10.13 Inside address

Place the recipient’s address below the date and at the left margin, unless it must be moved to fit properly into a window envelope. Except in purely personal mail, the addressee’s full address must be used. Unless using a window envelope, follow these conventions:

• There is no punctuation at the end of address lines.
• The address should be single-spaced.
• When both a street number and a post office box are provided, use only the box number.
• When the terms east, west, north and south are used with street addresses, they are written with initial capital letters.
• The postal code is the last item in the address; enter it two spaces after the symbol or name of the province or on a separate line below the names of the municipality and province:

  Ms. Vesna Souker
  Management Services
  Export Development Canada
  151 O’Connor St., Suite 901
  Ottawa, ON  K1A 1K3

  Mr. Jacob Devine
  Administration Branch
  Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
  664 Main Street
  Moncton, New Brunswick
  E1C 9J8

If using a window envelope, follow Canada Post’s guidelines¹ for addresses appearing on envelopes and parcels:

• Type the address entirely in capitals.
• Do not use any punctuation (other than that required in a proper name: e.g. ST. JOHN’S).
• Use the two-letter postal abbreviations for provinces and territories.
• Place the postal code on the same line as the province (or territory), with two spaces between them.

  VESNA SOUKER
  MANAGEMENT SERVICES
  EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA
  151 O’CONNOR ST SUITE 901
  OTTAWA ON  K1A 1K3

  JACOB DEVINE
  ADMINISTRATION BRANCH
  ATLANTIC CANADA OPPORTUNITIES AGENCY
  664 MAIN ST
  MONCTON NB  E1C 9J8

_____________________

10.14 Official languages in addresses

Note the following points with regard to the use of official languages in addresses:

• Generally, words indicating a type of public thoroughfare such as Street, rue, Avenue or avenue are translated into the other official language because they do not form part of the official name of the thoroughfare. However, note that according to Canada Post’s Addressing Guidelines for mailing addresses, only the terms Street (rue), Avenue (avenue) and Boulevard (boulevard) should be translated.
• When the word is considered to be part of the official name of the thoroughfare, e.g. Avenue (1^re, 2^e, etc.), Chaussée, Chemin, Montée, Circle, Square, (Fifth, 25th, etc.) Avenue, do not translate it.
• When an address such as 100, boulevard de Maisonneuve is translated, capitalize it in accordance with English usage:

  100 De Maisonneuve Boulevard

• Enquiries concerning the official name of a thoroughfare should be directed to the appropriate municipality.
• Names of government buildings and complexes that do not lend themselves easily to translation should not be translated, e.g. Les Terrasses de la Chaudière, Place du Portage, L’Esplanade Laurier.
• The names of provinces and territories are translated. In English, a comma is used to set off a place name from that of the province or territory (see 7.20 Dates, geographical names and addresses), whereas in French parentheses enclose the name of the province or territory.

Note that an address can often be left untranslated.

See Chapter 15 Geographical Names, "Geographical Names," for further information on the translation and spelling of such names.

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