Answers: Do you know Canada?

Here are the answers to the Do you know Canada? Quiz!

How well did you do?

1. Which animal is an official emblem of Canada?
Answer: The beaver is an official emblem of Canada. The beaver attained official status as an emblem of Canada when an “act to provide for the recognition of the beaver (castor canadensis) as a symbol of the sovereignty of Canada” received Royal Assent on March 24, 1975. The beaver was nearly brought to the point of extinction by the fur trade. Today, beaver pelts are a rare commodity, but naked beaver can be seen on display in variety of establishments in Toronto.

2. How many provinces and territories are there in Canada? Name them all (and their capital cities).
Answer: Thirteen
Provinces (from east to west, roughly)
—Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s)
—Nova Scotia (Halifax)
—Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown)
—New Brunswick (Fredericton)
—Québec (Québec City)
—Ontario (Toronto)
—Manitoba (Winnipeg)
—Saskatchewan (Regina)
—Alberta (Edmonton)
—British Columbia (Victoria)

Territories (from east to west, roughly)
—Nunavut (Iqaluit), formerly part of the Northwest Territories
—Northwest Territories (Yellowknife)
—Yukon (Whitehorse)
Stupid Fact: In the “Canadian Road Trip” episode of “That ’70s Show”, look closely and you’ll see Nunavut (located in the north-east of Canada). Nunavut was created on April 1, 1999, so this new map couldn’t have existed in the 1970s.

3. When did “O Canada” become the national anthem?
Answer: “O Canada” was proclaimed Canada’s national anthem on July 1, 1980. However, it was sung for the first time over 100 years earlier, on June 24, 1880.
Stupid Fact: In the “Canadian Road Trip” episode of “That ’70s Show”, they all sing “Oh Canada!”, but they sang the “wrong” lyrics. When the proclamation was made in 1980, the lyrics were changed slightly from what they would have sung in the 70s!

4. Who composed the music for “O Canada”?
Answer: Calixa Lavallée composed the music for “O Canada”. Lavallée made a number of drafts before the tune we know was greeted with enthusiasm by his musical friends. It is said that in the excitement of his success, Lavallée rushed to show his music to the Lieutenant Governor without even stopping to sign the manuscript.

5. How many designs did the 1964 Parliamentary Committee review before choosing the maple leaf design for Canada’s flag?
Answer: The 1964 Parliamentary Committee reviewed 2,000 designs before choosing the maple leaf for Canada’s flag. Early 1964, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson informed the House of Commons that the government wished to adopt a distinctive national flag. As a result, a Senate and House of Commons Committee was formed and submissions were called for. Thousands of Canadians responded with flag designs of their own, using everything from beavers munching on birch trees to the northern lights shining over the Arctic Ocean to represent the country.

6. On what day was the maple leaf flag first raised on Parliament Hill?
Answer: The maple leaf flag was raised for the first time at noon, February 15, 1965, during special ceremonies on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Those ceremonies were replayed countless times across the country that day as Canadians gathered together in small towns and villages and in city neighbourhoods to celebrate a flag that was of their own making and uniquely Canadian.

7. The maple leaf is a prominent Canadian symbol. On what coin does it appear?
Answer: The maple leaf appears on the penny (one-cent coin). Between 1876 and 1901, the maple leaf appeared on all Canadian coins. The modern one-cent piece has two maple leaves on a common twig, a design that has gone almost unchanged since 1937. (And apparently it is not anatomically correct!)

8. What are Canada’s official colours?
Answer: White and red are Canada’s official colours. Red and white were approved as Canada’s official colours in the proclamation of the Royal Arms of Canada in 1921 by King George V.

9. What is the origin of the name “Canada”?
Answer: The origin of the name “Canada” is Huron-Iroquois. “Kanata” was the Huron-Iroquois word for “village” or “settlement”. Desiring another name, Jacques Cartier used “Canada” to refer to the site of present day Québec City. The name was later applied to a much larger area and at the time of Confederation, the new country assumed the name of Canada.

10. What are the animal figures that stand on either side of the shield on the coat of Arms of Canada?
Answer: A lion and a unicorn stand on the sides of the shield on the arms of Canada. The lion on the shield’s right holds a gold-pointed silver lance from which flies the Royal Union flag. The unicorn holds a lance flying a banner of royalist France. The banners represent the two principal founding nations that had established Canada’s enduring laws and customs.