Question 1

What is Parcela?

Accepted Answer

Parcela is an institutional property due-diligence platform covering Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. From a single address it builds a notarial-grade report in under 30 seconds: parcel extent, planning, risks, geology, comparables, ESG and an AI narrative.

Question 2

How does the Canadian identifier work — is there a parcel number?

Accepted Answer

Canada has no national cadastre, so there is no universal parcel number. You enter an address or postal code; Parcela resolves it via the open BC and federal NRCan geocoders to the correct province, then retrieves the parcel boundary — ParcelMap BC (LTSA) in British Columbia and Ontario Parcel (Land Information Ontario) at launch, with the other provinces and territories deep-linking to their own registries.

Question 3

Why does Canada behave as one country with thirteen systems?

Accepted Answer

Under s.92A of the Constitution Act 1867, the 10 provinces and 3 territories each have jurisdiction over lands and natural resources. There is no national cadastre, no national planning portal and no national flood-zone register — cadastre, zoning, the binding flood maps and detailed geology are provincial/municipal. Parcela detects the province from the address and routes every query to the correct authority automatically.

Question 4

Does Parcela replace a title search or a survey?

Accepted Answer

No. The Parcela report is a technical pre-assessment. The official provincial land-title search (ownership and charges), a Real Property Report / survey, a CSA Z768 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment where relevant, and any geotechnical investigation remain necessary before closing. Parcela consolidates the open public data so you enter those steps already informed.

Question 5

How does Parcela assess seismic and permafrost hazard?

Accepted Answer

NRCan's probabilistic seismic hazard is the foundation of the National Building Code of Canada. The Cascadia subduction zone off SW British Columbia (Vancouver, Victoria) is capable of an M9.0+ megathrust — last in 1700 — which Parcela flags for any BC coastal site. North of roughly 60°N, the Permafrost Atlas of Canada is a mandatory consideration: thawing permafrost drives subsidence, slope failure and coastal erosion.

Question 6

How does Parcela assess flood risk in Canada?

Accepted Answer

NRCan publishes a national flood-map inventory plus near-real-time Emergency Geomatics Services flood-event products, which Parcela overlays for context. Flooding is Canada's costliest natural disaster. The legally-binding flood zones remain provincial — BC, Alberta (AEP), Ontario (Conservation Authorities), Québec (CEHQ) — so Parcela deep-links the binding provincial map.

Question 7

What geology and ground data does Parcela use?

Accepted Answer

The Geological Survey of Canada bedrock and surficial (Quaternary) geology — the latter covering glacial deposits and the sensitive Leda/Champlain Sea clays of the St. Lawrence lowlands — plus the GSC landslide record. Note: Canada has no national geotechnical-borehole registry, so site-specific CPT/engineering boreholes are not public and a ground investigation is still required.

Question 8

What elevation and terrain data does Parcela use?

Accepted Answer

NRCan CanElevation — the HRDEM airborne-LiDAR 1 m DTM/DSM across southern Canada (one of the world's largest open LiDAR programmes), with the MRDEM 30 m model for nationwide coverage including the north. Heights are referenced to the Canadian Geodetic Vertical Datum CGVD2013.

Question 9

How does Parcela handle Indigenous land rights?

Accepted Answer

Parcela surfaces the Indigenous Lands of Canada layer (reserves and treaty areas) as a land-use constraint, with a clear note that unceded and comprehensive-claims territories — and the duty-to-consult and consent obligations under s.35 of the Constitution Act 1982, UNDRIP (2021) and BC's DRIPA (2019) — require specialist Indigenous-rights legal review. It is presented as context for that review, never as a simple risk score.

Question 10

Which coordinate systems does Canada use?

Accepted Answer

The horizontal datum is NAD83(CSRS) (current realisation v7, epoch 2010), with provincial projections on UTM zones 7N–22N, BC Albers (EPSG:3005), Alberta 10TM (EPSG:3400) and others; the national overview projection is the Canada Atlas Lambert (EPSG:3978). Vertical datum CGVD2013. The NATRF2022 modernisation, coordinated with the US, lands progressively 2025–2030. Parcela transforms to WGS84 for display.

Question 11

Is the platform available in French?

Accepted Answer

The interface launches in English (en-CA), with French (fr-CA) declared for search and a French report language for Québec addresses. Every federal NRCan data layer is published bilingually (_en / _fr), so a full French Québec experience is a planned next step.

Question 12

What pricing is available?

Accepted Answer

A Property Report from CA$129, a Due Diligence report from CA$399 — one-off, no subscription. For regular use, monthly packs (Starter, Professional, Enterprise) cut the per-report price by 25–60%. White-label, REST API and SSO sit in the Professional and Enterprise plans (see /ca/enterprise). All prices exclude GST/HST.

Question 13

Which markets does Parcela cover?

Accepted Answer

Canada, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom and Switzerland — 15 countries, Canada being the first outside Europe. For Canada: ParcelMap BC / Ontario Parcel cadastre, NRCan CanVec + CanImage basemaps, the national flood-map inventory, GSC bedrock + surficial geology, NBCC seismic hazard, the Permafrost Atlas, HRDEM LiDAR, Species at Risk and the Indigenous Lands of Canada layer.