ParseForge
Canada Open Data Catalog Scraper
parseforge/canada-open-data-scraper
BusinessOtherEducation
Scrapes Canada's open data catalog, returning each dataset as a flat row with title, description, organization, license, and resource links. Supports catalog and single-dataset modes.
- Total users
- 2
- Monthly active
- 1
- Total runs
- 106
- Bookmarked
- 0
- Rating
- Not rated yet
- Last modified
- 9 days ago
Overview
Canada Open Data Catalog Scraper
Scrape Canada's open data catalog, every dataset with its metadata, resources, and formats, up to a million per run. No API key or registration. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Canada's open data portal holds thousands of federal, provincial, and municipal datasets, but browsing it by hand is slow and the official API needs a key and pagination code. This Actor walks the public catalog directly, filters by search term, and returns each dataset as one flat row with its title, description, organization, license, and resource links.
| Who uses it | What they scrape Canada Open Data for |
|---|---|
| Data journalists | Find government datasets on a topic for a story |
| Researchers | Build a corpus of Canadian public datasets for analysis |
| Open data advocates | Monitor which datasets are published or updated |
| Developers | Get a machine-readable list of dataset IDs and resources |
What it does
This Actor collects Canada open data catalog entries by browsing all datasets or fetching one by ID, and returns each dataset as a flat row with its metadata and resources.
- 📚 Catalog mode: walk every dataset in the catalog, with an optional search term filter.
- 🎯 Dataset mode: fetch one dataset by its UUID or slug for a focused pull.
- 🔎 Search filter: narrow the catalog walk to dataset IDs that contain your term.
- 📦 Flat rows: each dataset comes back as one row, ready for CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.
What you can do with Canada Open Data data
📰 Find data for a story.
A journalist runs catalog mode with a search term like 'housing' and gets every federal dataset on housing, with descriptions and resource links, to pick sources for an article.
🔬 Build a research corpus.
A researcher walks the full catalog once, exports the dataset list, and filters locally by organization or license to assemble a corpus of Canadian public data for a meta-analysis.
📊 Monitor dataset updates.
An open data advocate schedules a weekly catalog run and compares the results to spot newly published or removed datasets in their area of interest.
🧩 Get IDs for automation.
A developer runs catalog mode to collect dataset IDs, then uses dataset mode to fetch details for each one before downloading resources in a pipeline.
Why choose this scraper
| What you get | |
|---|---|
| No API key | Reads the public catalog directly, no registration or token |
| One row per dataset | Flat schema with title, description, organization, license, and resources |
| Two modes | Browse all datasets or fetch a single one by ID |
| Search filter | Limit the catalog walk to IDs that contain your term |
How it compares
This Actor scrapes Canada's open data catalog, while the competitor below scrapes Sephora products, a different source entirely.
| Feature | ParseForge | Sephora Product Scraper (Global) |
|---|---|---|
| Scrapes Canada open data catalog | Yes | Not listed |
| Returns dataset metadata and resources | Yes | Not listed |
| Catalog mode to browse all datasets | Yes | Not listed |
| Dataset mode to fetch one by ID | Yes | Not listed |
| Search term filter | Yes | Not listed |
| No API key required | Yes | Not listed |
Configure the run
Drive the Actor with a mode, an optional dataset ID, and an optional search term, and it returns only the datasets that match. The Input tab lists every parameter.
A first run with the defaults:
{
"maxItems": 10,
"mode": "catalog"
}
A larger pull:
{
"maxItems": 200,
"mode": "catalog"
}
Pricing
Pay-per-result: $0.02 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.
| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $2.00 |
| 1,000 results | $20.00 |
| 10,000 results | $200.00 |
New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.
Free users
Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.
Run it
- Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
- Open the Canada Open Data Catalog Scraper.
- Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
- Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.
Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.
Use with AI agents (MCP)
Give an AI agent live access to Canada Open Data through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/canada-open-data-scraper"
Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.
Troubleshooting
Why am I getting no results?
Your search term may not match any dataset IDs. The filter is case-insensitive and matches substrings in the ID field. Try a shorter term or leave it blank to walk the full catalog.
Why does dataset mode fail?
Make sure you provided a valid dataset ID in the datasetId input. You can find IDs by running catalog mode first.
Why is the run slow?
Catalog mode walks every dataset, which can take time. Lower maxItems to stop early, or use a search term to narrow the walk.
Why are some fields empty?
Not every dataset has every field. The catalog may omit descriptions, licenses, or resources for some entries. That is normal.
Can I get the actual data files?
This Actor returns metadata and resource links, not the data files themselves. Use the resource URLs to download files separately.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need an API key for Canada's open data portal? | No. This Actor reads the public catalog pages directly, so you do not need to register or manage a key. |
| What is the difference between catalog mode and dataset mode? | Catalog mode walks all datasets, optionally filtered by a search term. Dataset mode fetches a single dataset by its UUID or slug. |
| How do I find a dataset ID? | Run catalog mode first and look at the dataset IDs in the results. Then use one of those IDs in dataset mode. |
| Can I filter by organization or license? | The input schema only supports a search term filter on dataset IDs. You can export the full catalog and filter locally by any field. |
| What format are the results in? | The Actor returns a flat dataset that you can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from Apify. |
| How many datasets can I scrape in one run? | You set the maximum with the maxItems input, up to 1,000,000 datasets per run. |
| Does this scrape provincial or municipal open data portals? | No, it scrapes the federal Canada open data catalog at open.canada.ca. Provincial portals are separate sites. |
| Is this legal? | The data is published under the Open Government Licence - Canada, which allows reuse. Scraping public pages is generally permitted, but check the terms for your use case. |
| Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly? | Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run it daily, weekly, or on any cron expression. |
| What if I get no results? | Check your search term. It filters dataset IDs, not titles or descriptions. Try a broader term or leave it blank to walk all datasets. |
Related actors
Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.
🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.
⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Government of Canada. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.
Input
| Field | Type | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| maxItems | integer | How many datasets to collect per run. | 10 |
| mode | string (2 options) | Catalog walks all datasets. Dataset fetches a single dataset by ID. | catalog |
| datasetId | string | Dataset ID (UUID or slug). Required in dataset mode. | not set |
| searchQuery | string | Optional substring filter applied to dataset IDs in catalog mode. Leave blank to walk all datasets. | not set |
Pricing
from $15.00 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| Result Item | Charged once per result collected. | $0.015 to $0.02 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~canada-open-data-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
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Issues
We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.
Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.