capitalization: races; languages; peoples

Capitalize nouns and adjectives referring to race, tribe, nationality and language:

• Caucasian
• Amerindian
• Cree
• Métis
• Inuk (plural: Inuit)
• Indian
• French
• Arabic
• Anglophone
• Francophone

Do not capitalize the word allophone, which refers to a person whose first language is neither English nor French and which is used with specific reference to Quebec.

The form of some words may vary depending on the meaning:

• Highlander (inhabitant of the Scottish Highlands)
• highlander (inhabitant of any highland area)
• Aborigine (one of the indigenous peoples of Australia)
• aborigine (indigenous inhabitant of a region)
• Pygmy (member of a group of African peoples)
• pygmy (a person small in stature or insignificant)

Capitalize the singular and plural forms of the nouns Status Indian, Registered Indian, Non-Status Indian and Treaty Indian, as well as the terms Aboriginal, Native and Indigenous when they refer to Aboriginal people in Canada.

The terms aboriginals and natives are not used as proper nouns. When Aboriginal, Indigenous and Native are used as adjectives, note the following noun forms:

• Aboriginal person (one individual)
• Aboriginal persons, Aboriginal people (more than one person)
• Aboriginal peoples (two or more Aboriginal groups)
• Representatives from three Aboriginal peoples were present.
• Any Native person in Alberta is eligible under this program.
• The conference could not have succeeded without the help of almost a thousand Indigenous people from all over Saskatchewan.