A New Canadian Dictionary

February 29, 2024

Editors Canada partners with Nelson Education to create the Canadian English Dictionary

Toronto, February 29, 2024—The Editors’ Association of Canada (Editors Canada) is pleased to announce it has partnered with Nelson Education to use the Nelson Gage Canadian Paperback Dictionary as a foundation for a new dictionary of Canadian English.

With this partnership, we are one step closer to the new Canadian English Dictionary (CED).

The time for the new Canadian English Dictionary is now

The last dictionary of Canadian English was published in 2004 and the major dictionary publishers have no plans to renew their outdated Canadian resources. Language has evolved in the last 20 years. The longer these tools are left out of date, the more profound the impact on editors, authors, books and the Canadian identity.

It is important that we have an English-language dictionary that keeps pace with the changes in language and that this dictionary is inclusive and addresses important issues, such as reconciliation, equity and diversity.

The CED project

In 2022, Editors Canada took the lead on creating a team and providing seed funding to develop the new Canadian English Dictionary. The resulting CED project team currently consists of volunteers and students from Editors Canada, the UBC Canadian English Lab, Queen’s University’s Strathy Language Unit and elsewhere.

The CED will incorporate as a not-for-profit organization that is separate from Editors Canada to provide better transparency in finance and governance. Editors Canada will maintain a close relationship with the project, including having representation on the CED’s board.

Next steps for the dictionary

Using the Nelson Gage Canadian Paperback Dictionary gives the CED a solid foundation to build on in the creation of the new dictionary. In the next few months, the CED will launch a test version of part of the dictionary online and seek additional funding sources to keep the project moving forward. This project is expected to take a few years.

After the launch of the online dictionary, the CED will work on a print edition to take its place on reference shelves across the country.

More info

To learn more about the current status of the CED project, read A New Canadian Dictionary by editor-in-chief John Chew in The Editors’ Weekly.

For further details, please visit the Canadian English Dictionary or email the CED team.

(Via Editors’ Association of Canada)