Call signs in Canada are official identifiers issued to the country's radio and television stations. Assignments for broadcasting stations are made by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), while amateur stations receive their call signs from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (previously Industry Canada). Conventional radio and television broadcasting stations assignments are generally three, four or five letters long (not including the "–FM", "–TV", or "–DT" suffix) and almost exclusively use "C" call signs; with a few exceptions noted below, the "V" calls are restricted to specialized uses such as amateur radio.

Call sign prefixes are coordinated internationally by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Canada has been assigned CF–CK, VA–VG, VO, VX-VY and XJ–XO. "CB" series calls are officially assigned to Chile by the ITU, but Canada makes de facto use of this series for stations belonging to, but not exclusively broadcasting programs from, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Special broadcast undertakings such as Internet radio, cable FM, carrier current or closed circuit stations may sometimes be known by unofficial identifiers such as "CSCR". These are not governed by the Canadian media regulation system, and may be letter sequences that would not be permissible for a conventional broadcast station.

Three-letter call signs are only permitted to CBC Radio stations or to commercial stations which received their three-letter call sign before the current rules were adopted.

Assignments The International Telecommunication Union has assigned Canada the following call sign blocks:"Table of International Call Sign Series" (Appendix 42 to the RR) (ITU.int) Note that the two-letter national prefix may be followed by other letters or by numbers or by a combination of both. For example there can be call signs such as CFD, CFAB, CF3428, CFW325, CF3ABC, etc. as long as they commence with one of the two-letter national prefixes assigned to Canada.

Call sign blockCF-CKCY-CZVA-VGVO-VOVX-VYXJ-XO

Broadcasting stations Most broadcasting stations have four-letter call signs (not including the "–FM", "–TV", or "–DT" suffix). Three-letter call signs are only permitted to CBC Radio stations or to commercial stations which received their three-letter call sign before the current rules were adopted. Five-letter call signs exclusively identify CBC transmitters (which may be either rebroadcasters or Ici Radio-Canada Télé owned-and-operated stations outside of Quebec).

Stations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation tend to identify themselves as "CBC Radio One"/"CBC Radio Two" (English-language) or "La Première Chaîne"/"Espace Musique" (French-language) of a city, although they do have official three- and four- letter call signs. These generally (but not always) begin with "CB". "VO" call signs may only be used commercially by stations in Newfoundland and Labrador which were licensed before that province joined the Canadian Confederation in 1949 (VOCM, VOAR and VOWR broadcast from St. John's long before confederation). Only one station, VOCM-FM, has been allowed to adopt a "VO" call sign as part of Canada. It was granted the VOCM calls because of its corporate association with the AM station. Note however that stations throughout Canada that are rebroadcasters of VOAR in Newfoundland do also have VO call signs. For example, VOAR-13-FM is located in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. VOAR is rebroadcast via internet connections in areas far removed from Newfoundland due to its unique Seventh Day Adventist Christian format.

Call signs with four digits preceded by "VF" (for radio) or "CH" (for television) are only assigned to very-low-power local services, such as rebroadcasters or limited-interest stations similar to Part 15 operations in the United States. All Canadian FM stations have an "–FM" suffix, except for low-power rebroadcasters which have semi-numeric "VF" call signs. Higher-power rebroadcasters are generally licensed under the call sign of the originating station, followed by a numeric suffix and, for FM re-broadcasters of an AM station, a "–FM" suffix. For example, CJBC-1-FM rebroadcasts CJBC (860 Toronto), whereas CJBC-FM-1 rebroadcasts CJBC-FM (90.3 Toronto). Some rebroadcasters, however, may have their own distinct call signs.

Canadian television stations use the "-TV" suffix, with the exception of those CBC-owned stations which have a call sign in the "CB-(-)T" format. Canadian digital transitional television undertakings have "-DT" suffixes, even where the base call sign is a CBC/Radio-Canada O&O in pattern "CB(insert third letter)T", "CB(insert third letter)ET" or "CB(insert third letter)FT" (respectively for English language or French language television). For instance, Ici Radio-Canada Télé's O&O CBOFT-DT would represent "CBC Ottawa Français Télévision - Digital Television". Canada does not use the "-LP" or "-CA" suffixes that are in use in the United States.

For rebroadcasters which use a numeric suffix, the suffixes usually follow a 1–2–3 numeric sequence, which indicates the chronological order in which rebroadcast transmitters were added. There are some cases where television rebroadcasters are suffixed with the channel number on which the transmitter broadcasts (for instance, CIII-DT's rebroadcasters are numbered with their channel assignment rather than sequentially), but this is not generally the norm.

Amateur radio

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada regulates all aspects of amateur radio in the country. It assigns call signs, issues amateur radio licences, conducts exams, allots frequency spectrum, and monitors transmissions.

Canadian amateur radio stations call signs generally begin with "VE", "VA", “VO” or "VY". The number following these letters indicates the province, going from "VA1"/"VE1" for Nova Scotia, "VA2"/"VE2" (Québec), "VE3"/"VA3" (Ontario) through "VA7"/"VE7" for British Columbia and "VE8" for the Northwest Territories, with latecomer "VE9" for New Brunswick. ("VE1" used to be for all three Maritime provinces.) "VE0" is for maritime mobile amateur transmissions. "VY1" is used for the Yukon Territory, "VY2" for Prince Edward Island, and "VY0" for Nunavut. "CY0" and "CY9" are Sable Island (population 3) and St. Paul Island (uninhabited); with little or no local population, reception of these distant points is rare, although amateur radio stations do temporarily operate from these islands during shortwave radio contests.CY9 St. Paul Island DXpedition, CY9AA, June 1997 Special prefixes are often issued for stations operating at significant events.

Amateur radio operators are required to transmit their call sign in either English or French at the beginning and end of each period of exchange of communication or test transmission and at intervals of no more than 30 minutes throughout the period of exchange of communication.

While not directly related to call signs, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has further divided all countries assigned amateur radio prefixes into three regions; Canada is located in ITU Region 2. These regions are further divided into two overlapping zone systems: the ITU zone and the CQ zone.

The Dominion of Newfoundland prefix "VO" remains in active use by amateurs in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, VO1AA atop Signal Hill in St. Johns being the most famous amateur station. Radio amateurs on the Island of Newfoundland use calls beginning with "VO1", while Labrador amateurs use "VO2". A popular backronym for "VO" stations is "Voice of...", although prefixes do not have any official meaning.

There are 68,000 licensed operators in Canada with call signs. The Canadian federal government's Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada allots the individual call signs to the radio amateurs it licenses. There are 24 possible 2-letter prefixes and 240 2-letter/1-number prefixes available to Canadian operators based on the ITU blocks (CF–CK, CY–CZ, VA–VG, VO, VX–VY and XJ–XO). There are potentially approximately 4,340,000 call signs available in Canada.

Of these prefixes, 5 are currently assigned (CY, VA, VE, VO, and VY) for normal amateur radio operation. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada assigns regular operating call signs from 25 prefix/numeral blocks (e.g. VE1, CY9....). The other prefixes are assigned for special event operation for a time-limited period.

For Canadian amateur licences, suffixes of radio call signs usually comprise two or three letters, the former being available only to amateurs who have been licensed for 5 years or more. Amateurs can hold only one two-letter suffix call sign, but as many three-letter suffix call signs as they wish.

There are 18,252 possible combinations of two- or three-letter suffix call signs per prefix. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada follows Article 19 of the ITU Radio Regulations by disallowing 156 suffix-combinations because they may be confused with 3-letter communications signals (i.e. Q-codes) or other combinations which can be confused with distress signals. The Recommendation ITU-R M.1172 Recommendation ITU-R M.1172 lists groups of letters from QOA to QUZ as abbreviations and signals to be used in radiotelegraphy communications. 'SOS' is also generally excluded, however the old distress call of 'CQD' can be allocated.

For occasional special events, 1-, 4-, or -5 letter suffixes can be assigned to a licensed operator for a specific period of time.

Canada is assigned DXCC entity #1, with the exception of Sable Is. and St.-Paul Is. which are DXCC entities #211 & #252 respectively. Call sign prefixes are issued according to one's province or territory of residence by the following table:

Prefixes Province/Territory ITU Region ITU Zone CQ Zone # within prefix issuedHam Data # amateurs VE1 VA1 Nova Scotia 2 9 5 2,986 2,536 VE2 VA2 Quebec 2 4, 9 2, 5 17,031 16,975 VE3 VA3 Ontario 2 3, 4 2, 4, 5 20,623 20,752 VE4 VA4 Manitoba 2 3 4 1,844 1,810 VE5 VA5 Saskatchewan 2 3 4 1,465 1,452 VE6 VA6 Alberta 2 2 4 5,942 5,967 VE7 VA7 British Columbia 2 2 3 13,836 14,130 VE8 Northwest Territories 2 2, 3 1 113 73 VE9 New Brunswick 2 9 5 1,447 1,853 VE0* International Waters 582 0* VO1 Newfoundland 2 9 5 1,260 1,242 VO2 Labrador 2 9 2 179 66 VY1 Yukon 2 2 1 186 172 VY2 Prince Edward Island 2 9 5 273 335 VY9** Government of Canada 5 VY0 Nunavut 2 3, 4 2 37 19 CY0*** Sable Is.Call Signs (eham.net) 2 9 5 0 0 CY9*** St-Paul Is. 2 9 5 0 0 Overseas addresses 29

* VE0 call signs are only intended for use when the amateur radio station is operated from a vessel that makes international voyages. First assigned in 1954, Canada is the only country to assign a special prefix to operators on its ships in international waters.Radio Stations Common? Not This Kind by Spurgeon G. Roscoe None of the operators reside at sea, but have residence within one of the other call-sign areas. ** Industry Canada lists five (5) call signs with VY9 prefix issued to individuals related to that government department. These individuals reside in or near Ottawa, as well as Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Fort Smith, NWT. *** Sable Is. and St-Paul Is. are assigned separate call sign prefixes by virtue of being directly under the authority of the federal government of Canada. They are respectively DXCC entities #211 & #252. St.-Paul Is. used to be covered by the VY9 prefix and Sable Is. used to use VX9 (which is now used by experimental stations). Note: calls issued do not reflect the actual number of amateurs in a call area – some amateur operators have more than one call sign, and due to lag in reporting changes some might currently be issued to an operator living in another call sign area

Special event call signs