Canada By the Numbers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ten provinces and three territories

In 1867, Canada became the first Dominion in the British Empire, with its own government, comprised of an elected House of Commons and an appointed Senate. At that time, Canada had only four provinces - New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec. Manitoba entered confederation in 1870, followed by Prince Edward Island in 1873, British Columbia in 1876, Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905, and Newfoundland (which included Labrador) in 1949 (Newfoundland's name was changed to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001).

The Northwest Territories entered confederation in 1870, and Yukon in 1898. Nunavut was separated from NWT in 1999, becoming Canada's newest territory. Apart from Prince Edward Island, all the rest of Canada west and north of Ontario was known as the Northwest Territories. Until it voted in favour of joining the Canadian confederation, Newfoundland and Labrador was a British colony.

Answer: Fourteen million

The 1951 census was the first to include the population of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which became part of Canada in 1949. It should be noted that Canada's aboriginal people were not included in the census until 1971. There are three distinct groups of aboriginal peoples: First Nations peoples, Metis (European-First Nations mix) and Inuit, and they comprise approximately 3.8% of the Canadian population.

Answer: Two

In 1969, the Official Languages Act proclaimed that English and French were Canada's official languages, recognizing the contributions of the two European founding nations. Federal government employees who are in contact with the public are required to speak both languages, as are officers in all branches of the armed forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

However, because the Canadian population includes immigrants from virtually every country in the world, it doesn't matter which language you speak, you can find someone to talk to.

Answer: Twenty

With the exception of the prairies and the rolling landscape of Ontario, Canada has mountain ranges from coast to coast to coast. The best known, of course, are the Rockies in Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon, and the Coastal Range that provides such a beautiful frame for Vancouver.

Answer: Three million

Of Canada's approximately three million lakes, over thirty-one thousand of them have a surface area of three kilometres or more. There are more than 100,000 lakes in my home province and many of them have been named for Manitoba men and women who served in the Canadian armed forces and died in the service of their country.

Answer: 9, 984, 670

From coast to coast to coast, mainland Canada and the islands that are part of Canada cover nine million, nine hundred and eighty-four thousand, and six hundred and seventy square kilometres (if you don't do metric, that's three million. Two of the provinces are islands - the Newfoundland part of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island, and several islands form part of British Columbia, which is a seaboard province. Nova Scotia us surrounded on three sides by the sea.

Answer: 891,163

Of the 38 largest (in surface measurement) lakes in the world, seven of them are entirely in Canada (Great Slave Lake, ranked #9, Lake Winnipeg #11, Lake Athabasca #20, Reindeer Lake #23, Lake Winnipegosis #27, Lake Nipigon #32 and Lake Manitoba #33). The five Great Lakes straddle the Canada/US border (some geographers maintain that there are only four Great Lakes, since Huron and Michigan are actually one lake, and it is ranked that way as #2, with Superior at #3, Erie at #10 and Ontario at #12). Lake of the Woods, which is ranked at #37, also lies on the Canada/US border, although the greater part of it is in Canada.

The number of rivers in Canada is estimated to be two and one quarter million.

They may have an awful lot of coffee in Brazil, but we have an awful lot of water in Canada!

PS - While I was researching the material for this quiz, I ran across a fellow named Alexander de Buford. In 1948 he set out to travel as many of Canada's waterways as he possibly could. I have no idea how long it took him, but he is said to have travelled 250,000 rivers and several hundred lakes before giving up (no doubt because his arms were tired from all that rowing).

Answer: 40%

Only about 5% of the land in Canada is suitable for farming crops, which gives you a rough idea of the size of this country, considering that Canada is one of the major wheat and deciduous fruit exporters in the world! Some 70% of Canadians live within 150 km of the Canada/US border, which leaves vast areas that are very sparsely populated. Nearly half of Canada's land mass is forested, which is a good thing because Canada exports a lot of lumber to the rest of the world.

The Arrogant Worms, one of my favourite singing groups, wrote a song about Canada, the refrain of which is "We've got rocks and trees, and trees and rocks, and rocks and trees, and trees and rocks, and rocks and trees, and trees and rocks, and WATER!" How true.

Answer: 202,080

Canada stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north. There's also the largest bay in the world, Hudson Bay, which has shore line in Manitoba, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec and western Labrador, and the island provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador (the Newfoundland part is an island), and Prince Edward Island in the east, and Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and Haida Gwai off the coast of British Columbia, as well as many smaller islands in east and west, north and south.

Answer: Fourteen

The fourteen capital cities are Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and the provincial and territorial capitals - Victoria (B.C.), Edmonton (Alberta), Regina (Saskatchewan), Winnipeg (Manitoba), Toronto (Ontario), Quebec City (P.Q.), Fredericton (New Brunswick), Charlottetown (P.E.I.), Halifax (Nova Scotia), St. John's (Newfoundland and Labrador), Whitehorse (Yukon), Yellowknife (NWT) and Iqaluit (Nunavut).