Who We Are: Citizenship Test Practice Questions

1. The hunters
2. The people ✓ Correct answer
3. Children of the snow
4. Northern travelers

Why: Inuit means "the people" in the Inuktitut language. They inhabit the Arctic regions of Canada across Nunavut, NWT, Northern Quebec, and Labrador.

1. Aboriginal, French, and British ✓ Correct answer
2. American, British, and French
3. Spanish, Norse, and French
4. British, Dutch, and Indigenous

Why: Canada's three founding peoples are Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), French, and British.

1. A distinct people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry, primarily French and English ✓ Correct answer
2. The original inhabitants of the Arctic islands
3. Descendants of 17th-century Acadian fishermen in Nova Scotia
4. Indigenous peoples who signed numbered treaties in British Columbia

Why: The Métis are a distinct Indigenous people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry, possessing their own distinct dialect (Michif), culture, and historic traditions in the Canadian Prairies.

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

Why: New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada where English and French have equal status in the provincial legislature and civil institutions.

1. Constitutional monarchy ✓ Correct answer
2. Federal republic
3. Absolute monarchy
4. Parliamentary republic

Why: Canada is the only constitutional monarchy in North America.

1. The newest constitution in the Commonwealth
2. A tradition borrowed from the United States
3. One of the oldest continuous constitutional traditions in the world ✓ Correct answer
4. A tradition that began in 1982

Why: Canada has inherited one of the world’s oldest continuous constitutional traditions.

1. The Constitution Act, 1982
2. The British North America Act ✓ Correct answer
3. The Quebec Act
4. The Act of Union

Why: The British North America Act of 1867 was Canada’s original constitutional document.

1. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
2. Liberty, equality, fraternity
3. Strong and free from sea to sea
4. Peace, order and good government ✓ Correct answer

Why: Canada’s institutions uphold a commitment to Peace, Order and Good Government, a key phrase in the BNA Act of 1867.

1. The True North
2. The New World
3. The Northern Kingdom
4. The Great Dominion ✓ Correct answer

Why: Canadians’ prosperity in a rugged land led poets and songwriters to hail Canada as the “Great Dominion.”

1. Isolation, tradition and caution
2. Ordered liberty, enterprise, hard work and fair play ✓ Correct answer
3. Military strength and conquest
4. Central planning and state ownership

Why: A belief in ordered liberty, enterprise, hard work and fair play enabled Canadians to build a prosperous society.

1. Earl of Elgin
2. Marquess of Lorne
3. 1st Baron Tweedsmuir ✓ Correct answer
4. Lord Durham

Why: John Buchan, the 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, was a popular Governor General of Canada (1935–40).

1. John Buchan, Governor General ✓ Correct answer
2. Sir John A. Macdonald
3. Sir Wilfrid Laurier
4. Samuel de Champlain

Why: Governor General John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir) encouraged each group to keep its individuality while contributing to the national character.

1. Europe
2. Africa
3. Asia ✓ Correct answer
4. South America

Why: The ancestors of Aboriginal peoples are believed to have migrated from Asia many thousands of years ago.

1. Queen Victoria
2. King George III ✓ Correct answer
3. King Charles II
4. King Louis XIV

Why: The territorial rights of Aboriginal peoples were first guaranteed through the Royal Proclamation of 1763 by King George III.

1. 1608
2. 1791
3. 1867
4. 1763 ✓ Correct answer

Why: King George III’s Royal Proclamation of 1763 established the basis for negotiating treaties with newcomers.

1. Only in provincial laws
2. In municipal bylaws
3. In the Criminal Code
4. In the Canadian Constitution ✓ Correct answer

Why: Aboriginal and treaty rights are in the Canadian Constitution.

1. From 1900 to 1920
2. From the 1800s until the 1980s ✓ Correct answer
3. From 1867 to 1900
4. From 1950 to 2008

Why: From the 1800s until the 1980s, many Aboriginal children were placed in residential schools to educate and assimilate them; the schools were poorly funded and students suffered hardship and abuse.

1. 1982
2. 1999
3. 2008 ✓ Correct answer
4. 2015

Why: In 2008, Ottawa formally apologized to the former students of residential schools.

1. Indians (First Nations), Inuit and Métis ✓ Correct answer
2. Iroquois, Huron and Algonquin
3. Cree, Ojibway and Mohawk
4. Inuit, Acadians and Métis

Why: The term Aboriginal peoples refers to three distinct groups: Indians (First Nations), Inuit and Métis.

1. In the 1970s ✓ Correct answer
2. In the 1860s
3. In the 1930s
4. In the 2000s

Why: The term First Nations began to be used in the 1970s.

1. 60
2. 1,500
3. 600 ✓ Correct answer
4. 200

Why: About half of First Nations people live on reserve land in about 600 communities; the other half live off-reserve, mainly in urban centres.

1. Mainly in the Prairie provinces
2. Mainly in large southern cities
3. Along the St. Lawrence River
4. In small, scattered communities across the Arctic ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Inuit live in small, scattered communities across the Arctic.

1. Trade with Europeans
2. Moving south each winter
3. Farming wheat and corn
4. Their knowledge of the land, sea and wildlife ✓ Correct answer

Why: The Inuit’s knowledge of the land, sea and wildlife enabled them to adapt to one of the harshest environments on earth.

1. Descendants of French colonists in the Maritimes
2. A distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry ✓ Correct answer
3. An Arctic people who speak Inuktitut
4. Descendants of Loyalists from the United States

Why: The Métis are a distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry.

1. The Atlantic provinces
2. The Arctic
3. The Prairie provinces ✓ Correct answer
4. British Columbia

Why: The majority of Métis live in the Prairie provinces.

1. Michif ✓ Correct answer
2. Inuktitut
3. Gaelic
4. Chinook

Why: The Métis come from French- and English-speaking backgrounds and speak their own dialect, Michif.

1. 65% ✓ Correct answer
2. 30%
3. 4%
4. 50%

Why: About 65% of Aboriginal people are First Nations, 30% are Métis and 4% are Inuit.

1. 30%
2. 65%
3. 4% ✓ Correct answer
4. 15%

Why: About 4% of Aboriginal people are Inuit, compared with 65% First Nations and 30% Métis.

1. Only hunting and fishing
2. Agriculture, the environment, business and the arts ✓ Correct answer
3. Only military service
4. Only mining

Why: Today Aboriginal people enjoy renewed pride and confidence and have made significant achievements in agriculture, the environment, business and the arts.

1. Print money only in English
2. Hold elections in French only
3. Teach both languages in every school
4. Provide services in both languages ✓ Correct answer

Why: English and French are Canada’s official languages, and the federal government is required by law to provide services in both.

1. 7 million
2. 25 million
3. 12 million
4. 18 million ✓ Correct answer

Why: Today there are about 18 million Anglophones in Canada.

1. 1 million
2. 7 million ✓ Correct answer
3. 18 million
4. 3 million

Why: There are about 7 million Francophones; most live in Quebec.

1. Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.
2. Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland
3. Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba ✓ Correct answer
4. Yukon, Nunavut and the N.W.T.

Why: While most Francophones live in Quebec, one million live in Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba, with fewer in other provinces.

1. Descendants of French colonists who began settling in the Maritimes in 1604 ✓ Correct answer
2. Descendants of Scottish settlers in Nova Scotia
3. Descendants of Loyalists in Ontario
4. An Aboriginal people of the Maritimes

Why: The Acadians are descendants of French colonists who began settling in what are now the Maritime provinces in 1604.

1. The forced relocation of the Inuit
2. The Rebellions of 1837–38
3. The deportation of more than two-thirds of the Acadians from 1755 to 1763 ✓ Correct answer
4. The War of 1812

Why: Between 1755 and 1763, during war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds of the Acadians were deported — the Great Upheaval.

1. 85,000
2. 8,500 ✓ Correct answer
3. 850
4. 40,000

Why: Most Quebecers are descendants of 8,500 French settlers from the 1600s and 1700s.

1. That Quebec is an independent country
2. That French is the only official language
3. That Quebec is officially bilingual
4. That the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada ✓ Correct answer

Why: In 2006 the House of Commons recognized that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.

1. About 100,000, with a 50-year heritage
2. About five million, with a 400-year heritage
3. About two million, with a 100-year heritage
4. About one million, with a 250-year heritage ✓ Correct answer

Why: Quebec includes one million Anglo-Quebecers whose heritage stretches back about 250 years.

1. French, Spanish and Portuguese
2. English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish ✓ Correct answer
3. German, Dutch and Swedish
4. Italian, Greek and Polish

Why: Hundreds of thousands of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish settlers, soldiers and migrants came to Canada from the 1600s to the 20th century.

1. European countries
2. African countries
3. Asian countries ✓ Correct answer
4. South American countries

Why: Since the 1970s, most immigrants to Canada have come from Asian countries.

1. Chinese languages ✓ Correct answer
2. French
3. Punjabi
4. Italian

Why: Chinese languages are the second most-spoken at home after English in two of Canada’s biggest cities.

1. 13% ✓ Correct answer
2. 7%
3. 25%
4. 4%

Why: In Vancouver 13% of the population speak Chinese languages at home; in Toronto the figure is 7%.

1. 13%
2. 20%
3. 7% ✓ Correct answer
4. 2%

Why: In Toronto 7% of the population speak Chinese languages at home, compared with 13% in Vancouver.

1. Protestant
2. Catholic ✓ Correct answer
3. Muslim
4. Hindu

Why: The great majority of Canadians identify as Christians; the largest religious affiliation is Catholic, followed by various Protestant churches.

1. Protection only in some provinces
2. Equal rights except for marriage
3. No specific legal protection
4. Full protection and equal treatment under the law, including access to civil marriage ✓ Correct answer

Why: Gay and lesbian Canadians enjoy the full protection of and equal treatment under the law, including access to civil marriage.

1. Brazilian
2. Mexican
3. Egyptian
4. Ukrainian ✓ Correct answer

Why: The largest groups are the English, French, Scottish, Irish, German, Italian, Chinese, Aboriginal, Ukrainian, Dutch, South Asian and Scandinavian.