Citizenship Flashcards
What documents historically secure the freedoms of Canadians?
English common law, the civil code of France and the unwritten constitution that we have inherited from Great Britain. (And Magna Carta)
What freedoms are guaranteed to Candians?
Freedom of conscience and religion;
Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of speech and of the press;
Freedom of peaceful assembly; and
Freedom of association.
When was the Magna Carta signed?
1215
What year was the Canadian constitution amended to include the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
1982
What rights does the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantee?
Mobility Rights — Canadians can live and work anywhere in Canada, enter and leave the country freely, and apply for a passport.
Aboriginal Peoples’ Rights — The rights guaranteed in the Charter will not adversely affect any treaty or other rights or freedoms of Aboriginal peoples.
Official Language Rights and Minority Language Educational Rights — French and English have equal status in Parliament and throughout the government.
Multiculturalism —Canadians celebrate the gift of one another’s presence and work hard to respect pluralism and live in harmony.
What are your responsibilities as a citizen?
Obeying the law
Taking responsibility for oneself and one’s family — Getting a job, taking care of one’s family and working hard
Serving on a jury
Voting in elections
Helping others in the community
Protecting and enjoying our heritage and environment
Who are Canada’s three founding peoples?
Aboriginal, French and British.
Who were the first inhabitants of Canada and where did they migrate from?
Aboriginals, Asia
Aboriginal refers to what three groups of people?
“Indian”/first nations, inuit, métis
What does Inuit mean in Inuktitut?
the people
Who are the métis people?
mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry
Who was John Buchan?
a popular Governor General of Canada (he said: Immigrant groups “should retain their individuality and each make its contribution to the national character.”
Who are Acadians?
the descendants of French colonists who began settling in what are now the Maritime provinces in 1604
What was the “great upheaval”?
during the war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds of the Acadians were deported from their homeland
What year did the House of Commons recognize that the Quebecois form a nation within a united Canada?
2006
Who was Marjorie Turner-Bailey?
Olympian Marjorie Turner-Bailey of Nova Scotia is a descendant of black Loyalists
What is the settlement of l’Anse aux Meadows?
Settlement and heritage site where vikings arrived in Canada
What marked the beginning of “real” exploration in Canada?
European exploration began in earnest in 1497 with the expedition of John Cabot, who was the first to draw a map of Canada’s East Coast.
Who made three voyages across the Atlantic, claiming the land for King Francis I of France? (and named it after misunderstanding the Iroquoian word kanata, meaning “village.”)
Jacques Cartier
In what year was the first European settlement north of Florida established by French explorers Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain, first on St. Croix Island (in present-day Maine), then at Port-Royal, in Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia)
1604
In what year did Champlain build a fortress at what is now Québec City?
1608
Name three people that built a French fur trading Empire in North America that reached from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Jean Talon, Bishop Laval, and Count Frontenac
Who refused to surrender Quebec to the English in 1690, saying: “My only reply will be from the mouths of my cannons!”
Count Frontenac
Who was Sir Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester)?
Governor of Quebec, defended the rights of the Canadiens, defeated an American military invasion of Quebec in 1775,
In what year did the British defeated the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Québec City?
1759
What was the Quebec Act of 1774?
It allowed religious freedom for Catholics and permitted them to hold public office, a practice not then allowed in Britain. The Quebec Act restored French civil law while maintaining British criminal law.
Who were Loyalists in 1776 when the American Revolution began?
More than 40,000 people loyal to the Crown, called “Loyalists,” fled the oppression of the American Revolution to settle in Nova Scotia and Quebec
When and where was The first representative assembly elected?
Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1758
What did the The Constitutional Act of 1791 do?
divided the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada (later Ontario), which was mainly Loyalist, Protestant and English-speaking, and Lower Canada (later Quebec), heavily Catholic and French-speaking.
The Act also granted for the first time, legislative assemblies elected by the people. The name Canada also became official at this time and has been used ever since.
When did British Parliament ban slavery?
1833 abolished slavery throughout the Empire
When did the Montreal Stock exchange open?
1832
When did the United States invade Canada?
June 1812. By 1814, the American attempt to conquer Canada had failed
What were the Rebellions of 1837–38?
reformers in Upper and Lower Canada believed that progress toward full democracy was too slow. Some believed Canada should adopt American republican values or even try to join the United States. Failed armed rebellions occurred in 1837–38 in the area outside Montreal and in Toronto
What is responsible government?
the ministers of the Crown must have the support of a majority of the elected representatives in order to govern.
When were Upper and Lower Canada were united as the Province of Canada?
1840
Who were three reformers who worked with British governors toward responsible government?
Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine, Robert Baldwin, Joseph Howe
Who was the governor of Canada that introduced responsible government?
1848–49 the governor of United Canada, Lord Elgin
The first British North American colony to attain full responsible government was ______
Nova Scotia
Who was a champion of democracy and French language rights that became the first leader of a responsible government in the Canadas.
La Fontaine
Who are the Fathers of Confederation
representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada, with British support, who worked together to establish a new country
What provinces first formed the “Dominion of Canada”
Ontario and Quebec (formerly the province of Canada), together with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
The Dominion of Canada was officially born on what date?
July 1, 1867
Who suggested the term Dominion of Canada?
Sir Leonard Tilley: He was inspired by Psalm 72 in the Bible which refers to “dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.”
Who was canada’s first prime minister and in what year?
In 1867, Sir John Alexander Macdonald, a Father of Confederation, became Canada’s first Prime Minister
who was the key architect of Confederation from Quebec and helped negotiate the entry of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba and British Columbia into Canada?
Sir George-Étienne Cartier
Who was Louis Riel?
Riel is seen by many as a hero, a defender of Métis rights and the father of Manitoba. Leader of uprising to defend metis.
Why were the Royal Canadian Mounted Police founded?
After the first Métis uprising, Prime Minister Macdonald established the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1873 to pacify the West and assist in negotiations with the Indians. Regina became its headquarters.
What caused British Columbia to join Canada in 1871
Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Coast. On November 7, 1885, Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona), the Scottish-born director of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), drove the last spike.
first French-Canadian prime minister since Confederation and encouraged immigration to the West. His portrait is on the $5 bill.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Who is called Canada’s greatest soldier
General Sir Arthur Currie WWI
Who was the founder of women’s suffrage in Canada
Dr. Emily Stowe
Which province/year was the first to allow women to vote?
1916, Manitoba
When did federal government begin to allow women to vote?
1917
Who was the first female member of parliament (MP) ?
In 1921 Agnes Macphail
When did Quebec allow women to vote?
1940
What is Remembrance Day?
November 11: Remembrance Day. Canadians wear the red poppy and observe a moment of silence at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to honour the sacrifices of over a million brave men and women who have served
When was the discovery of oil in Alberta
1947
What year was employment insurance introduced?
1940
When were Canada and Quebec Pension Plans formed?
1965
Why was North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed
Response to Stalin and the cold war
When was Official Languages Act, which guarantees French and English services in the federal government across Canada introduced
1969
Aboriginal people were granted the vote in what year?
1960
Who were the artistic “Group of Seven”?
Founded in 1920, developed a style of painting to capture the rugged wilderness landscapes. Emily Carr
Who invented basketball?
Canadian James Naismith in 1891
What year did the Canadian Space Agency and Canadian astronauts begin participating in space exploration?
1989
Who invented the snowmobile?
Joseph-Armand Bombardier
Who invented the lightbulb and sold the patent to Ben Franklin?
Mathew Evans and Henry Woodward
Who was a pioneering brain surgeon at McGill University in Montreal, and was known as “the greatest living Canadian.”
Dr. Wilder Penfield
Name the three key facts about Canada’s system of government.
federal state, a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy
What document defines powers of federal and provincial government?
British North America Act, now known as the Constitution Act, 1867
What domains are the concern of federal goverment?
matters of national and international concern. These include defence, foreign policy, interprovincial trade and communications, currency, navigation, criminal law and citizenship.
The provinces are responsible for:
municipal government, education, health, natural resources, property and civil rights, and highways.
What two things do the federal government and the provinces share jurisdiction over ?
agriculture and immigration
What is the government institution in Ottawa that we elect representatives to?
House of Commons
In a parliamentary democracy, what does it mean to keep the confidence of the House?
Cabinet ministers are responsible to the elected representatives, which means they must retain the “confidence of the House” and have to resign if they are defeated in a non-confidence vote.
Name the three parts of parliament.
the Sovereign (Queen or King), the Senate and the House of Commons.
Provincial legislatures comprise
the Lieutenant Governor and the elected Assembly
In federal government, who selects the Cabinet ministers and is responsible for the operations and policy of the government
Prime Minister
________ is the representative chamber, made up of members of Parliament elected by the people, traditionally every four years.
House of commons
Senators are appointed by whom and serve for how long?
by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister and serve until age 75
Who is Canada’s Head of State?
hereditary Sovereign (Queen or King)
How many nations are we connected to through the commonwealth?
53
Who is the Head of Government
the Prime Minister
Who represents the sovereign in Canada, who appoints them, and how long do they hold the role?
governor general, appointed by king/queen, generally 5 years
Who represents the sovereign in each province and who appoints them?
Lieutenant Governor appointed by governor general
Who is the head of each provincial government?
premier
In the three territories, who represents the federal government like a premier and plays a ceremonial role.
the Commissioner
What are MPs?
Members of Parliament aka Members of the House of Commons
When are federal elections held?
the third Monday in October every four years following the most recent general election
How many electoral districts (ridings) does canada have?
308
What is an electoral district?
a geographical area represented by a member of Parliament (MP).
After an election, who becomes the Prime Minister?
the leader of the political party with the most seats in the House of Commons
What is a majority government?
If the party in power holds at least half of the seats in the House of Commons,
What are ministers of the Crown?
Cabinet ministers are responsible for running the federal government departments
Who makes up The Cabinet and what do they do?
The Prime Minister and the Cabinet ministers are called the Cabinet and they make important decisions about how the country is governed. They prepare the budget and propose most new laws. Their decisions can be questioned by all members of the House of Commons.
What are opposition parties?
All other parties that are not in power?
What is the Official Opposition or Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition?
The opposition party with the most members of the House of Commons
Who are the three major political parties currently represented in the House of Commons
the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, and the New Democratic Party
What year was the modern canadian flag introduced?
1965
When was the Official Languages Act passed?
1969
What is the highest honour available to Canadians and is awarded for the most conspicuous bravery, a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.
victorian cross
What are Canada’s three main types of industries?
service, manufacturing, natural resources
What are canada’s five regions?
The Atlantic Provinces
Central Canada
The Prairie Provinces
The West Coast
The Northern Territories
How many provinces and territories does Canada have?
Canada has ten provinces and three territories.
What makes up the Atlantic region?
Newfoundland and Labrador
Prince Edward Island
Nova Scotia
New Brunswick
What makes up central canada?
Quebec
Ontario
What makes up the prairie provinces?
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta
What makes up the west coast?
British Columbia
What makes up the north?
Nunavut
Northwest Territories
Yukon Territory
Capital of Newfoundland and Labrador
St. Johns
Capital of Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown
Capital of Nova Scotia
Halifax
Capital of New Brunswick
Fredericton
Capital of Manitoba
winnipeg
Capital of Saskatchewan
Regina
Capital of British Columbia
Victoria
Capital of Nunavut
Iqaluit
Capital of Northwest Territories
yellowknife
Capital of Yukon Territory
whitehorse
