Date and time notation in Canada

While the Canadian Standards Association has adopted ISO 8601 as CSA Z234.5:1989,[1] its use is not mandated in every situation. Thus in Canada three date and time formats are in common use. According to the Canadian Payments Association, which regulates cheques, the big-endian ISO 8601 YYYYMMDD is preferred, but MMDDYYYY or DDMMYYYY may be used, and cheques must include date indicators showing which format is being used.[2]

If using only two digits, not only can the month and day be confused with each other, but also the year. For instance, 07/04/01 could ambiguously be interpreted as:[3]

The federal government tends to use the big-endian format, but some federal forms, such as a commercial cargo manifest, offer a blank line with no guidance.[4] Passport applications[5] and tax returns[6] use YYYY-MM-DD. English language newspapers generally use MDY (MMM[M] D, YYYY).[7] In Quebec and New Brunswick the variation of DDMMYYYY is used when written in French. The Newfoundland Provincial Standard for Date/Time Documentation Format in the medical field is specified as YYYY-MM-DD[8]

Government of Canada regulations for best before dates on foods mandate YYMMDD or MMDD.[9] The month is shown using the following bilingual codes.[10]

Code English Name French Name
JA January janvier
FE February février
MR March mars
AL April avril
MA May mai
JN June juin
JL July juillet
AU August août
SE September septembre
OC October octobre
NO November novembre
DE December décembre

References

  1. ↑ "International Standard Date and Time Notation". Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Cheque Specifications". Canadian Payments Association. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  3. ↑ Berke, Jeremy. "IN CANADA, YOU CAN JUST WRITE THE DATE WHICHEVER WAY YOU WANT". Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  4. ↑ Blaze Carlson, Kathryn. "Is 02/04/12 February 4, or April 2? Bill seeks to end date confusion". National Post. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Canadian passport renewal application" (PDF). Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Canadian Income Tax Form" (PDF). Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  7. ↑ "canada.com website, with links to newspapers in many Canadian cities". Retrieved March 17, 2012.
  8. ↑ per this link
  9. ↑ "Date Markings and Storage Instructions". Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Government of Canada. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Date Markings and Storage Instructions". Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Government of Canada. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
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