In this Chapter we will learn: how Canada’s securities world is stitched together — starting with the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) as the national coordinator, the provincial securities commissions (like OSC, BCSC, AMF) as the actual legal enforcers, and CIRO as the national self-regulatory organization that polices dealers, advisors, and trading. The CSA develops National Instruments, multilateral instruments, and guidance to harmonize rules across 13 jurisdictions, runs systems like SEDAR+, SEDI, and NRD, and pushes for investor protection, capital formation, and international representation — but it doesn’t itself enforce; that power sits with the provinces. The provincial commissions (we use OSC as the model) license firms and individuals, review disclosure, run enforcement hearings, issue cease-trade orders, levy fines, work with RCMP/OPP on serious cases, and supervise marketplaces — they are the “parents” doing day-to-day discipline, while CSA is the “grandma” writing the family rules.
We will also learn how Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) — formed in 2023 from IIROC + MFDA — fits under that structure. Around this core we’ll touch on the other Canadian players you’ll meet on exams or in practice — OSFI (prudential oversight of banks/insurers), CDIC (deposit insurance, not investments), FSRA and other provincial financial regulators (non-securities financial services), RCMP IMET (criminal capital-markets cases), privacy commissioners (PIPEDA/PIPA obligations for client data), and finally U.S. regulators (SEC, FINRA, CFTC, Fed, FDIC, CFPB) and how they map to Canadian equivalents. By the end, you should be able to tell who makes the rules, who enforces them, who only coordinates, and who you call when your client lives in Arizona but wants to trade Canadian securities.