Telephone numbers

Linguistic Recommendation

To standardize the way telephone numbers are written in English and French in the federal public service, the Translation Bureau makes the following recommendation. This revised version includes a new section on international numbers.

Background

In a telephone number, the use of parentheses around the area code is no longer recommended. Formerly, parentheses were used to indicate that the area code was not always required. Now, however, the area code is required in most regions of Canada, even for local calls.

In Canada

The Translation Bureau recommends inserting a non-breaking hyphen after the area code and between groups of digits within a telephone number:

819-555-5555

This recommendation applies to all telephone numbers in Canada, including:

cell phone, pager, facsimile and teletype (TTY) numbers
toll-free and long-distance numbers such as 1‑800, 1‑888, 1‑900, 1‑976, etc.:
- 1-800-555-5555
alphanumeric telephone numbers:
- 1-800-TERMIUM
- 1-877-RESERVE

Hyphens are not recommended between the digits in service codes (411, 611, 911, etc.):

In case of emergency, call 911.

The format recommended here has the advantage of being the same in English and French. This format is the one recommended by the Canadian Numbering Administrator and the North American Numbering Plan Administration.

International format

The Translation Bureau recommends writing a Canadian telephone number in the following international format, without hyphens:

+ 1 819 555 5555

The above format is recommended by the International Telecommunication Union.

The + sign reminds people calling from abroad to dial the international prefix for the country they are calling from, before dialling “1,” the country code for Canada.

References

Canadian Numbering Administrator (www.cnac.ca), Canadian Numbering Plan and Dialling Plan (345 Kb) (Help with alternate formats) (2010, see Section 4.1).
North American Numbering Plan Administration (www.nanpa.com), About the North American Numbering Plan (2011).
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Recommendations ITU-T E.123 (2001) and ITU-T E.164 (2010).

Linguistic Recommendation reference number

REC-1/2006-06, rev. 2011-06

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