Canadian Connections Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canadian Artists

Tom Thomson (1877-1917) was active as an artist for a remarkably short time, considering the volume of art that he produced, consisting of several hundred oil sketches on wood and about 50 large canvases. Born and raised in rural Ontario, his subjects were almost entirely landscapes of Northern Ontario scenes.

Answer: Canadian Artists

Millie Emily Carr (1871-1945) was born and died in Victoria, British Columbia, but in between studied art in the USA and Europe. Most of her paintings are of the Pacific northwest, including landscapes and paintings honouring the indigenous peoples of the region.

She also wrote a number of books, mostly about life in the province. She has been hailed as a Canadian icon by "The Canadian Encyclopaedia".

Answer: Canadian Artists

Norval Morrisseau (1932-2007) was a self-taught indigenous artist who founded the Woodlands School of painting. Born in Beardmore, Ontario, he was raised by his grandparents, following an Anishnaabe tradition. Also known as Copper Thunderbird, he was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1978.

Answer: Canadian Artists

David Alexander "Alex" Colville (1920-2013) was born in Toronto, Ontario and died in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. During WWII he joined the Canadian army, and because he had fine arts training, became an official war artist in May 1944. After the war he became involved in the development of what is known as the Maritime Realism school of painting.

His works include "Horse and Train" and "To Prince Edward Island". He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1982.

Answer: Canadian Authors

(William) Robertson Davies (1913-1995) was a playwright, novelist and professor, amongst other things. He had a part in the creation of the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario in the 1950s, and was involved with the newspaper the Peterborough Examiner, as editor or publisher during the '40s through the '60s.

His novels include "The Manticore" and "Fifth Business". He was a Companion of the Order of Canada, and had a park in Toronto named after him in 2007.

Answer: Canadian Authors

Jean Margaret Wemyss (1926-1987) was born in Neepawa, Manitoba and died in Lakefield, Ontario. Her marriage to engineer Jack Laurence took her to Europe and Africa, giving her material for some of her writings. She kept the surname Laurence even after their divorce in 1969.

She served as writer in residence at the University of Toronto for part of the 1970s, then moved to Lakefield, near Peterborough, and served as Chancellor of Trent University 1981-83. She was a Companion of the Order of Canada, and her novels include "The Diviners" and "The Stone Angel".

Answer: Canadian Authors

Yann Martel was born in 1963 in Spain, to French-Canadian parents who were studying at the University of Salamanca. He attended Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, after being brought up mostly overseas whilst his parents served in Canada's foreign service.

His novel "Life of Pi" won the Man Booker Prize in 2002. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada in November 2022.

Answer: Canadian Authors

Susanna Moodie, nee Strickland, was born in England in 1803, and died in Toronto, Ontario in 1885. During those 80+ years she moved with her retired British army officer husband, John Dunbar Moodie, to what was then Upper Canada (now Ontario) and proceeded to write about her experiences as a settler there.

Her best known work is the memoir "Roughing It in the Bush", but she also wrote children's books, novels and poetry.

Answer: Canadian Armed Forces

Chris Austin Hadfield who was born in Sarnia, Ontario in 1959, knew from a young age that he wanted to be an astronaut and set about doing what was necessary to make that dream come true. As a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, he earned an engineering degree at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, and went on from there to eventually become a test pilot.

In 1992 he was selected for the Canadian astronaut program, and he made his first trip into space in 1995, visiting the Russian space station, Mir, the only Canadian ever to do so. In 2001, during a mission on the International Space Station (ISS) he became the first Canadian to make a spacewalk. From December 2012 to May 2013 he was again aboard the ISS, serving as its first Canadian commander from March until May 2013. He has since authored memoirs and even novels based on his experiences.

Answer: Canadian Armed Forces

Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard (1980-2006) was a captain in the Canadian armed forces when she was killed in action in Afghanistan, whilst acting as a forward observation officer for the artillery, attached to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). She was the first female Canadian soldier to be killed in combat.

Answer: Canadian Armed Forces

General Sir Arthur William Currie, GCMG, KCB was born in 1875 in Strathroy, Ontario and died in Montreal in 1933. During the First World War he commanded the Canadian Corps from June 1917 until 1919, the only Canadian officer to hold that post during the war. Under his command the corps conducted a number of victorious campaigns, and he came to be regarded as one of the best leaders of the conflict.

Answer: Canadian Armed Forces

Romeo Antonius Dallaire was born in 1946, and graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario in 1970. His most famous deployment was as the force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda, in 1994, before and during the genocide in that country, which he tried unsuccessfully to stop.

He subsequently became involved in a number of humanitarian causes, including attempting to eradicate the use of child soldiers in warfare. He has also served as a Canadian senator, and has written about his experiences.

Answer: Canadian Actors

Margaret Yvonne Middleton (1922-2007) was born in Vancouver, BC and used the name Yvonne De Carlo as her stage name. She had a long career in Hollywood movies, but might be best remembered as Lily Munster in the 'sixties TV program "The Munsters" and movie spinoffs from the series.

Answer: Canadian Actors

Yannick Bisson was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1969 and has been entertaining us as Detective William Murdoch of the Toronto Constabulary since 2008 in the Canadian series "Murdoch Mysteries". His first role was as a young hockey player in the TV movie "Hockey Night" (1984) and he was a regular cast member of "Sue Thomas: FB Eye" (2002-2005).

Answer: Canadian Actors

Raymond Massey (1896-1983) came from a prominent Canadian family who were well known for making farm implements and tractors. His brother Vincent became the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada in the 1950s. After serving in WWI, Raymond had a successful career in Hollywood, spanning several decades and including an Oscar nomination for playing Abraham Lincoln in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" (1940).

Answer: Canadian Actors

Known as "America's Sweetheart", Mary Pickford (1892-1979) was born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto, Ontario and started her acting career as a child, on stage, moving into film in the silent era, and becoming one of the founders of United Artists in 1919, along with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. She won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in "Coquette" (1929).