One of the biggest challenges with the Canadian dot-ca top level domain names will be the integration of the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics for our French counterparts mostly in Quebec. This would allow for domains to be registered in Canada's other Official language other than English.
This is the direction of where the internet is heading and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is making headway towards accomplishing this goal. On September 20th CIRA opened a public consultation towards the launch and have also created a dedicated site at www.idnconsultation.ca where individuals can learn and have their say.
The goal is to develop a sound policy moving forward which would not be dissimilar from the current policies in place for the ASCII dot-ca domain names. The difference would be the addition of the following accented characters:
- é, ë, ê, è
- à, â
- ô
- ù, û, ü
- ç
- î, ï
Advertising the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics will bolster our relevance on a global scale with adopting the new standards. At the same time it should promote the dot-ca name for those who are registering French based domains and want to distinguish themselves as being Canadian, as opposed to other countries whose main language is French.
This should help in continuing building the dot-ca to a point where it is on par as a mandatory top level domain such as the dot-com now enjoys. The launch for this has not been specified, as the primary purpose at present is to set a sound policy. The results of the public consultation will be available January 2012.
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