Copyright is owned by the author of a work, unless somebody else commissioned the work or employed the author to write it, in which case the author or employer owns the copyright.
In Canada copyright is automatic, and works need not be registered; but they can be registered, for a $10 fee. And it is not necessary to mark in a book or other work that it is copyrighted, to get protection within Canada; however, protection in the United States and some other countries requires that the copyright information be printed in the work.
Copyright protection for published works lasts until 50 years after the death of the author. That is also the rule in Britain, and now in the United States; until last year, though, the United States copyright law gave protection for a work until 75 years after it was first published, with the author's date of death being irrelevant.
For works which are still unpublished when the author dies, Canadian copyright lasts until 50 years after the work eventually is published.
If the author of a work remains unknown, copyright lasts for fifty years after the work is published. If there are two or more authors, copyright lasts until fifty years after the death of whichever author dies last.
There are various special rules about recordings, photographs, government publications and so on.
A brochure on copyright is available free from the Bureau of Intellectual Property, Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, Ottawa.