Canadian units
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The country has officially adopted the metric system
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
, but still maintains legal definitions of the imperial units under Schedule II, Section 4 of the Weights and Measures Act (R.S. 1985)
Weights and Measures Act (R.S. 1985)
Weights and Measures Act is a Canadian law governing the units of measurements used in Canada.Originally passed in 1970 as part of the federal government's plan for metrication of Canada from Imperial measures, it was stopped in 1985 and changes were made to the Act...
( R.S., 1985, c. W-6 ). Products sold in Canada may be labelled with any system of non-metric measurements in addition to metric values provided that the metric units are displayed more prominently than any other equivalent units of measurement.
While these units are legally called "Canadian units", they are commonly called imperial units by many Canadians and taught as such in much of Canada. The majority of these units are identical to the imperial units used in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries, with the most visible exception being the use of the short hundredweight
Hundredweight
The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...
and ton
Short ton
The short ton is a unit of mass equal to . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S...
as in the United States. Each unit has an official English and French designation. The following are the Canadian units of measurement as set out in the Weights and Measures Act.
Length
| unit name | official definition | metric equivalent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | French | ||
| mile Mile A mile is a unit of length, most commonly 5,280 feet . The mile of 5,280 feet is sometimes called the statute mile or land mile to distinguish it from the nautical mile... |
mille | 1,760 yd | 1.609344 km Kilometre The kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second... |
| furlong Furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U.S. customary units equal to one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to 220 yards, 660 feet, 40 rods, or 10 chains. The exact value of the furlong varies slightly among English-speaking countries.... |
furlong | 220 yd | 201.168 m Metre The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology... |
| rod Rod (unit) The rod is a unit of length equal to 5.5 yards, 5.0292 metres, 16.5 feet, or of a statute mile. A rod is the same length as a perch or a pole. In old English, the term lug is also used.-History:... , pole or perch |
perche | 5½ yd | 5.0292 m |
| yard Yard A yard is a unit of length in several different systems including English units, Imperial units and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches... |
yard or verge | m | 914.4 mm Millimetre The millimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousandth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length.... |
| foot | pied | yd | 304.8 mm |
| inch Inch An inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot... |
pouce | yd | 25.4 mm |
| chain Chain (unit) A chain is a unit of length; it measures 66 feet or 22 yards or 100 links . There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains... |
chaîne | 22 yd | 20.1168 m |
| link | chaînon | chain | 201.168 mm |
Area
| unit name | official definition | metric equivalent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | French | ||
| square mile | mille carré | 640 acres | 2.589988110336 km2 |
| acre Acre The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related... |
acre | 4,840 sq yd | 4,046.856422 m2 |
| square rod | perche carrée | sq yd | 25.29285264 m2 |
| square yard | yard carré or verge carrée |
a superficial area equal to that of a square each side of which measures one yard |
8361.2736 cm2 |
| square foot | pied carré | sq yd | 929.0304 cm2 |
| square inch | pouce carré | sq ft | 6.4516 cm2 |
Volume
| unit name | official definition | metric equivalent | US Equivalent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | French | fluid | dry | ||
| bushel Bushel A bushel is an imperial and U.S. customary unit of dry volume, equivalent in each of these systems to 4 pecks or 8 gallons. It is used for volumes of dry commodities , most often in agriculture... |
boisseau | 8 gal | 36.36872 litre | ||
| peck Peck A peck is an imperial and U.S. customary unit of dry volume, equivalent to 2 gallons or 8 dry quarts or 16 dry pints. Two pecks make a kenning , and four pecks make a bushel.... |
quart de boisseau | 2 gal | 9.09218 litre | ||
| gallon Gallon The gallon is a measure of volume. Historically it has had many different definitions, but there are three definitions in current use: the imperial gallon which is used in the United Kingdom and semi-officially within Canada, the United States liquid gallon and the lesser used United States dry... |
gallon | m3 Cubic metre The cubic metre is the SI derived unit of volume. It is the volume of a cube with edges one metre in length. An alternative name, which allowed a different usage with metric prefixes, was the stère... |
4.54609 litre | ||
| quart Quart The quart is a unit of volume equal to a quarter of a gallon, two pints, or four cups. Since gallons of various sizes have historically been in use, quarts of various sizes have also existed; see gallon for further discussion. Three of these kinds of quarts remain in current use, all approximately... |
pinte | gal | 1.1365225 | 1.2 | |
| pint Pint The pint is a unit of volume or capacity that was once used across much of Europe with values varying from state to state from less than half a litre to over one litre. Within continental Europe, the pint was replaced with the metric system during the nineteenth century... |
chopine | gal | 568.26125 mL | ||
| gill Gill (unit) The gill is a unit of measurement for volume equal to a quarter of a pint. It is no longer in common use, except in regard to the volume of alcoholic spirits measures but it is also kept alive by the occasional reference, such as in the cumulative song, "The Barley Mow".Imperial gillUnited States... |
roquille | gal | 142.0653125 mL | ||
| fluid ounce Fluid ounce A fluid ounce is a unit of volume equal to about 28.4 mL in the imperial system or about 29.6 mL in the US system. The fluid ounce is distinct from the ounce, which measures mass... |
once fluide | gal | 28.4130625 mL | ||
| fluid dram | drachme fluide | fl oz | 3.5516328125 mL | ||
| cubic yard | yard cube or verge cube | a volume equal to that of a cube each side of which measures one yard |
764.554857984 dm3 | ||
| cubic foot | pied cube | cu yd | 28.316846592 dm3 | ||
| cubic inch | pouce cube | cu ft | 16.387064 cm3 Cubic centimetre A cubic centimetre is a commonly used unit of volume extending the derived SI-unit cubic metre, and corresponds to the volume of a cube measuring 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm... |
||
Mass
| unit name | official definition | metric equivalent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | French | ||
| ton | tonne | 2,000 lb | 907.18474 kg Kilogram The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water... |
| cental or hundredweight |
quintal | 100 lb | 45.359237 kg |
| pound Pound (mass) The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement... |
livre | 0.45359237 kg | 453.59237 g Gram The gram is a metric system unit of mass.... |
| ounce Ounce The ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems... |
once | lb or grains | 28.349523 g |
| dram Dram (unit) The dram was historically both a coin and a weight. Currently it is both a small mass in the Apothecaries' system of weights and a small unit of volume... |
drachme | oz | 1.771845195 g |
| grain | grain | lb | 64.79891 mg |
| precious metals | |||
| Troy ounce Troy ounce The troy ounce is a unit of imperial measure. In the present day it is most commonly used to gauge the weight of precious metals. One troy ounce is nowadays defined as exactly 0.0311034768 kg = 31.1034768 g. There are approximately 32.1507466 troy oz in 1 kg... |
once troy | 480 grains | 31.1034768 g |
| precious stones and gem stones | |||
| carat | carat | 200 mg | 200 mg |