I'm pretty sure people can hold options in their registered accounts too, which are derivatives, aren't they? I think it's fine.
That'll teach me to chime in on things I don't have proper knowledge of.The CRA website explicitly lists options as a qualified investment. The same is not true of leveraged ETFs or derivatives.
An Option is a contract between two parties, tied directly to the underlying value of a specific stock. A derivative is a different animal, and usually much more complicated.