The System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) is a mandatory document filing and retrieval system for Canadian public companies. It is similar to EDGAR, the filing system operated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for United States public companies. SEDAR is administered by the Canadian Securities Administrators, a coordinating body comprising the 13 Canadian provincial and territorial securities commissions, and operated on their behalf since 2014 by the Alberta Securities Commission.
SEDAR search results are rendered in PDF format. Searches of the database can be made by company name, industry group, document type or date filed.
Through registered filing agents, public companies file documents such as prospectuses, financial statements and material change reports. In the interest of transparency and full disclosure these documents are accessible to the public. Documents filed with regulators prior to the implementation of SEDAR in 1997 may be available from the individual securities commissions but in the case of the British Columbia Securities Commission historical filings are unretrievable and may have been destroyed.