SEDAR description

The System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) is used for electronically filing securities information in Canada. Since January 1, 1997, it has been mandatory for Canadian companies to file electronically. SEDAR therefore provides access to all Canadian public companies and mutual fund filings including annual reports, prospectuses, financial statements, press releases and continuous disclosure documents.

Once documents are filed with SEDAR, they must be reviewed by the Securities Commission. This creates a delay of approximately one to two days between the time the document is filed and the time it is posted on this site.

SEDAR is easily searchable by company/mutual fund or industry group. There are 69 predefined industries. SEDAR also provides links to stock exchanges including Alberta, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Amex, Nasdaq, NYSE, London and Tokyo. Each of these sites can be used to retrieve daily quotes and news releases on listed companies.

Viewing and exporting documents on SEDAR is a bit cumbersome. Companies can submit their documents in any of the following formats: WordPerfect, MS Word or PDF files. To view each of these file types requires that the user's PC be set up to open WordPerfect, Word, or Adobe Acrobat from the internet. When using Western Libraries networked PCs, users will have to download WordPerfect and MSWord files. The files will have to be read on a machine elsewhere, that is loaded with these programs. The PDF files can be viewed on the Western Libraries networked machines and individual pages can be printed.

MS Word and WordPerfect Documents:
These files can not be viewed from library PCs. To save to disk:
- Double click on the document title.
- "Unknown File Type" appears.
- Choose Save File... option at the bottom of the window.
- Insert a filename and choose drive A.
To view these files, users must go to a PC that is loaded with the correct software. In the case of WordPerfect, users must have a version equal to, or higher that the software to which the original document was saved. For example, if the document was saved in WordPerfect 6.1 (for Windows), a machine loaded with WordPerfect 5.1 will not be able to retrieve the document.

PDF Documents:

Retrieval time for these documents vary according to the size of the file and the time of day.
- Viewing the document:
- The library PCs are set up to automatically retrieve PDF documents by starting Adobe Acrobat.
- Double click on the document title.
- The machine may indicate an estimated time for retrieval.
- Once the document is retrieved, users can print select pages by clicking on File, Print.