Properly addressing a letter to Canada can be done in minutes.
Sending mail across the border to Canada is a simple process. Canada's postal system functions much the same as the U.S. Postal Service. Improperly addressed mail will take longer to deliver, or cause it to go missing, so use the correct protocols in addressing your mail to Canada to get it to its destination on time.
Instructions
1. Know the proper address for your letter. Besides the street address and city, you will need the name of the province along with the correct Canadian Postal Code. The Canada Post website (see Resources) offers an easy-to-follow search option to find the correct code.
2. Write the individual's name, first and last, on the first line. International preference is for all capital letters for names.
3. Write the street address on the second line. Abbreviations for street, place and road are acceptable. If you're writing a French name, however, recognize that the street name type -- such as "rue," "av" or "boul" -- is generally placed before the street name.
4. Add the city on the next line, followed by the abbreviation for the province. Abbreviate Canadian provinces as follows: AB - Alberta; BC - British Columbia; MB - Manitoba; NB - New Brunswick; NL - Newfoundland and Labrador; NS - Nova Scotia; NT - Northwest Territories; NU - Nunavut; ON - Ontario; PE - Prince Edward Island; QC - Quebec; SK - Saskatchewan; and YT - Yukon.
5. Add the postal code after the city and province. The code is made up of two groupings of letters and numbers; the first group is letter-number-letter, and the second is number-letter-number. You don't need to memorize this, but it helps to be aware so that characters like the number "1" and the capital letter "I" aren't used incorrectly.
6. Write "Canada" on the final line of the address.
7. Add the correct postage for sending mail to Canada. As of the publication date, the cost of sending a first-class letter to Canada was 80 cents.
