capitalization: institutions

Capitalize the official names of the following:

• organized churches, religious denominations, sects, orders, and their adherents:
  • the First Baptist Church
  • the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
  • the Salvation Army
  • Buddhism
  • the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits
  • a meeting of Christians, Jews, Muslims and Baha’is
    
• educational institutions and school boards:
  • the University of Manitoba
  • Lisgar Collegiate Institute
  • the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
• courts of law:
  • the International Court of Justice
  • the Supreme Court of Canada
  • the Quebec Superior Court
• clubs:
  • the Rotary Club
  • the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
  • the Loyal Order of Moose
  • the Shriners
• corporations:
  • Canadian Airlines International
  • the Canadian National Railway Company
• political parties:
  • the New Democratic Party
  • the Liberal Party of Canada
  • the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
  • the Opposition (official)
• unions, alliances, associations, etc.:
  • the Ontario Public Service Employees Union
  • the Public Service Alliance of Canada
  • the Canadian Medical Association

Note that the official capitalization is that used by the institution itself.

Administrative subdivisions

The names of administrative subdivisions of these institutions are also capitalized:

• the Department of Political Science
• the Toronto Synod

Plurals

Do not capitalize the plural of common nouns, even when the full titles of the bodies concerned are given:

• He held degrees from the universities of Saskatchewan and Toronto.
• Candidates for the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties attended the rally.

Short forms

Do not capitalize generic short forms used in a non-specific sense; preceded by a possessive, demonstrative or other type of adjective; or used adjectivally or in an adjectival form:

• Our family attended a Baptist church regularly.
• Every board of education in the province has adjourned for the season.
• This university is our town’s major employer.
• She tries to attend all board meetings.
• Only strict adherence to the party line was tolerated.

But if the short form refers to a specific, unique institution, it retains the upper case when used as a noun or adjectivally:

• The Scouts held a rally over the weekend.
• A city-wide Red Cross blood drive replenished the hospital’s supply.

In addition, capitalize short forms that use only the specifying element:

• This afternoon, Concordia and Western will play in the final.

Corporate writing

A generic noun used as a short form of a title is often capitalized, especially in corporate writing intended for an internal readership:

• the Institute
• the Board
• the Party
• He worked for the Company for almost forty years.
• The document was forwarded to the Regional Office.

Second references

In second and subsequent references, short forms may be treated generically and lower cased:

• He was invited to address the Second Annual Conference on Biotechnology but declined because the conference was not sufficiently broad in scope.
• She applied for a grant under the External Scholars Program, but only graduate students were eligible under the program.

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