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APA Citation Style (7th edition)

Gov't Document Authors

Notes about authors:

  • If the author is also the publisher, omit the publisher information. 
  •  The specific agency responsible for the report appears as the author. The names of parent agencies not present in the group author name appear in the source element as the publisher
  • If multiple agencies authored a report together, join the names with an ampersand (&), using commas to separate the names of three or more agencies.

Government Documents

Government Publications

The APA Publication Manual, 7th edition provides some examples from American government sources (Sec. 10.4 in the manual).  The following examples are interpretations of APA for Canadian government material.

  • Begin with the government body issuing the document. If the name of the country/province forms part of the government body, the country or province at the beginning may be omitted. 
  • For reports retrieved online, identify the publisher as part of the retrieval statement unless they have already been identified as the author e.g. Agency Name. URL
Author Date Title

Source

Name of Publisher. DOI or URL

Author, A.A. & Author B.B.

Name of Group.

(2020). 

(2020, May 22).

Title of report.

Title of report (Report No. 145).

Title of grey literature (Description).

Name of publisher. https://xxx

or https://doi.org/xxxx

____________________________________________________________________________________

Canadian government (electronic with corporate author) (Sec. 10.4, #50, APA Publication Manual. p.329)

  • When the publisher is the same as the author, frequently the case for corporate authors, omit the publisher from the source element.
Reference Example

Public Safety Canada. (2018). Corrections and conditional release: Statistical overview 2017. https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ccrso-2017/ccrso-2017-en.pdf

In-text Example

(Public Safety Canada, 2018)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Canadian government (electronic with individual and corporate author) (Sec. 10.4 #50 APA Publication Manual. p.329)

Reference Example

Boldt, J. L., Anderson, E. D., King, J. R., Dennis-Bohm, H., Zubkowski, T. B., Flostrand, L., & Canada. Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Pacific Region. (2020). Integrated pelagic ecosystem survey on the Vancouver Island continental shelf, June 15 - July 15, 2019. Nanaimo, British Columbia: Pacific Biological Station, Science Branch, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/mpo-dfo/Fs97-6-3339-eng.pdf

In-text Example

(Boldt et al., 2020)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Canadian government (electronic with individual author) (Sec. 10.4 #51 APA Publication Manual, p. 330)

Reference Example

Segaert, A., & Bauer, A. (2015). The extent and nature of veteran homelessness in Canada. Employment and Social Development Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/communities/homelessness/publications-bulletins/veterans-report.html

In-text Example

(Segaert & Bauer, 2015)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Provincial government (electronic with no author) (Sec. 9.11, APA Publication Manual, p. 288)

  • When numerous layers of government agencies are listed as the author of a work, use the most specific agency as the author in the reference.  The names of the parent agencies not used in the group author name appear as the publisher.
  • However, if using the most specific responsible agency could cause confusion (e.g. you are citing different provincial versions of an agency and they have the same name), then include the parent agencies in the author element to differentiate them.
  • When there are multiple layers of agencies, the parent body proceeds the subdivision (e.g. British Columbia, Ministry of Health
  • Agencies listed in the author element are not repeated in the publisher section of the reference.
Format

Province, Agency, Office. (date). Title of report: Subtitle information. URL
Reference Example

British Columbia, Ministry of Health, Office of Indigenous Health. (2012). Health partnership accord. http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2012/health-partnership-accord.pdf

Or you can use the shortened version (the most specific responsible agency) as long as there is no confusion with another agency cited within your report

Office of Indigenous Health. (2012). Health partnership accord. http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/library/publications/year/2012/health-partnership-accord.pdf

In-text Example

(British Columbia, Ministry of Health, 2012)

or

(Office of Indigenous Health, 2012)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Statistics Canada online (Data Tables from CANSIM) (Sec. 10.4, #50, APA Publication Manual, p.329)

  • If you are inserting a table (rather than referring to the data in the text of your paper) then follow the guidelines under Figures (Chapter 7 APA Publication Manual, 7th ed.)
Reference Example

Statistics Canada. (2020). Table 16-10-0017-01 Lumber production, shipments, and stocks by species, monthly (x 1,000). https://doi.org/10.25318/1610001701-eng

In-text Example

(Statistics Canada, 2020)

____________________________________________________________________________________