canadian-made products from our annual Made-in-Canada Gift Guide.

1. It must be made in Canada 

What this really means

For non-food products For products to bear the term “Made In Canada,” they have to follow the strict regulations set out by the Competition Bureau of Canada: they must be mostly assembled here and more than half of the costs of their production must be spent in Canada. So, for example, a T-shirt that’s sewn in Canada from imported fabric would qualify.

For something to be a Product of Canada, at least 98 percent of its total direct costs must occur here. Think: a piece of furniture designed and built here that’s also made of wood grown and cut in Canada.

We will be as specific as possible based on the information we have when referring to a product as made in Canada. 

What about products whose provenance isn’t straightforward—like, for instance, our staff-favourite Bioré UV Aqua Rich SPF 50? Bioré is owned by a Japanese corporation, but this particular moisturizer is manufactured in Canada, supporting Canadian jobs. So for our purposes, it counts.

For food products: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency describes food as made in Canada if, similar to non-food products, it’s mostly made here (that is, “its last substantial transformation” occurs in this country; for example, the assembling of dough, cheese, sauce and toppings to make a pizza). Food products can also be “Made in Canada from imported ingredients” or “Made in Canada from domestic and imported ingredients.” 

A food product is a Product of Canada if all (or “virtually all”) its ingredients, processing and labour are Canadian. So, for example, a cookie made from Canadian ingredients but containing vanilla and chocolate that aren’t Canadian would still qualify. 

Once again, we will be as specific as possible based on the information we have when referring to a food product as made in Canada. 

More Canadian products from our annual Made-In-Canada Gift Guide.

2. It must be made by a Canadian brand

In her excellent piece “Why Isn’t More Clothing Made In Canada?”, Isabel Slone explores why so few Canadian brands actually manufacture their clothing here. While we will showcase made-in-Canada clothing whenever possible, and identify it as such, we’ll also call out clothing and other products made by brands that are headquartered in Canada but manufactured elsewhere.

But what makes a brand a Canadian brand?  

Janine MacNeil, a partner at McMillan LLP who specializes in advertising and marketing law, says the answer isn’t always clear-cut. “There’s a lot of layers,” she says. “For example, people may feel very nostalgic about the Canadian-ness of a certain brand because that's historically where its roots have been, but as time has passed and the organization has evolved the actual ownership of that company may fall well outside of Canada.” 

On the other hand, MacNeil says, there are brands people think of as not being Canadian who have franchises here, employ Canadians and do business in a local community. “The lines are hard to draw,” she says. 

And, of course, cost is a factor. Making things in Canada can cost more. “We just don't have the population base here to support a lot of this manufacturing activity…[our] geography is also a challenge,” MacNeil says.

The bottom line

When it comes to how you spend your money, MacNeil says it’s most useful to think about what matters to you. Do you want a product that’s made in Canada? Do you want a Product of Canada? Do you want a product made by a company that employs local people? Do you prefer a company that’s owned locally, too? Do you want to support a small Canadian business? 

For a regularly updated list of Canadian shopping guides, bookmark our new Shop Canada page. And if there’s a Canadian brand or product that we need to know about, please drop us a line.