Canada
Canada portal WikiProject Canada Canada notice board This article is within the scope of WikiProject Canada, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Canada articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CanadaWikipedia:WikiProject CanadaTemplate:WikiProject CanadaCanada-related

This WikiProject helps develop country-related pages (of all types) and works toward standardizing the formats of sets and types of country-related pages. For example, the sets of Culture of x, Administrative divisions of x, and Demographics of x articles, etc. – (where "x" is a country name) – and the various types of pages, like stubs, categories, etc.

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This WikiProject is focused on country coverage (content/gaps) and presentation (navigation, page naming, layout, formatting) on Wikipedia, especially country articles (articles with countries as their titles), country outlines, and articles with a country in their name (such as Demographics of Germany), but also all other country-related articles, stubs, categories, and lists pertaining to countries.

This WikiProject helps Wikipedia's navigation-related WikiProjects (Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge, WikiProject Categories, WikiProject Portals, etc.) develop and maintain the navigation structures (menus, outlines, lists, templates, and categories) pertaining to countries. And since most countries share the same subtopics ("Cities of", "Cuisine of", "Religion in", "Prostitution in", etc.), it is advantageous to standardize their naming, and their order of presentation in Wikipedia's indexes and table-of-contents-like pages.

• List of all subpages of this page.

Many country and country-related articles have been extensively developed, but much systematic or similar information about many countries is not presented in a consistent way. Inconsistencies are rampant in article naming, headings, data presented, types of things covered, order of coverage, etc. This WikiProject works towards standardizing page layouts of country-related articles of the same type ("Geography of", "Government of", "Politics of", "Wildlife of", etc.).

We are also involved with the standardization of country-related stubs, standardizing the structure of country-related lists and categories (the category trees for countries should be identical for the most part, as most countries share the same subcategories – though there will be some differences of course).

1. Provide a centralized resource guide of all related topics in Wikipedia, as well as spearhead the effort to improve and develop them.
2. Create uniform templates that serve to identify all related articles as part of this project, as well as stub templates to englobe all related stubs under specific categories.
3. Standardize articles about different nations, cultures, holidays, and geography.
4. Verify historical accuracy and neutrality of all articles within the scope of the project.
5. Create, expand and cleanup related articles.

Although referenced during FA and GA reviews, this structure guide is advisory only, and should not be enforced against the wishes of those actually working on the article in question. Articles may be best modeled on the layout of an existing article of appropriate structure and topic (See: Canada or Japan)

A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, states with limited recognition, constituent country, or a dependent territory.

For lead length see, #Size

The article should start with a good simple introduction, giving name of the country, general location in the world, bordering countries, seas and the like. Also give other names by which the country may still be known (for example Holland, Persia). Also, add a few facts about the country, the things that it is known for (for example the mentioning of windmills in the Netherlands article). The primary purpose of a Wikipedia lead is not to summarize the topic, but to summarize the content of the article.

The first sentence should introduce the topic, and tell the nonspecialist reader what the subject is, and where. It should be in plain English.

The etymology of a country's name, if worth noting and naming disputes, may be dealt with in the etymology section. Foreign-languages, pronunciations and acronyms may also belong in the etymology section or in a note to avoid WP:LEADCLUTTER.

Example:

Y Sweden,^[a] formally the Kingdom of Sweden,^[b] is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe.
N Sweden (Swedish: Sverige [ˈsvæ̌rjɛ] ^ⓘ), formally the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige [ˈkôːnɵŋaˌriːkɛt ˈsvæ̌rjɛ] ^ⓘ), is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe.

Overly detailed information or infobox data duplication such as listing random examples, excessive numbered statistics or naming individuals should be reserved for the infobox or body of the article. The lead prose should provide clear, relevant information through links to relevant sub-articles about the country an relevant terms, rather than listing random stats and articles with minimal information about the country.

Example:

Y A developed country, Canada has a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Recognized as a middle power, Canada's support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its foreign relations policies of peacekeeping and aid for developing countries. Canada promotes its domestically shared values through participation in multiple international organizations and forums.
N A highly developed country, Canada has the seventeenth-highest nominal per-capita income globally and the sixteenth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index. Its advanced economy is the tenth-largest in the world and the 14th for military expenditure by country, Canada is part of several major international institutions including the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the Organization of American States.

There is a table with quick facts about the country called an infobox. A template for the table can be found at the bottom of this page.

Although the table can be moved out to the template namespace (to e.g. [[Template:CountryName Infobox]]) and thus easen the look of the edit page, most Wikipedians still disapprove as of now, see the talk page.

The contents are as follows:

• The official long-form name of the country in the local language is to go on top as the caption. If there are several official names (languages), list all (if reasonably feasible). The conventional long-form name (in English), if it differs from the local long-form name, should follow the local name(s). This is not a parameter to list every recognized language of a country, but rather for listing officially recognize national languages.
• The conventional short-form name of the country, recognised by the majority of the English-speaking world; ideally, this should also be used for the name of the article.
• A picture of the national flag. You can find flags at the List of flags. A smaller version should be included in the table itself, a larger-sized version in a page titled Flag of <country>, linked to via the "In Detail" cell. Instead of two different images, use the autothumbnail function that wiki offers.
• A picture of the national coat of arms. A good source is required for this, but not yet available. It should be no more than 125 pixels in width.
• Below the flag and coat of arms is room for the national motto, often displayed on the coat of arms (with translation, if necessary).
• The official language(s) of the country. (not the place to list every recognized or used language)
• The political status. Specify if it is a sovereign state or a dependent territory.
• The capital city, or cities. Explain the differences if there are multiple capital cities using a footnote (see example at the Netherlands).
• If the data on the population is recent and reliable, add the largest city of the country.
• Land area: The area of the country in square kilometres (km²) and square miles (sq mi) with the world-ranking of this country. Also add the % of water, which can be calculated from the data in the Geography article (make it negligible if ~0%).
• Population: The number of inhabitants and the world-ranking; also include a year for this estimate (should be 2000 for now, as that is the date of the ranking). For the population density you can use the numbers now available.
• GDP: The amount of gross domestic product in nominal and PPP-adjusted terms, as well as their respective world ranking. Include both total and per capita amounts.
• HDI: Information pertaining to the UN Human Development Index – the value, year (of value), rank (with ordinal), and category (colourised as per the HDI country list).
• Currency; the name of the local currency. Use the pipe if the currency name is also used in other countries: [[Australian dollar|dollar]].
• Time zone(s); the time zone or zones in which the country is relative to UTC
• National anthem; the name of the National anthem and a link to the article about it.
• Internet TLD; the top-level domain code for this country.
• Calling Code; the international Calling Code used for dialing this country.

There is a long-standing practice that areas out of a state's control should be depicted differently on introductory maps, to not give the impression the powers of a state extend somewhere they do not. This is for various types of a lack of control, be it another state (eg. Crimea, bits of Kashmir) or a separatist body (eg. DPR, TRNC).

A section should be written in summary style, containing just the important facts. Undue weight can be given in several ways, including but not limited to the depth of detail, the quantity of text, prominence of placement, the juxtaposition of statements, and the use of imagery. Main article fixation is an observed effect that editors are likely to encounter in county articles. If a section it is too large, information should be transferred to the sub-article. Avoid sections focusing on criticisms or controversies. Try to achieve a more neutral text by folding debates into the narrative, rather than isolating them into sections.

Prose should provide clear, relevant information and links to relevant sub-articles about the country, rather than listing random stats and articles with minimal information about the country.

Y Corruption in Liberia is endemic at every level of society, making it one of the most politically corrupt nations.
N Liberia scored a 3.3 on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt) on the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Articles may consist of the following sections:

• Etymology sections are often placed first (sometimes called name depending on the information in the article). Include only if due information is available.
• History – An outline of the major events in the country's history (about 4 to 6 paragraphs, depending on complexity of history), including some detail on current events. Sub-article: "History of X"
• Politics – Overview of the current governmental system, possibly previous forms, some short notes on the parliament. Sub-article: "Politics of X"
• Administrative divisions – Overview of the administrative subdivisions of the country. Name the section after the first level of subdivisions (and subsequent levels, if available) (e.g. provinces, states, departments, districts, etc.) and give the English equivalent name, when available. Also include overseas possessions. This section should also include an overview map of the country and subdivisions, if available.
• Geography – Details of the country's main geographic features and climate. Historical weather boxes should be reserved for sub articles. Sub-article: "Geography of X"
• Economy – Details on the country's economy, major industries, bit of economic history, major trade partners, a tad comparison etc. Sub-article: "Economy of X"
• Demographics – Mention the languages spoken, the major religions, some well known properties of the people of X, by which they are known. Uncontextualized data and charts should be avoided. (See WP:NOTSTATS and WP:PROSE) Sub-article: "Demographics of X".
• Culture – Summary of the country's specific forms of art (anything from painting to film) and its best known cultural contributions. Caution should be taken to ensure that the sections are not simply a listing of names or mini biographies of individuals accomplishments. Good example Canada#Culture. Sub-article: "Culture of X".
• See also – 'See also" sections of country articles normally only contain links to "Outline of country" articles, alongside the main portal(s).
• References – Sums up "Notes", "References", and all "Further Reading" or "Bibliography"
• External links – Links to official websites about the country. See WP:External links

Articles that have gone through FA and GA reviews generally consists of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 words as per WP:SIZERULE, with a lead usually 250 to 400 words as per MOS:LEADLENGTH.

• Australia = Prose size (text only): 60 kB (9,304 words) "readable prose size"
• Bulgaria = Prose size (text only): 56 kB (8,847 words) "readable prose size"
• Canada = Prose size (text only): 67 kB (9,834 words) "readable prose size"
• Germany = Prose size (text only): 54 kB (8,456 words) "readable prose size"
• Japan = Prose size (text only): 51 kB (8,104 words) "readable prose size"
• East Timor = Prose size (text only): 53 kB (8,152 words) "readable prose size"
• Malaysia = Prose size (text only): 57 kB (9,092 words) "readable prose size"
• New Zealand = Prose size (text only): 62 kB (9,761 words) "readable prose size"
• Philippines = Prose size (text only): 62 kB (9,178 words) "readable prose size"

The link should be shown as below: Avoid link clutter of multiple child articles in a hierarchical setup as hatnotes. Important links/articles should be incorporated into the prose of the section. For example, Canada#Economy is a summary section with a hatnote to Economy of Canada that summarizes the history with a hatnote to Economic history of Canada. See WP:SUMMARYHATNOTE, WP:HATNOTERULES, WP:HATLENGTH for more recommended hatnote usages.

Y== Economy ==

N== Economy ==

As prose text is preferred, overly detailed statistical charts and diagrams that lack any context or explanation such as; economic trends, weather boxes, historical population charts, and past elections results, etc, should be reserved for main sub articles on the topic as per WP:DETAIL as outlined at WP:NOTSTATS.

Galleries or clusters of images are generally discouraged (unless a point of contrast or comparison is being made) as they may cause undue weight to one particular section of a summary article and might cause accessibility problems, such as sand­wich­ing of text, images that are too small or fragmented image display for some readers as outlined at WP:GALLERY. Clusters of images may cause images to appear too late or too early for associated prose text, see MOS:SECTIONLOC for general recommendations. Articles that have gone through modern FA and GA reviews generally consists of one image for every three or four paragraph summary section, see MOS:ACCESS#FLOAT and MOS:SECTIONLOC for more information

As noted at Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and series boxes the number of templates at the bottom of any article should be kept to a minimum. Country pages generally have footers that link to pages for countries in their geographic region. Footers for international organizations are not added to country pages, but they rather can go on subpages such as "Economy of..." and "Foreign relations of..." Categories for some of these organizations are also sometimes added. Templates for supranational organizations like the European Union and CARICOM are permitted. A list of the footers that have been created can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Countries/Templates/Navboxes, however note that many of these are not currently in use.

Transclusions are generally discouraged in country articles for reasons outlined below.

Like many software technologies, transclusion comes with a number of drawbacks. The most obvious one being the cost in terms of increased machine resources needed; to mitigate this to some extent, template limits are imposed by the software to reduce the complexity of pages. Some further drawbacks are listed below.

• Transcluded text may have no sources for statements that should be sourced where they appear, have different established reference styles, contain no-text cite errors, or duplicate key errors. (To help mitigate these, see Help:Cite errors)
• Excerpts break the link between article code and article output.
• Changes made to transcluded content often do not appear in watchlists, resulting in unseen changes on the target page.
• Transcluded text may cause repeated links or have different varieties of English and date formats than the target page.
• Transclusions may not reflect protection levels, resulting in transcluded text perhaps having a different level of protection than the target page. See Cascading protection
• {{excerpt}} and related templates may require using <noinclude>, <includeonly>, and <onlyinclude> markup at the transcluded page to have selective content; that would require monitoring that the markup is sustained.
• Excerpts cause editors to monitor transcluded pages for "section heading" changes to ensure transclusion continues to work. (To help mitigate this, see MOS:BROKENSECTIONLINKS)
• Excerpts can result in content discussions over multiple talk pages that may have different considerations or objectives for readers.

To determine which entities should be considered separate "countries" or included on lists, use the entries in ISO 3166-1 plus the list of states with limited recognition, except:

• Lists based on only a single source should follow that source.
• Specific lists might need more logical criteria. For example, list of sovereign states omits non-sovereign entities listed by ISO-3166-1. Lists of sports teams list whichever entities that have teams, regardless of sovereignty. Lists of laws might follow jurisdiction boundaries (for example, England and Wales is a single jurisdiction).

For consistency with other Wikipedia articles, the names of entities do not need to follow sources or ISO-3166-1. The names used as the titles of English Wikipedia articles are a safe choice for those that are disputed.

• WikiProject Former countries
• WikiProject Micronations
• WikiProject Limited recognition

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Countries/Popular pages

Could this section, which contains the collaboration of the week please be moved down so its above other Wikiportals and can be the full width of the page. It doesn't fit well for 800x600. Much thanks. - RoyBoy ⁸⁰⁰ 05:26, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

That's not how the other wikiportals do it. Earl Andrew 06:48, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Granted, but the other Wikiportals don't look very good as a result. If one wants to revert my change, ok, but that would require making the flag smaller in order for it to fit... and I think that is unnecessary and everything looks good as is. The blank spot can be filled in with something else when its been decided what it will be. - RoyBoy ⁸⁰⁰ 20:55, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

We could just make a compact version of that box for use on this page? Circeus 01:53, Feb 24, 2005 (UTC)

Can't we have a current events/news section featuring the Canadian news? --Circeus 16:22, Feb 21, 2005 (UTC)

There is already a Canadian current events page. Could simply link to the page and copy the most recent ongoing event (right now, the Hockey dispute, the Same-sex marriage debate, etc.) - Sepper 16:53, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I know, I was actually refering to it. I meant something closer to In the News, which could also (and, by joves, should) include at least the more obvious Current events. We could also consider current leaders and upcoming events. Such a section could fill the too long space below the Wikiproject section. Alternatively, it could instead push down the categories and wikiprojects sections. Circeus 20:11, Feb 21, 2005 (UTC)

Well, it's a good idea, IF it gets updated. Looks like it isn't... Radagast 18:58, Mar 4, 2005 (UTC)

I've looked at this and nothing pops out immediately as to the cause. The Canadian current events page is included, and it shows the Template:Current events box infobox on the right. However, at least using IE6 on Windows XP (don't know if the problem is seen on other browser/OS combinations) the infobox does not display (although the space where it should be displayed seems to be in the layout since the text doesn't display there.) Anyone else having this problem? —Doug Bell ^{talk•contrib} 18:14, 24 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Everything seems to be okay when I compared it using Firefox & IE7...—G.He 01:22, 23 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is there anyone who wishes to work with me on the Order_of_Canada article? Thanks. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 23:17, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

New article: Ukrainian Canadian internment (just made it to the Main Page in DYK!), new category: Category:Ukrainian Canadians. —Michael Z. 2005-09-2 20:36 Z

Could somebody take a look at this and spice it up some? I did what I could based on Google. Lots of Google hits call him the best runner in the CFL, but several also talk about his bad attitude, but I couldn't get any hits to explain what he does that gives him that reputation, other than bad-mouthing Saskatchewan. Though one place talked about off-field behavior. User:Zoe|^(talk) 00:02, 28 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hey everyone. I've just reorganized the project page for the creation of a Wikimedia Canada local chapter. If you guys could find a way to integrate this link somewhere in the portal, I'd be more than grateful : ) Come check it out! Stéphane Thibault 07:24, 10 January 2006 (UTC) ^Bla[reply]

Somebody should have a look at the article Yves Séguin. It is not clear to me whether he was minister of Canada or minister of Quebec or both or neither. Thanks, AxelBoldt 04:17, 22 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Canadian military history task force of the Military history WikiProject is looking for participants to help expand and improve content relating to Canada's military heritage.

I think some of "Canadian current events" should be excluded from this portal. The box is too large compared to all the others, it's mostly whitespace in my browser configuration (Firefox, 1280x1024), and it doesn't match the rest of the portal in colour scheme. At the very least, the "Other current events" sub-box should move, and the time/date box could be trimmed to include only Canadian time zones.

Also, I think colour #FF0000 looks ugly in all those header strips, besides being lighter than most Canadian flags I've seen. (And I've lived in Canada all my life.) Would      #E70000      or the Web-safe      #CC0000      be a possible alternative? Seahen 20:36, 16 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

i've just removed the box.. it wasn't being updated anyway, so was really detracting from the whole portal. Mlm42 22:48, 16 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

According to the Flag of Canada page "PMS032 (flag red 100%) or PMS485 (used for screens)", and this pantone colour matcher [1], the correct red is      #ED2E38      or      #D42E12     . (But the second, "used for screens" colour is still listed under the printing ink colours section, so does screen mean silkscreens? the first one looks a lot better.)

I think it would be completely appropriate to use the exact colour. (does anyone know what does happen to people who can only use websafe colours? and it's a seriously tiny minority nowadays anyway, netscape 4 isnt new anymore ;) I'll be bold and change it. (though now the flag looks wrong... Anyone able to update that image easily? i can if not.) -Quiddity 02:45, 23 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I changed it again, to the first of those 2, #ED2E38. -Quiddity 02:57, 23 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

just for reference, we were previously using the word red,      #FF0000      in rgb. Which is what the flag image appears to be using. Very wrong. -Quiddity

I would just like to say that it's not called Scotties Tournament of Hearts. It is called Scott Tournament of Hearts. Mr. C.C. 06:04, 5 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Read the article before your post silly comments like that. --curling rock Earl Andrew - talk 02:56, 8 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone please have a look at Joe Motiki and remove all of the nonsense? User:Zoe|^(talk) 02:46, 8 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm surprised there isn't a WikiProject Canada.

Any case, I changed WP:CANADA to redirect to the main page-- it pointed to Wikipedia:I have a girlfriend but she lives in Canada earlier--which is good for a laugh... but I think the portal is more interesting. Nephron  T|C 00:03, 17 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed it for you. Can I get a heads-up on my talk page next time, though? The essay now redirects from WP:GIRLFRIEND.  RasputinAXP  c 11:35, 17 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Shortcuts beginning with WP: are for Wikipedia namespace, not portal namespace. Portal shortcuts should begin with P:. I've moved WP:CANADA to redirect to the Canadian noticeboard, since that's the most appropriate target within WP namespace, and created a new shortcut to the portal at P:CANADA. Bearcat 00:19, 9 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On a side note, there is a WikiProject Canada now. AQu01rius (User &#149; Talk) 04:09, 20 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I found a list of "great Montrealers" at fr:Liste des Grands Montréalais in the French-language Wikipedia. See http://www.ccmm.qc.ca/asp/contenu.asp?lang=2&GrSection=&rubrique=457&data=3880 for a press release from the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. I think that almost everyone in the Academy of Great Montrealers is notable by Wikipedia standards, and that their biographies in the French Wikipedia would be a good starting point for English biographies. There are a lot of names, so I thought I should encourage other people to write articles about members of the Academy of Great Montrealers. --TruthbringerToronto (Talk | contribs) 01:29, 27 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the notice, I'll look into it also. Artaxiad 16:22, 3 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

We have a newish member who seem to be having problems. He created this portal on a Canadian province. I don't know how relivent it is but it has no links. It looks like it falls under the scope of this project so I thought I would draw your attention to it. Aiden Fisher 01:09, 15 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Portal desperate needs a suggestion section for its selected picture and article section. The introduction is out of date as well. Perhaps a section that details how users can contribute to the portal and its content would revitalize this portal and make it into destination. I doubt many people come as the last update was in November. The Portal:Vancouver had a great method of doing just this but ultimately failed as a result of not having enough members interested. I'm sure this portal with the scope of all Canadians would have more users interested as it does not take all that many people to keep its content updated per month. Mkdw^talk 20:28, 19 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hopefully this was not too many changes at once. Made a random article and random picture choice for the Canada Portal. Please update for more choices.SriMesh | talk 05:36, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I created Portal:Canada/todo as a template to be placed in the "Things you can do" section, instead of that CCOTW banner, which always displays "none" as the current article. It is definitely not yet ready for use, as it still needs to be expanded. The easiest way to add articles to the template is by randomly picking articles from Canadian categories and finding ones which have tags on them. The todo page is the {{tasks}} template, so read the documentation before trying to add new articles to the list. GrooveDog (talk) (Review) 02:31, 17 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]