Canada's History

The first 10 questions, with answers

Open a question to see the answer and the explanation.

1. 1. The name "Canada" comes from an Iroquoian word that Jacques Cartier heard on his voyages. What does the word "kanata" mean?

   • Village or settlement
   • Meeting place
   • Northern land
   • Great river

   Answer: Village or settlement. Cartier's guides used "kanata" for a village, and by the 1550s mapmakers were applying the name Canada to the whole region along the St. Lawrence.

2. 2. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain built a fortified settlement at the site of which present-day city?

   • Trois-Rivières
   • Québec City
   • Halifax
   • Montréal

   Answer: Québec City. Champlain's 1608 fort on the St. Lawrence grew into Québec City and anchored the French colony of New France.

3. 3. True or False: The Quebec Act of 1774 granted religious freedom to Roman Catholics and restored French civil law.

   • True
   • False

   Answer: True. The Quebec Act let Catholics hold public office and kept French civil law in place, which helped French Canadians preserve their identity under British rule.

4. 4. About how many United Empire Loyalists moved north into British North America after the American Revolution?

   • 120,000
   • 75,000
   • 40,000
   • 15,000

   Answer: 40,000. Roughly 40,000 Loyalists — including Black Loyalists and Mohawk allies — resettled in Nova Scotia and Quebec rather than live in the new American republic.

5. 5. During the War of 1812, which woman made a dangerous journey on foot in 1813 to warn British forces of a coming American attack?

   • Emily Stowe
   • Agnes Macphail
   • Thérèse Casgrain
   • Laura Secord

   Answer: Laura Secord. Laura Secord walked about 30 kilometres through the Niagara countryside to alert Lieutenant James FitzGibbon, and she is remembered as a Canadian heroine of the war.

6. 6. Which colony was the first in British North America to win full responsible government, in 1848?

   • Nova Scotia
   • New Brunswick
   • Prince Edward Island
   • Newfoundland

   Answer: Nova Scotia. Responsible government means ministers must keep the confidence of the elected assembly, and Nova Scotia achieved it first, with the Province of Canada following shortly after.

7. 7. True or False: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were among the four provinces that formed the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867.

   • True
   • False

   Answer: True. Confederation united Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick under the British North America Act, with Sir John A. Macdonald as the first Prime Minister.

8. 8. Louis Riel was a leader of which people during the Red River uprising and the later North-West resistance?

   • The Inuit
   • The Métis
   • The Loyalists
   • The Acadians

   Answer: The Métis. Riel spoke for the Métis of the Prairies, and negotiations following the Red River events led to Manitoba entering Confederation in 1870.

9. 9. In what year was the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia?

   • 1867
   • 1871
   • 1885
   • 1896

   Answer: 1885. The transcontinental railway, built largely by immigrant and Chinese labourers under harsh conditions, was finished in 1885 and bound the young country together.

10. 10. Which was the first province to give women the right to vote, in 1916?

    • Nova Scotia
    • Ontario
    • British Columbia
    • Manitoba

    Answer: Manitoba. Manitoba led the way in 1916, and most female citizens aged 21 and over gained the federal vote in 1918.

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