Capitalization

Overview

Use judgement and be consistent when deciding when to capitalize words. Too much capitalization distracts the reader.

Sometimes capitalizing a word can help avoid confusion. For example, shorten the Social Security Tribunal to Tribunal rather than tribunal.

Job titles

When referring to someone’s job title, capitalize the title.

Example: Jess Reekie is the Executive Director.

For more general references, lowercase the title name.

Example: The executive director met with the funder.

Example: Use Power of Attorney for Personal Care when referring to the proper document. But use power of attorney, when being used in a more general way. See Power of Attorney for Personal Care.

Governments and organizations

Make sure to follow the official spelling for a department, benefit, or organization.

Capitalize specific levels of government, departments, and ministries.

Example: Government of Ontario

Example: Ontario government

As a general rule, use lowercase for short forms, informal names, and unofficial titles, like “the department”.

But it may be easier for your readers if you refer to a ministry by its full name and then call it “the Ministry”. The key is to be consistent in how you handle this.

Example: Ministry of Labour becomes the Ministry

Different levels of government are often inconsistent in how they name and capitalize related benefits.

Example: Canada child benefit
Example: Ontario Child Benefit

Depending on the audience, avoid using provincial government and federal government. Not all readers will understand these terms. Be more specific. Use Government of Ontario or Government of Canada.

Once you identify the level of government, you can use “government” on its own after that.

Documents and forms

When referring to documents and forms, use the full name on first reference, for example, Notice of Appeal – Income Security – General Division.

After that, use a shorter but capitalized version of the name, for example, Notice of Appeal or the Notice.

Other

For other capitalization issues, follow the guidelines in The Canadian Press Caps and Spelling. There’s a copy in the CLEO office.