The Story of Canada Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bering Strait

Historians believe that after the last glacial maximum (about 16,500 years ago), a small population of (at most) a few thousand made their way across the land bridge between present day Chukotka (in Russia) and Alaska. The bridge would have been approximately 1,000 kilometers wide, making the total area of the exposed land larger than the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta put together. Of course, as the glacial ices melted, the Bering Strait as we know it eventually covered the land bridge. Only some islands remain to point out the high features of the bridge-that-was.

Answer: L'Anse aux Meadows

Located at the tip of the Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula, L'Anse aux Meadows was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, and today boasts a partial reconstruction of what the site may have looked like a thousand years ago, along with costumed 'Viking' interpreters to guide you in your visit.

Answer: John Cabot

John Cabot, also known as Giovanni Caboto, was born ca. 1450 in either Castiglione Chiavarese in the Republic of Genoa or in Gaeta in the Kingdom of Naples. It is believed that John Cabot's first landing took place either at Cape Bonavista (Newfoundland) or Cape Breton (Nova Scotia), and he returned to Bristol to mount a second, better-funded expedition.

Henry VII supported an expedition of five ships and 300 men in early 1498. Unfortunately, Cabot encountered difficulties, and never returned to England (death ca. 1498-1500).

Answer: Québec City

Champlain set out to map as much of New France as he could, and in the process he made both friends and enemies of the local first nations people. He made treaties with the Wendat (called Huron by the French), Algonquin, Montagnais and the Etchemin, who in turn wanted his help in their feud with the Iroquois. It is believed that the long animosity between the Iroquois and the French stemmed from these arrangements and some early skirmishes on the expedition to what would one day be known as Lake Champlain (in Vermont).

Depicted here is an artist's rendition of Champlain landing at the future site of Québec City.

Answer: Beaver

The fur trade encompassed more than just beaver pelts, obviously, but the demand for beaver fur (for European fashion) was so high that the Hudson Bay used a 'made beaver' (cured and whole beaver pelt) as a monetary representation in its financial records. Other pelts and trade items were measured in MBs (Made Beavers).

Answer: The Plains of Abraham (Québec City)

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham began with the Siege of Québec, lasting from June 25th to September 13th. At last, General Wolfe enticed Montcalm to battle on the plains outside the walls of the city after a daring early morning assault up the cliff face (an unexpected direction).

Both Wolfe and Montcalm died from wounds during the subsequent battle, but it turned out to be a decisive victory for the British. The few French troops remaining in the fortifications held out for a few more days of siege following the battle, then surrendered on September 18th.

The Treaty of Paris (1763) resulted in France ceding nearly all of their claims in North America to the British.

Answer: The Treaty of Ghent (1814)

'The War of 1812' is actually a bit of a misnomer, as the war lasted from June of 1812 until February of 1815. That's right, the Treaty was signed in Ghent (Belgium) on December 24th, 1814, and it still took nearly two months for hostilities to officially cease.

The accompanying photo depicts the Battle of Lundy's Lane, also known as the Battle of Niagara Falls. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the conflict, with over 1,500 casualties, including 258 killed.

Answer: Prince Edward Island

Even though the 'Fathers of Confederation' (depicted here) had their first conference in Charlottetown, the colony of Prince Edward Island elected not to join Confederation immediately. The other conferences leading to Confederation were held in Québec City (October, 1864) and London, England (December, 1866).

The four original Canadian provinces, joining Confederation on July 1st, 1867, were Ontario (formerly Upper Canada and Canada West), Québec (formerly Lower Canada and Canada East), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Answer: Newfoundland (and Labrador)

After the first four formed the Confederation, the remaining provinces joined in the following sequence:

July 15th, 1870 - Manitoba
July 20th, 1871 - British Columbia
July 1st, 1873 - Prince Edward Island
September 1st, 1905 - Alberta & Saskatchewan
March 31st, 1949 - Newfoundland

(PS - Newfoundland became 'Newfoundland and Labrador' in 2001)

All Canadian land not expressly part of a colony was termed 'The Northwest Territories' at the time of Confederation. All of the western provinces were carved out of the NWT, and even some administrative divisions were split off into new territories.

The Yukon Territory was created on June 13th, 1898.
Nunavut was created on April 1st, 1999.

The Fathers of Confederation wanted to call Canada the 'Kingdom of Canada', but thought that it would aggravate our neighbours to the south. So, they settled on 'Dominion' instead, quoting a passage of scripture: "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." (Psalm 72:8)

Answer: February 15th, 1965

Since shortly after Confederation, a variant of the Canadian Red Ensign had been used as Canada's national flag. Essentially, it was a red flag with the British Union Jack in the upper left corner, and Canada's coat of arms on the field.

Following World War II, proposals for a new national emblem began surfacing, culminating in the 'Great Flag Debate' of 1964. It came down to two designs in the end, one by heraldist Alan Beddoe (with support by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson), and one by historian George Stanley. Stanley's design won, and Canadians have continued to celebrate Flag Day on February 15th every year since 1965.