Reference for Canadian passport is mandatory?

Yes. Section 8 of the Canadian Passport Application form contains REQUIRED fields.

There are two things you need when you apply for a passport. You need a guarantor, and you need two references.

The job of the guarantor (Section 2) is to tell the Government of Canada that the person applying for the passport is exactly who they say they are. It used to be that the Guarantor had to be a police officer, chartered account, notary, religious leader, or such. I believe that has since been relaxed and the Guarantor now just needs to have known you for at least two years.

The references (Section 8) are given so that they do not rely on just one person's word that you are who you say you are. If anything happens and they cannot contact the guarantor, or they decide to do a background check, they may call the references you give and confirm that they know you, and try to validate the info you put on the form.

If you do not fill out the application properly and are missing data that is mandatory (such as leaving out the references), your application will be rejected or returned to you to be completed properly.

If this is your first passport, or you are having trouble finding references or such, I suggest that you read the website for "Passport Canada" and see what you can do. And when applying, I would physically take it down to the nearest passport office so they can review it immediately when you submit it. That way, you can often fix things that are wrong right away, and you get your identification documents back without having to send them in by mail.

Yes. In fact you need two references: they can be teachers, doctors, landlord etc.....but not your family members.

No. 2 references are mandatory.

Yes. The government wants someone to vouch for you. Go find someone.

It sure is, good buddy!

Yes
If you dont know anyone you can get a notary public to do it