Canada trivia: 46 questions and answers

Ottawa. Ottawa, on the Ottawa River in Ontario, was chosen as the capital by Queen Victoria in 1857. Toronto is the largest city.

English and French. English and French have equal status at the federal level under the Official Languages Act of 1969. Nunavut also recognises the Inuit language, but only at the territorial level.

Mount Logan. Mount Logan in Yukon, 5,959 m high, is the highest in Canada and the second-highest peak in North America after Denali. Mount Royal is the hill in the middle of Montreal.

True. True. Canada covers about 9.98 million km², second only to Russia.

Village or settlement. Village or settlement. Iroquoian people near today's Quebec City used the word in 1535, and Jacques Cartier began to use 'Canada' for the whole region.

True. True. Wolfe died on the battlefield and Montcalm the next morning. The battle outside Quebec City lasted only about an hour.

Louis Riel. Louis Riel led the Métis provisional government, and the negotiations that followed produced the Manitoba Act of 1870.

True. True. The Canadian Corps captured the ridge in northern France between 9 and 12 April 1917, and the battle became a symbol of national pride.

False. False. The founding provinces were Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Newfoundland joined on 31 March 1949 as the tenth and most recent province.

No won with about 50.6 percent. No won with about 50.6 percent against 49.4 percent for Yes, on a record turnout of about 93.5 percent. In the first referendum, in 1980, No had won by 59.6 to 40.4 percent.

The residential school system for Indigenous children. It examined the residential school system for Indigenous children, which about 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children attended. It concluded that the system was a cultural genocide and made 94 Calls to Action.

French fries, cheese curds and gravy. French fries, cheese curds and gravy. The dish comes from rural Quebec in the late 1950s, and the fresh curds squeak when you bite them.

About seven in ten litres. About seven in ten litres: Quebec produces on average about 72 percent of the world's maple syrup, and in 2025 it made about 90 percent of Canada's.

Clamato, a tomato and clam juice. Clamato, a tomato and clam juice, with hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce, in a glass rimmed with celery salt. Walter Chell created it at the Calgary Inn.

Hot, thick maple syrup is poured onto clean snow. Hot, thick maple syrup is poured onto clean snow, where it firms up into a chewy toffee that you roll up on a wooden stick. It is a sugar shack treat in spring.

True. True. It is part of the Christmas Eve réveillon and the New Year's Eve meal. Its name comes from the dish it was baked in.

True. True. Some bakers add raisins or pecans and others would never. The earliest known Canadian recipe was printed in Barrie, Ontario, in 1900.

The second Monday of October. The second Monday of October, fixed in 1957. The fourth Thursday of November is Thanksgiving in the United States, and 1 July is Canada Day.

Montreal. Montreal is the only Canadian city to have hosted the Summer Olympics. Calgary (1988) and Vancouver (2010) hosted the Winter Olympics.

False. False. Toronto is the largest city and the capital of Ontario, but the capital of Canada is Ottawa.

553 m. 553 m (553.3 m to be exact). It was the tallest free-standing structure in the world from its completion until 2007, when the 828 m Burj Khalifa overtook it.

True. True. It was listed in 2007. The canal opened in 1832, and in winter part of it becomes the Rideau Canal Skateway.

Horseshoe Falls. Horseshoe Falls, the largest of the three, about 57 m high. It straddles the border. The American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are in the United States.

True. True. It began as a reserve around hot springs found by railway workers in 1883, and today it is part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site.

Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal. Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal, sent in Morse code from Cornwall in England.

Bluenose. Bluenose was built at the Smith and Rhuland shipyard in Lunenburg, a World Heritage town since 1995. The Matthew was John Cabot's ship, and the Nonsuch's fur-trading voyage of 1668 led to the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company.

About 243,000 km. About 243,000 km (243,042 km), according to Natural Resources Canada. Its coasts face three oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic.

Basketball. Basketball. Naismith, born in Almonte, Ontario, created it at a YMCA school in Springfield, Massachusetts, with two peach baskets as goals.

True. True. Frederick Banting and John Macleod received the Nobel Prize for it in 1923, and Banting shared his prize money with Charles Best.

Denmark. Denmark. The island lies between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and the long friendly quarrel over it was called the 'Whisky War'.

False. False. Canada stopped distributing the penny on 4 February 2013, and cash totals are now rounded to the nearest 5 cents.

11. 11. Wind tunnel tests showed that an 11-pointed leaf blurred the least when the flag flaps in a strong wind.

A one-dollar coin. A one-dollar coin, named after the loon, a water bird, shown on it. The two-dollar coin is the toonie.

A knitted winter hat. A knitted winter hat. The word came into Canadian English from Canadian French, where it is spelled tuque.

A coffee with two creams and two sugars. A coffee with two creams and two sugars. The word is so common that it is a typically Canadian piece of vocabulary.

True. True. Much of the power there comes from hydroelectric dams, so 'hydro' came to mean the electricity supply.

Bienvenue. Bienvenue. In Quebec it is used for 'You're welcome', as well as 'Welcome'. 'Santé!' means 'Cheers!'

Lunch, the midday meal. Lunch, the midday meal. In Quebec, le déjeuner is breakfast, le dîner is lunch and le souper is the evening meal.

True. True. It means 'Have a good day', and in Quebec people often say it when leaving, much like 'Good day' in English.

Parlez-vous anglais?. Parlez-vous anglais? It is polite to say 'Bonjour' first. The others mean 'Where are the toilets?', 'How much is it?' and 'I would like a coffee.'

911. 911, the same as in the United States. 999 is used in the United Kingdom, 000 in Australia and 111 in New Zealand.

15 to 20 percent of the bill before tax. 15 to 20 percent of the bill before tax. Card machines usually suggest amounts such as 15, 18 or 20 percent.

It is added at the till, on top of the shelf price. It is added at the till, on top of the shelf price: the federal GST of 5 percent, plus provincial tax, or one combined HST of 13 to 15 percent in some provinces.

False. False. Right turns on red are not allowed anywhere on the Island of Montreal, although they are allowed after a full stop in most of Canada.

100 m. 100 m, about ten bus lengths, for bears, wolves, cougars and coyotes. For elk, deer, sheep and moose it is at least 30 m.

False. False. US citizens do not need an eTA, but most other visitors who do not need a visa must get one online before flying. As of 2026 it costs 7 Canadian dollars.