Although it serves a similar role to the MUTCD from the US Federal Highway Administration, it has been independently developed and has a number of key differences with its American counterpart, most notably the inclusion of bilingual (English/French) signage for jurisdictions such as New Brunswick with significant anglophone and francophone population, and a heavier reliance on symbols rather than text legends.
At the time of the debates surrounding the adoption of the Charter of the French Language ("Bill 101") in 1977, the usage of stop on the older dual-word signs was considered to be English and therefore controversial; some signs were occasionally vandalized with red spray paint to turn the word stop into "101".
Entry points to the country through Canada Customs and other federally-regulated sites (including airports) also have bilingual stop signs.
On First Nations or Inuit territories, stop signs sometimes use the local aboriginal language in addition to or instead of English and/or French.
Alphanumeric reference IDs from the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Canada are included.