Capitalization  

    ​Capitalize:
    organizations, institutions
    government departments, ministries, etc.
    national legislatures
    formal and occupational job titles
    awards, honours, decorations
    degrees
    schools and departments

    Lowercase:
    headings and subheadings
    internal organizational elements
    provincial/regional legislatures
    general government terms

    General rules

  1. Only the first word and proper nouns in headings (titles) and subheadings should be capitalized.

               Addressing Canada’s biggest challenges at Accelerate 2024

    Not     Addressing Canada’s Biggest Challenges at Accelerate 2024

    The first word after colons in headings and subheadings should be capitalized.

               Research: Funding and future directions

  2. Capitalize the full names of organizations and institutions but lowercase general references. 

    The Association of Commonwealth Universities issued a press release yesterday. In its release, the association called for…

  3. Capitalize provincial, federal and international government departments, ministries, agencies, boards, etc., including short forms of the proper name. 

    Human Resources Development of Canada or Human Resources Development

    Embassy of the United States of America or American Embassy

  4. Capitalize formal and occupational titles, including cabinet portfolios. 

    ​Finance Minister Paul Martin spoke in the House of Commons.

    ​​He represented the petition to the Finance Minister, Paul Martin.

    ​He met Wilfrid Laurier University President Robert Rosehart.

    She referred the students to Director of Housing Ray Marlin.

  5. Capitalize all awards, honours and decorations. However, lowercase common noun refences to such awards when standing alone. 

    Order of Canada, Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Nobel Peace prize
    the order, the awards, the prize, the fellowships

  6. Capitalize degrees. 

    Master of Philosophy, Master’s, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor’s, Doctorate

  7. Capitalize proper names, including elementary and secondary schools, and university and college departments. 

    Glebe Collegiate, Willingdon Public School, London School of Economics
    McGill’s Department of English, Carleton’s School of Journalism

    Note: “The” is part of the official name of the University of British Columbia. “The” should always be used when referencing the institution by its full name, but is not capitalized when in the middle of a sentence. “The” is not used with its abbreviation, UBC.

               She attended the University of British Columbia.

    Not    She attended The University of British Columbia.

               Football games at UBC are well attended.

    Not    Football games at the UBC are well attended.

  8. Lowercase ordinary internal elements of an organization.  

    the communications team at Universities Canada, partnerships and programs, international relations

    9. Government terms

  9. Capitalize national legislatures: Parliament, House of Commons, the Senate. Lowercase parliament when used as a generic term. 

    The parliaments of Commonwealth countries share certain common procedures.

  10. Lowercase provincial and regional legislatures. 

    11. the Ontario legislature, the Quebec national assembly

  11. Lowercase government, administration, cabinet, parliamentary.
  12. Lowercase speech from the throne, throne speech, question period and federal budget. Note: Capitalize specific references, like Budget 2024.

    13. Regions

  13. Capitalize geographic and widely recognized descriptive regions.

    14. the North, Northern Canada, Western Canada, Central Canada, East Coast, Maritime provinces, Prairies, etc.

    However, points of the compass, direction and location and descriptive regions not widely recognized are lowercase.

    eastern Quebec, north, to the west of Ontario, northwestern Ontario, eastern Saskatchewan

    Note: the Maritimes comprise New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The Atlantic provinces are these three plus Newfoundland and Labrador.

  14. Lowercase the common noun elements in plurals.

    15. lakes Superior and Erie, the Northern and Southern hemispheres, King and Front streets

  15. Lowercase province and state used in a geographic sense.

    16. Quebec province, New York state

    But capitalize as part of a corporation name.

    Province of Quebec Bonds, New York vs. Smith