Date and time notation in Canada combines conventions from the United Kingdom , conventions from the United States , and conventions from France , often creating confusion. When writing the full date, English speakers vacillate between the forms inherited from the United Kingdom day first, 7 January and United States month first, January 7 , depending on the region and context.
French speakers consistently write the date with the day first le 7 janvier like the rest of the French-speaking world. The government endorses all these forms when using words, but recommends only the ISO format for all-numeric dates to avoid error.
The date can be written either with the day or the month first in Canadian English, optionally with the day of the week. For example, the seventh day of January can be written as: [ 5 ]. Formal letters, academic papers, and reports often prefer the day-month-year sequence.
Documents with an international audience, including the Canadian passport , use the day-month-year format.
The date is sometimes written out in words, especially in formal documents such as contracts and invitations, following spoken forms: [ 2 ]. French usage consistently places the day first when writing the full date. The standard all-numeric date format is common between English and French: [ 8 ].
