Who We Are

Question 1

How is Canada known around the world?

Answer 1

Canada is known around the world as a strong and free country.

Question 2

What does it mean to say: “We have inherited the oldest continuous constitutional tradition in the world.”

Answer 2

We are the only constitutional monarchy in North America.

Question 3

Fill in the blanks:

Our institutions uphold a commitment to ____, ____, and ____, a key phrase in Canada’s original constitutional document in 1867, the ____.

Answer 3

Our institutions uphold a commitment to Peace, Order, and Good Government, a key phrase in Canada’s original constitutional document in 1867, the British North America Act.

Question 4

Poets and songwriters have hailed Canada as the ____.

Answer 4

Great Dominion

Question 5

Who are Canada’s three founding peoples?

Answer 5

Aboriginal, French and British.

Question 6

Where were the ancestors of Aboriginal peoples believed to have migrated from many thousands of years ago?

Answer 6

Asia.

They were well established here long before explorers from Europe first came to North America.

Question 7

From the ____ until the ____, the federal government placed many ____ children in ____ to educate and assimilate them into mainstream Canadian culture.

Bonus point: when did Ottawa formally apologize to the formal students?

Answer 7

From the 1800s until the 1980s, the federal government placed many Aboriginal children in residential schools to educate and assimilate them into mainstream Canadian culture.

In 2008.

Question 8

The term Aboriginal peoples refers to three distinct groups, what are they?

Answer 8

1. Indian refers to all Aboriginal people who are not Inuit or Métis.
2. The Inuit, which means “the people” in the Inuktitut language, live in small, scattered communities across the Arctic.
3. The Métis are a distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry, the majority of whom live in the Prairie provinces.

Question 9

What does it mean to be Indian?

Answer 9

• Indian refers to all Aboriginal people who are not Inuit or Métis.
• In the 1970s, the term First Nations began to be used.
• Today, about half of First Nations people live on reserve land in about 600 communities while the other half live off-reserve, mainly in urban centres.

Question 10

What does it mean to be Inuit?

Answer 10

• Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language.
• They live in small, scattered communities across the Arctic.
• Their knowledge of the land, sea and wildlife enabled them to adapt to one of the harshest environments on earth.

Question 11

What does it mean to be Métis?

Answer 11

• The Métis are a distinct people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry.
• The majority of whom live in the Prairie provinces.
• They come from both French- and English-speaking backgrounds.
• They speak their own dialect, Michif.

Question 12

What percentages are these Aboriginal groups made up of?

First Nations
Métis
Inuit

Answer 12

First Nations: 65%
Métis: 30%
Inuit: 4%

Question 13

Who said the following?

Immigrant groups: “should retain their individuality and each make its contribution to the national character.” Each could learn “from the other, and … while they cherish their own special loyalties and traditions, they cherish not less that new loyalty and tradition which springs from their union”

Answer 13

The 15th Governor General, John Buchan, the 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, was a popular Governor General of Canada (1935-40).

Question 14

Canadian society today stems largely from the ____-speaking and ____-speaking ____ civilizations that were brought here from ____ by settlers.

Answer 14

Canadian society today stems largely from the English-speaking and French-speaking Christian civilizations that were brought here from Europe by settlers.

Question 15

What are Canada’s official languages?

How many speakers of each are there?

Answer 15

English (Anglophones): 18 million

French (Francophones): 7 million

Question 16

Which province within Canada is fully billingual?

Answer 16

New Brunswick

Question 17

Who are the Acadians?

Answer 17

The Acadians are the descendants of French colonists who began settling in what are now the Maritime provinces in 1604.

Question 18

What happened during the “Great Upheaval”?

Answer 18

Between 1755 and 1763, during the war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds of the Acadians were deported from their homeland. Despite this ordeal, known as the “Great Upheaval,” the Acadians survived and maintained their unique identity.

Question 19

What are Quebecers?

Answer 19

Quebecers are the people of Quebec, the vast majority French-speaking.

Most are descendants of 8,500 French settlers from the 1600s and 1700s and maintain a unique identity, culture and language.

Question 20

The House of Commons recognized in ____ that the Quebecois form a nation within a united Canada.

Answer 20

2006

Question 21

The basic way of life in English-speaking areas was established by hundreds of thousands of ____, ____, ____ and ____ settlers, soldiers and migrants from the 1600s to the 20th century.

Answer 21

The basic way of life in English-speaking areas was established by hundreds of thousands of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish settlers, soldiers and migrants from the 1600s to the 20th century.

Question 22

Why is Canada often referred to as a land of immigrants?

Answer 22

Over the past 200 years, millions of newcomers have helped to build and defend our way of life.

Question 23

Name some of the ethnic and religious groups who live and work in peace as proud Canadians.

Answer 23

Ethnic: The largest groups are the English, French, Scottish, Irish, German, Italian, Chinese, Aboriginal, Ukrainian, Dutch, South Asian and Scandinavian.

Religious: The great majority of Canadians identify as Christians. The largest religious affiliation is Catholic, followed by various Protestant churches. The numbers of Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and members of other religions, as well as people who state “no religion” are also growing.

Question 24

What other languages are spoken in Canada?

Answer 24

Chinese languages are the second most-spoken at home, after English, in two of Canada’s biggest cities.

In Vancouver, 13% of the population speak Chinese languages at home; in Toronto, the number is 7%.