Canada's History: Citizenship Test Practice Questions

1. The first Governor General of Canada
2. The Father of Confederation and Canada's first Prime Minister ✓ Correct answer
3. The general who defended Quebec during the War of 1812
4. The founder of the North-West Mounted Police

Why: Sir John A. Macdonald was a Father of Confederation and became the first Prime Minister of Canada in 1867.

1. British naval surveyors charting Hudson Bay
2. Adventurous canoeists who transported furs and goods across vast waterways ✓ Correct answer
3. Gold miners who prospected the Fraser and Klondike rivers
4. Settlers arriving on the Loyalist fleets after 1776

Why: Voyageurs were adventurous French and French-Canadian fur traders who traveled thousands of miles across Canadian rivers and lakes by birchbark canoe.

1. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham
2. The Battle of Vimy Ridge ✓ Correct answer
3. The Defense of Fort Garry
4. The Battle of Queenston Heights

Why: At the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917 during World War I, the Canadian Corps captured a crucial German stronghold, an achievement hailed as "the birth of a nation".

1. 1759
2. 1812
3. 1867 ✓ Correct answer
4. 1982

Why: On July 1, 1867, the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick formed the new Dominion of Canada under the British North America Act.

1. Sioux
2. Inuit
3. Huron-Wendat ✓ Correct answer
4. Dene

Why: The Huron-Wendat of the Great Lakes region, like the Iroquois, were farmers and hunters.

1. Hunter-gatherers ✓ Correct answer
2. Farmers in fixed villages
3. Whalers on the Pacific
4. Nomadic bison herders

Why: The Cree and Dene of the Northwest were hunter-gatherers.

1. Huron-Wendat
2. Iroquois
3. Inuit
4. Sioux ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Sioux were nomadic, following the bison herd across the plains.

1. By growing corn and squash
2. Off Arctic wildlife ✓ Correct answer
3. By following the bison herd
4. By trading furs with Montreal

Why: The Inuit lived off Arctic wildlife.

1. Sioux of the Prairies
2. Huron-Wendat
3. West Coast peoples ✓ Correct answer
4. Cree of the Northwest

Why: According to Discover Canada, West Coast peoples preserved fish by drying and smoking.

1. They lacked immunity to European diseases ✓ Correct answer
2. They were killed in the War of 1812
3. They starved when the fur trade ended
4. They moved to the United States

Why: Many Aboriginal people died of European diseases to which they had no immunity.

1. A single elected parliament
2. A common written language
3. A joint stock exchange
4. Strong economic, religious and military bonds ✓ Correct answer

Why: Aboriginal peoples and Europeans formed strong economic, religious and military bonds that laid the foundations of Canada.

1. The French
2. The Vikings ✓ Correct answer
3. The English
4. The Portuguese

Why: Vikings from Iceland who had colonized Greenland reached Labrador and Newfoundland about 1,000 years ago.

1. Port-Royal, Nova Scotia
2. St. Croix Island
3. L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland ✓ Correct answer
4. Fort Garry, Manitoba

Why: The remains of the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland are a World Heritage Site.

1. Iceland ✓ Correct answer
2. Ireland
3. Great Britain
4. Sicily

Why: Vikings from Iceland colonized Greenland and then reached Labrador and Newfoundland.

1. Jacques Cartier
2. Samuel de Champlain
3. Henry Hudson
4. John Cabot ✓ Correct answer

Why: John Cabot, an Italian immigrant to England, was the first to map Canada's Atlantic shore.

1. 1534
2. 1497 ✓ Correct answer
3. 1604
4. 1670

Why: In 1497 Cabot set foot on Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island and claimed the 'New Founde Land' for England.

1. France
2. Spain
3. England ✓ Correct answer
4. Italy

Why: Cabot, an Italian who had moved to England, claimed the land for England.

1. King Francis I of France ✓ Correct answer
2. King Louis XIV of France
3. King Charles II of England
4. King Henry VII of England

Why: Cartier claimed the land for King Francis I of France.

1. Big land
2. River
3. Northern country
4. Village ✓ Correct answer

Why: Cartier heard two captured guides speak the Iroquoian word kanata, meaning 'village'.

1. The 1490s
2. The 1550s ✓ Correct answer
3. The 1600s
4. The 1790s

Why: By the 1550s the name Canada began appearing on maps.

1. John Cabot
2. Samuel de Champlain
3. Jacques Cartier ✓ Correct answer
4. Count Frontenac

Why: Jacques Cartier was the first European to explore the St. Lawrence River and set eyes on present-day Quebec City and Montreal.

1. 1604 ✓ Correct answer
2. 1497
3. 1608
4. 1670

Why: In 1604 Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain founded the first European settlement north of Florida.

1. Jacques Cartier and John Cabot
2. Jean Talon and Bishop Laval
3. Count Frontenac and Guy Carleton
4. Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain ✓ Correct answer

Why: Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain established the settlement in 1604.

1. Quebec City
2. St. Croix Island, in present-day Maine ✓ Correct answer
3. Montreal
4. L'Anse aux Meadows

Why: The settlement was first on St. Croix Island (present-day Maine), then moved to Port-Royal in Acadia.

1. Upper Canada
2. Rupert's Land
3. Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia) ✓ Correct answer
4. Labrador

Why: The settlers moved to Port-Royal, in Acadia, which is present-day Nova Scotia.

1. Quebec City ✓ Correct answer
2. Montreal
3. Halifax
4. Kingston

Why: In 1608 Champlain built a fortress at what is now Quebec City.

1. 1608
2. 1759
3. 1774
4. 1701 ✓ Correct answer

Why: The French and the Iroquois fought for 100 years and made peace in 1701.

1. Buffalo hides
2. Beaver pelts ✓ Correct answer
3. Seal skins
4. Cod fish

Why: The vast fur-trade economy was driven by demand for beaver pelts in Europe.

1. Building railways
2. Farming the Prairies
3. Travelling by canoe ✓ Correct answer
4. Policing the West

Why: Voyageurs and coureurs des bois travelled great distances by canoe in the fur trade.

1. Jean Talon, Bishop Laval and Count Frontenac ✓ Correct answer
2. James Wolfe, Isaac Brock and Robert Ross
3. Lord Durham, Lord Elgin and Guy Carleton
4. Joseph Howe, Robert Baldwin and Leonard Tilley

Why: Leaders like Jean Talon, Bishop Laval and Count Frontenac built a French empire from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.

1. Marquis de Montcalm
2. Jacques Cartier
3. Bishop Laval
4. Count Frontenac ✓ Correct answer

Why: Count Frontenac refused to surrender Quebec to the English in 1690.

1. Lord Durham
2. Sir Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester) ✓ Correct answer
3. Sir Isaac Brock
4. John Graves Simcoe

Why: Sir Guy Carleton defended the Canadiens' rights, defeated the 1775 American invasion and supervised the Loyalist migration of 1782-83.

1. King George III
2. King Henry VII
3. King Charles II ✓ Correct answer
4. King James I

Why: In 1670 King Charles II granted the Hudson's Bay Company exclusive trading rights over the Hudson Bay watershed.

1. Montreal ✓ Correct answer
2. Quebec City
3. Halifax
4. Boston

Why: For the next 100 years the Hudson's Bay Company competed with Montreal-based traders.

1. 1701
2. 1774
3. 1812
4. 1759 ✓ Correct answer

Why: In 1759 the British defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City, ending France's empire in America.

1. Isaac Brock and Tecumseh
2. Brigadier James Wolfe and Marquis de Montcalm ✓ Correct answer
3. Count Frontenac and Jean Talon
4. Robert Ross and Charles de Salaberry

Why: Both commanders, Brigadier James Wolfe (British) and the Marquis de Montcalm (French), were killed.

1. Upper Canada
2. The Province of Canada
3. The Province of Quebec ✓ Correct answer
4. Rupert's Land

Why: After the war Britain renamed the colony the 'Province of Quebec'.

1. Canadiens ✓ Correct answer
2. Acadiens
3. Loyalists
4. Métis

Why: The French-speaking Catholics, known as Canadiens, preserved their way of life in the Protestant-ruled British Empire.

1. The Constitutional Act of 1791
2. The British North America Act of 1867
3. The Act of Union of 1840
4. The Quebec Act of 1774 ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Quebec Act of 1774 allowed religious freedom for Catholics and let them hold public office, which was not then allowed in Britain.

1. Restored French criminal law and kept British civil law
2. Restored French civil law and kept British criminal law ✓ Correct answer
3. Replaced all French law with British law
4. Created separate courts for Loyalists

Why: The Quebec Act restored French civil law while maintaining British criminal law.

1. 1759
2. 1783
3. 1776 ✓ Correct answer
4. 1812

Why: In 1776 the 13 colonies declared independence, forming the United States.

1. More than 40,000 ✓ Correct answer
2. About 3,000
3. About 12,000
4. About 1 million

Why: More than 40,000 people loyal to the Crown, called Loyalists, settled in Nova Scotia and Quebec.

1. Tecumseh
2. Louis Riel
3. Samuel de Champlain
4. Joseph Brant ✓ Correct answer

Why: Joseph Brant led thousands of Loyalist Mohawks into Canada.

1. About 300
2. About 3,000 ✓ Correct answer
3. About 40,000
4. About 100,000

Why: About 3,000 Black Loyalists, freedmen and slaves, came north seeking a better life.

1. Halifax, Nova Scotia
2. Kingston, Upper Canada
3. Freetown, Sierra Leone ✓ Correct answer
4. Liberia's Monrovia

Why: In 1792 some Black Nova Scotians established Freetown, Sierra Leone, a British colony for freed slaves.

1. Halifax, Nova Scotia ✓ Correct answer
2. Quebec City
3. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
4. York (Toronto)

Why: The first representative assembly was elected in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1758.

1. Upper Canada (1773) and Lower Canada (1785)
2. New Brunswick (1773) and Newfoundland (1785)
3. British Columbia (1773) and Manitoba (1785)
4. Prince Edward Island (1773) and New Brunswick (1785) ✓ Correct answer

Why: Prince Edward Island followed in 1773 and New Brunswick in 1785.

1. The Quebec Act of 1774
2. The Constitutional Act of 1791 ✓ Correct answer
3. The Act of Union of 1840
4. The British North America Act of 1867

Why: The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.

1. Quebec
2. Manitoba
3. Ontario ✓ Correct answer
4. New Brunswick

Why: Upper Canada (now Ontario) was mainly Loyalist, Protestant and English-speaking.

1. Largely Catholic and French-speaking ✓ Correct answer
2. Mainly Loyalist and Protestant
3. Largely Métis and Cree
4. Mainly Scottish and Presbyterian

Why: Lower Canada was largely Catholic and French-speaking; Upper Canada was mainly Loyalist, Protestant and English-speaking.

1. Responsible government
2. Women's right to vote
3. Religious freedom for Catholics
4. Legislative assemblies elected by the people ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Act granted, for the first time, legislative assemblies elected by the people, and the name Canada became official.

1. The Dominion of Canada
2. British North America ✓ Correct answer
3. New France
4. The Province of Canada

Why: The Atlantic colonies and the two Canadas were known collectively as British North America.

1. Lower Canada
2. Nova Scotia
3. Upper Canada ✓ Correct answer
4. Prince Edward Island

Why: In 1793 Upper Canada, led by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, moved toward abolition of slavery.

1. 1833 ✓ Correct answer
2. 1793
3. 1807
4. 1867

Why: Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833.

1. Abolished slavery throughout the Empire
2. Passed the Quebec Act
3. Created the Province of Canada
4. Prohibited the buying and selling of slaves ✓ Correct answer

Why: In 1807 the British Parliament prohibited the buying and selling of slaves; slavery itself was abolished in 1833.

1. The first railway in Upper Canada
2. An anti-slavery network that helped slaves escape to Canada ✓ Correct answer
3. A secret route used by Loyalist soldiers
4. A fur-trade canoe route

Why: Thousands of slaves escaped from the U.S., following the 'North Star', and settled in Canada via the Underground Railroad, a Christian anti-slavery network.

1. Laura Secord
2. Emily Stowe
3. Mary Ann Shadd Cary ✓ Correct answer
4. Agnes Macphail

Why: Anti-slavery activist Mary Ann Shadd Cary helped found and edit The Provincial Freeman, a weekly anti-slavery newspaper.

1. John Graves Simcoe ✓ Correct answer
2. Sir Guy Carleton
3. Lord Durham
4. Sir Isaac Brock

Why: Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe was Upper Canada's first Lieutenant Governor and founded York (Toronto).

1. Edmonton
2. Vancouver
3. Victoria
4. Winnipeg ✓ Correct answer

Why: Fort Garry became Winnipeg; other HBC posts grew into Edmonton, Fort Langley and Victoria.

1. 1759
2. 1832 ✓ Correct answer
3. 1867
4. 1885

Why: The Montreal Stock Exchange opened in 1832.

1. Manufacturing cars and machinery
2. Banking and financial services
3. Farming and exporting natural resources such as fur, timber and fish ✓ Correct answer
4. Mining gold for export

Why: Canada's economy was based mainly on farming and exporting fur, timber and fish, moved by roads, lakes, rivers and canals.

1. June 1812 ✓ Correct answer
2. July 1814
3. June 1813
4. November 1811

Why: Believing it would be easy to conquer Canada, the U.S. launched an invasion in June 1812.

1. Joseph Brant
2. Louis Riel
3. Gabriel Dumont
4. Chief Tecumseh ✓ Correct answer

Why: Canadian volunteers and First Nations, including Shawnee led by Chief Tecumseh, supported British soldiers in defending Canada.

1. Major-General Robert Ross
2. Major-General Sir Isaac Brock ✓ Correct answer
3. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles de Salaberry
4. The Duke of Wellington

Why: Brock captured Detroit and was killed at Queenston Heights, near Niagara Falls, a battle the Americans lost.

1. Queenston Heights
2. Beaver Dams
3. Châteauguay ✓ Correct answer
4. Plains of Abraham

Why: De Salaberry's force turned back 4,000 American invaders at Châteauguay, south of Montreal.

1. Government House and the Parliament Buildings ✓ Correct answer
2. The Citadel and Fort Henry
3. The White House
4. The Hudson's Bay Company post

Why: In 1813 the Americans burned Government House and the Parliament Buildings in York.

1. Major-General Sir Isaac Brock
2. Chief Tecumseh
3. Lieutenant James FitzGibbon
4. Major-General Robert Ross ✓ Correct answer

Why: In retaliation, Major-General Robert Ross burned the White House in 1814; he died soon after and was buried in Halifax with full military honours.

1. Fort Garry at Red River
2. Fort Henry at Kingston ✓ Correct answer
3. Fort Langley
4. L'Anse aux Meadows

Why: Britain paid for a costly defence system, including the Citadels at Halifax and Quebec City, the naval drydock at Halifax and Fort Henry at Kingston.

1. Canada joined the United States
2. Canada gained responsible government
3. The present-day Canada-U.S. border is partly a result of it ✓ Correct answer
4. Slavery was abolished in Canada

Why: The present-day Canada-U.S. border is partly an outcome of the War of 1812, which ensured Canada stayed independent of the U.S.

1. The Duke of Wellington ✓ Correct answer
2. Sir John A. Macdonald
3. Lord Durham
4. John Graves Simcoe

Why: The Duke of Wellington chose Bytown as the endpoint of the Rideau Canal, part of a network of forts to prevent another U.S. invasion.

1. Mary Ann Shadd Cary
2. Emily Stowe
3. Marie Thérèse Casgrain
4. Laura Secord ✓ Correct answer

Why: Laura Secord, a pioneer wife and mother of five, warned Lieutenant James FitzGibbon of a planned American attack.

1. 1812-14
2. 1837-38 ✓ Correct answer
3. 1869-70
4. 1885-86

Why: Rebellions occurred in 1837-38 in the area outside Montreal and in Toronto; the rebels lacked public support and were defeated.

1. Joining Canada to the United States
2. Restoring French civil law
3. Merging Upper and Lower Canada and giving them responsible government ✓ Correct answer
4. Creating the province of Manitoba

Why: Lord Durham recommended that Upper and Lower Canada be merged and given responsible government.

1. That they assimilate into English-speaking Protestant culture ✓ Correct answer
2. That they form a separate country
3. That they move to Acadia
4. That they control the fur trade

Why: Durham said the Canadiens should assimilate into English-speaking Protestant culture, showing a complete lack of understanding of French Canada.

1. The monarch chooses ministers without elections
2. Each province governs itself without a federal government
3. Judges are elected by the people
4. Ministers of the Crown must have the support of a majority of elected representatives ✓ Correct answer

Why: Under responsible government, ministers must have majority support in the elected assembly; a government that loses a confidence vote must resign.

1. 1791
2. 1840 ✓ Correct answer
3. 1848
4. 1867

Why: In 1840 Upper and Lower Canada were united as the Province of Canada.

1. The Province of Canada
2. New Brunswick
3. Nova Scotia ✓ Correct answer
4. Prince Edward Island

Why: Nova Scotia was the first British North American colony to attain full responsible government, in 1847-48.

1. Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine ✓ Correct answer
2. Sir George-Étienne Cartier
3. Sir Wilfrid Laurier
4. Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché

Why: La Fontaine, a champion of democracy and French-language rights, became the first head of a responsible government in Canada in 1849.

1. Lord Durham
2. Lord Dorchester
3. Lord Strathcona
4. Lord Elgin ✓ Correct answer

Why: In 1848-49 Lord Elgin, governor of United Canada, introduced responsible government.

1. Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
2. Sir George-Étienne Cartier ✓ Correct answer
3. Sir Leonard Tilley
4. Joseph Howe

Why: Sir George-Étienne Cartier, a railway lawyer and Montrealer, led Quebec into Confederation.

1. Lord Durham and Lord Elgin
2. Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont
3. Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché and Sir George-Étienne Cartier ✓ Correct answer
4. Isaac Brock and Robert Ross

Why: Reformers Taché and Cartier later became Fathers of Confederation, as did Macdonald, a former militia member in Upper Canada.

1. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada ✓ Correct answer
2. Newfoundland, PEI and British Columbia
3. Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec
4. Upper Canada, Lower Canada and Rupert's Land

Why: Representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada, the Fathers of Confederation, worked from 1864 to 1867.

1. The United Empire Loyalists
2. The Family Compact
3. The Mounties
4. The Fathers of Confederation ✓ Correct answer

Why: The representatives who established the new country are known as the Fathers of Confederation.

1. One: federal only
2. Two: federal and provincial ✓ Correct answer
3. Three: federal, provincial and municipal
4. Two: federal and municipal

Why: The Fathers of Confederation created two levels of government: federal and provincial.

1. The Constitutional Act
2. The Quebec Act
3. The British North America Act ✓ Correct answer
4. The Act of Union

Why: The British Parliament passed the British North America Act, 1867, and the Dominion of Canada was born on July 1, 1867.

1. July 1, 1867 ✓ Correct answer
2. July 1, 1864
3. November 7, 1885
4. January 11, 1867

Why: The Dominion of Canada was officially born on July 1, 1867.

1. Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia
2. Ontario, Quebec, PEI and Newfoundland
3. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland
4. Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Dominion began with Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

1. Confederation Day
2. Dominion Day ✓ Correct answer
3. Victoria Day
4. Loyalist Day

Why: July 1 was celebrated as Dominion Day until 1982; it is now officially Canada Day.

1. Sir John A. Macdonald of Ontario
2. Joseph Howe of Nova Scotia
3. Sir Leonard Tilley of New Brunswick ✓ Correct answer
4. Sir George-Étienne Cartier of Quebec

Why: Sir Leonard Tilley, inspired by Psalm 72 ('He shall have dominion from sea to sea'), suggested the term in 1864.

1. Almost 100 years ✓ Correct answer
2. About 10 years
3. About 50 years
4. About 200 years

Why: The term Dominion of Canada was the official name of the country for almost 100 years.

1. Sir Wilfrid Laurier
2. Sir George-Étienne Cartier
3. Sir Robert Borden
4. Sir John A. Macdonald ✓ Correct answer

Why: Sir John A. Macdonald became Canada's first Prime Minister in 1867.

1. Upper Canada
2. Scotland ✓ Correct answer
3. Ireland
4. England

Why: Macdonald was born in Scotland on January 11, 1815, and came to Upper Canada as a child.

1. Montreal, Quebec
2. Halifax, Nova Scotia
3. Kingston, Ontario ✓ Correct answer
4. Toronto, Ontario

Why: Macdonald was a lawyer in Kingston, Ontario, a gifted politician and a colourful personality.

1. 1870 ✓ Correct answer
2. 1867
3. 1871
4. 1905

Why: Manitoba and the Northwest Territories joined Canada in 1870.

1. 1867
2. 1873
3. 1885
4. 1871 ✓ Correct answer

Why: British Columbia joined Canada in 1871 after Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Coast.

1. 1867
2. 1873 ✓ Correct answer
3. 1871
4. 1949

Why: Prince Edward Island joined Confederation in 1873.

1. 1880
2. 1905
3. 1898 ✓ Correct answer
4. 1999

Why: The Yukon Territory was created in 1898.

1. Alberta and Saskatchewan ✓ Correct answer
2. Manitoba and British Columbia
3. Alberta and Manitoba
4. Newfoundland and Labrador and PEI

Why: Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905.

1. Prince Edward Island
2. British Columbia
3. Saskatchewan
4. Newfoundland and Labrador ✓ Correct answer

Why: Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada in 1949.

1. Yukon
2. Nunavut ✓ Correct answer
3. Northwest Territories
4. Labrador

Why: Nunavut was created in 1999.

1. The Loyalists of Upper Canada
2. The Acadians of Nova Scotia
3. The 12,000 Métis of Red River ✓ Correct answer
4. The Inuit of the Arctic

Why: The 12,000 Métis of the Red River were not consulted, which led to Louis Riel's uprising.

1. Louis Riel ✓ Correct answer
2. Gabriel Dumont
3. Joseph Brant
4. Chief Tecumseh

Why: Louis Riel led an armed uprising and seized Fort Garry, the territorial capital.

1. Riel became Prime Minister
2. The Métis joined the United States
3. The Hudson's Bay Company regained the territory
4. Riel fled to the U.S. and Canada created the province of Manitoba ✓ Correct answer

Why: In 1870 Riel fled to the United States and Canada established the new province of Manitoba.

1. For burning the Parliament Buildings
2. For high treason after a second uprising in Saskatchewan ✓ Correct answer
3. For refusing to take his seat in Parliament
4. For leading the 1837 rebellion

Why: Riel led a second uprising in present-day Saskatchewan in 1885, leading to his trial and execution for high treason.

1. Saskatchewan
2. Alberta
3. Manitoba ✓ Correct answer
4. British Columbia

Why: Riel is seen by many today as a hero, a defender of Métis rights and the father of Manitoba.

1. Sir John A. Macdonald ✓ Correct answer
2. Sir Wilfrid Laurier
3. Sir Robert Borden
4. Alexander Mackenzie

Why: Prime Minister Macdonald established the NWMP in 1873 to pacify the West and assist in negotiations with the First Nations.

1. The Canadian Armed Forces
2. The Ontario Provincial Police
3. The Canadian Pacific Railway
4. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police ✓ Correct answer

Why: The NWMP became today's RCMP ('the Mounties'), the national police force and one of Canada's best-known symbols.

1. Fort Garry and Fort Edmonton
2. Fort Calgary and Fort Macleod ✓ Correct answer
3. Fort Henry and Fort Langley
4. Fort Victoria and Fort York

Why: The NWMP founded Fort Calgary, Fort Macleod and other centres that became cities and towns.

1. Sir Isaac Brock
2. Sir Guy Carleton
3. Major General Sir Sam Steele ✓ Correct answer
4. Robert Baldwin

Why: Major General Sir Sam Steele is remembered as a great frontier hero, Mounted Policeman and soldier.

1. Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Coast ✓ Correct answer
2. It was given its own currency
3. It received control of the fur trade
4. It was allowed to keep its own army

Why: B.C. joined in 1871 after Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Coast.

1. Independence from Britain
2. French-English conflict
3. The fur trade
4. Unity, joining Canada from sea to sea ✓ Correct answer

Why: The CPR's completion was a powerful symbol of unity, linking Canada from sea to sea.

1. Sir John A. Macdonald
2. Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona) ✓ Correct answer
3. Sir Sam Steele
4. Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Why: Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona, the Scottish-born director of the CPR, drove the last spike.

1. 1867
2. 1871
3. 1885 ✓ Correct answer
4. 1905

Why: The CPR's last spike was driven on November 7, 1885.

1. British and American investors ✓ Correct answer
2. The French government
3. Hudson's Bay Company traders
4. Canadian provinces alone

Why: The railway was financed by British and American investors and built by European and Chinese labour.

1. Being barred from British Columbia
2. Losing their right to vote in 1871
3. Being drafted into the NWMP
4. The Head Tax, a race-based entry fee ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Chinese were subject to discrimination, including the Head Tax, a race-based entry fee.

1. 1988
2. 2006 ✓ Correct answer
3. 1971
4. 1999

Why: The Government of Canada apologized in 2006 for this discriminatory policy.

1. One million in total
2. 100,000 British and 100,000 Americans
3. One million British and one million Americans ✓ Correct answer
4. Five million British only

Why: During this period one million British and one million Americans immigrated to Canada.

1. Sir Wilfrid Laurier ✓ Correct answer
2. Sir George-Étienne Cartier
3. Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
4. Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché

Why: Sir Wilfrid Laurier became the first French-Canadian Prime Minister since Confederation and encouraged immigrants to settle in the West.

1. Sir John A. Macdonald
2. Sir Robert Borden
3. Sir George-Étienne Cartier
4. Sir Wilfrid Laurier ✓ Correct answer

Why: Sir Wilfrid Laurier's portrait is on the $5 bill.

1. About 600
2. Over 7,000 ✓ Correct answer
3. Over 60,000
4. About 600,000

Why: Over 7,000 Canadians volunteered for the South African War, and over 260 died.

1. Germany attacked Belgium and France ✓ Correct answer
2. Germany invaded Poland
3. Germany attacked Canada's east coast
4. Germany sank a Canadian warship

Why: When Germany attacked Belgium and France in 1914 and Britain declared war, Ottawa formed the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

1. The North-West Mounted Police
2. The Canadian Expeditionary Force ✓ Correct answer
3. The Royal Canadian Air Force
4. The Canadian Militia of Upper Canada

Why: Ottawa formed the Canadian Expeditionary Force, later called the Canadian Corps.

1. About 60,000
2. More than 1 million
3. About 110,000
4. More than 600,000 ✓ Correct answer

Why: More than 600,000 Canadians served, most of them volunteers, out of a population of eight million.

1. Amiens
2. Dieppe
3. Vimy Ridge ✓ Correct answer
4. Paardeberg

Why: The Canadian Corps captured Vimy Ridge in April 1917, with 10,000 killed or wounded.

1. April 9 ✓ Correct answer
2. November 11
3. June 6
4. August 8

Why: Vimy Day, April 9, commemorates the capture of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917.

1. About 22,000 Japanese Canadians
2. Over 8,000 Chinese railway workers
3. About 4,000 German-speaking farmers from Ontario
4. Over 8,000 former Austro-Hungarian subjects, mainly Ukrainians ✓ Correct answer

Why: Over 8,000 former Austro-Hungarian subjects, mainly Ukrainian men, were interned in 24 labour camps, even though Britain advised against it.

1. Sir Isaac Brock
2. Billy Bishop
3. General James Wolfe
4. General Sir Arthur Currie ✓ Correct answer

Why: General Sir Arthur Currie led the Canadian Corps during the last hundred days of the war in 1918.

1. The day of the shock troops
2. The goal heard around the world
3. The black day of the German Army ✓ Correct answer
4. The last hundred days

Why: The Germans called the victorious Battle of Amiens 'the black day of the German Army'.

1. November 11, 1918 ✓ Correct answer
2. April 9, 1917
3. May 8, 1919
4. June 28, 1914

Why: With Germany and Austria's surrender, the war ended in the Armistice on November 11, 1918.

1. About 60,000 ✓ Correct answer
2. About 6,000
3. About 260,000
4. About 600,000

Why: In total 60,000 Canadians were killed and 170,000 wounded in the First World War.

1. A campaign for women to serve as soldiers
2. A movement to allow women to own land
3. A drive to open universities to women
4. An effort by women to achieve the right to vote ✓ Correct answer

Why: Suffrage means the right to vote; the women's suffrage movement fought for women's voting rights.

1. Agnes Macphail
2. Dr. Emily Stowe ✓ Correct answer
3. Thérèse Casgrain
4. Laura Secord

Why: Dr. Emily Stowe was the first Canadian woman to practise medicine in Canada and founded the women's suffrage movement.

1. Ontario
2. Quebec
3. Manitoba ✓ Correct answer
4. Saskatchewan

Why: In 1916, Manitoba became the first province to give women the vote.

1. Women over age 21
2. Women who owned property
3. Women in Quebec
4. Nurses at the battle front ✓ Correct answer

Why: In 1917 Sir Robert Borden's government gave the federal vote first to nurses at the front, then to women related to men in active service.

1. 18 and over
2. 25 and over
3. 21 and over ✓ Correct answer
4. 30 and over

Why: In 1918 most Canadian female citizens aged 21 and over were granted the right to vote in federal elections.

1. 1916
2. 1918
3. 1940 ✓ Correct answer
4. 1960

Why: Quebec was the last province to grant women the vote, in 1940.

1. Emily Stowe
2. Agnes Macphail ✓ Correct answer
3. Thérèse Casgrain
4. Emily Carr

Why: Agnes Macphail, a farmer and teacher, became the first woman MP in 1921.

1. Sit in the Senate
2. Practise medicine in Canada
3. Lead a political party in Canada ✓ Correct answer
4. Become a premier

Why: Thérèse Casgrain led the fight for women's vote and became the first woman to lead a political party in Canada.

1. The white lily
2. The red poppy ✓ Correct answer
3. The red rose
4. The fleur-de-lys

Why: Canadians wear the red poppy and observe a moment of silence on Remembrance Day.

1. Noon on July 1
2. Sunrise on April 9
3. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month ✓ Correct answer
4. The 6th hour of June 6

Why: On November 11 at 11:00 a.m., Canadians remember those who served and the 110,000 who gave their lives.

1. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae ✓ Correct answer
2. General Sir Arthur Currie
3. Sir Charles G.D. Roberts
4. Stephen Leacock

Why: Lt.-Col. John McCrae, a medical officer, wrote 'In Flanders Fields' in 1915; it is often recited on Remembrance Day.

1. 11,000
2. 44,000
3. 1 million
4. 110,000 ✓ Correct answer

Why: Remembrance Day honours the more than one million who served and the 110,000 who gave their lives.

1. The end of the First World War
2. A failed wheat harvest in Ontario
3. The closing of the fur trade
4. The stock market crash ✓ Correct answer

Why: The 1929 stock market crash led to the Great Depression, known as the 'Dirty Thirties'.

1. 7%
2. 15%
3. 27% ✓ Correct answer
4. 50%

Why: Unemployment reached 27% in 1933 and many businesses were wiped out.

1. 1867
2. 1919
3. 1934 ✓ Correct answer
4. 1945

Why: The Bank of Canada, a central bank to manage the money supply and stabilize the financial system, was created in 1934.

1. Hungarians fleeing communism
2. Vietnamese boat people
3. Jews trying to flee Nazi Germany ✓ Correct answer
4. Ukrainians fleeing famine

Why: Immigration dropped in the 1930s and many refugees were turned away, including Jews fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939.

1. The bombing of Pearl Harbor
2. Germany's attack on Hong Kong
3. The stock market crash
4. Hitler's invasion of Poland ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Second World War began in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland and went on to conquer much of Europe.

1. About 100,000
2. About 600,000
3. More than one million ✓ Correct answer
4. About 44,000

Why: More than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in the Second World War.

1. 4,400
2. 60,000
3. 44,000 ✓ Correct answer
4. 110,000

Why: About 44,000 Canadians were killed in the Second World War.

1. Dieppe
2. Hong Kong ✓ Correct answer
3. Normandy
4. The Aleutian Islands

Why: Canadians suffered losses in the unsuccessful defence of Hong Kong from attack by Japan in 1941.

1. Vimy
2. Amiens
3. Dieppe ✓ Correct answer
4. Cambrai

Why: The 1942 raid on Dieppe on the coast of France failed, with heavy Canadian losses.

1. 130,000 ✓ Correct answer
2. 13,000
3. 44,000
4. 1 million

Why: 130,000 Allied air crew were trained in Canada under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

1. The Battle of Britain
2. The Battle of the Atlantic ✓ Correct answer
3. The Battle of Amiens
4. The Battle of Lucknow

Why: The Royal Canadian Navy fought in the Battle of the Atlantic, protecting merchant ships against German submarines.

1. Largest
2. Third largest ✓ Correct answer
3. Second largest
4. Tenth largest

Why: By the end of the war, the Royal Canadian Navy was the third largest in the world.

1. Omaha Beach
2. Gold Beach
3. Juno Beach ✓ Correct answer
4. Dieppe Beach

Why: On D-Day, 15,000 Canadian troops stormed and captured Juno Beach from the German army.

1. About one in ten ✓ Correct answer
2. About one in two
3. About one in four
4. About one in a hundred

Why: About one in ten Allied soldiers on D-Day was Canadian.

1. Poland
2. The Netherlands ✓ Correct answer
3. Norway
4. Greece

Why: The Canadian Army liberated Italy in 1943–1944 and the Netherlands in 1944–1945.

1. May 8, 1945 ✓ Correct answer
2. June 6, 1944
3. August 14, 1945
4. November 11, 1945

Why: Canadians helped force the German surrender of May 8, 1945, ending six years of war in Europe.

1. May 8, 1945
2. June 6, 1944
3. December 7, 1941
4. August 14, 1945 ✓ Correct answer

Why: Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945, the end of four years of war in the Pacific.

1. 1988 ✓ Correct answer
2. 1948
3. 1960
4. 2006

Why: Japanese Canadians were forcibly relocated and their property sold without compensation; the government apologized and compensated victims in 1988.