Free Discover Canada study guide practice: 20 questions; the real Canadian citizenship test has 20 questions and you need 15 right, per IRCC. How many can you get wrong?
Canada's History
By the end of the Second World War, how did Canada's navy rank in size?
Keyboard: A to D or 1 to 4 picks an answer. Enter moves on.
Canada's History: questions and answers from Discover Canada
Canada's History is part 3 of Discover Canada, the Canadian citizenship test study guide. Some people call the Canadian citizenship test the Discover Canada test, because its questions come from this guide.
Answers and explanations (text version)
All 20 questions in this practice set, each with the right answer, the reason, and where it is in Discover Canada. Try the questions first.
Question 1. By the end of the Second World War, how did Canada's navy rank in size?
- A. The biggest navy of all
- B. Tenth-largest in the world
- C. Smallest of the Allies
- D. Third-largest in the world
Answer: D. Third-largest in the world
Canada ended the war with the third-largest navy in the world.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (The Second World War)
Question 2. About how many Métis lived at Red River in 1869?
- A. About 1,200
- B. About 12,000
- C. About 40,000
- D. About 120,000
Answer: B. About 12,000
When Canada took over the northwest, nobody asked the 12,000 Métis living along the Red River.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Challenge in the West)
Question 3. In 1690, which French leader would not give Quebec up to the English?
- A. Count Frontenac
- B. The Marquis de Montcalm
- C. Samuel de Champlain
- D. Jean Talon
Answer: A. Count Frontenac
In 1690 Count Frontenac would not hand Quebec over to the English.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Royal New France)
Question 4. Which two provinces were created in 1905?
- A. Alberta and Saskatchewan
- B. Manitoba and British Columbia
- C. Alberta and Manitoba
- D. Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Answer: A. Alberta and Saskatchewan
Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Expansion of the Dominion)
Question 5. After the British conquest, what did Great Britain rename the colony?
- A. The Province of Quebec
- B. Upper Canada
- C. The Province of Canada
- D. Acadia
Answer: A. The Province of Quebec
After the conquest, the British gave the colony a new name: the Province of Quebec.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (The Province of Quebec)
Question 6. In what year did Manitoba and the Northwest Territories join Canada?
- A. 1867
- B. 1870
- C. 1880
- D. 1898
Answer: B. 1870
Manitoba and the Northwest Territories became part of Canada in 1870.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Expansion of the Dominion)
Question 7. What nickname was given to nurses of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps?
- A. Bluebirds
- B. Bluenoses
- C. Snowbirds
- D. Mounties
Answer: A. Bluebirds
More than 3,000 nurses, called Bluebirds, served in the First World War.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Women Get the Vote)
Question 8. What inspired the term "Dominion" of Canada?
- A. A poem by Robert W. Service
- B. Psalm 72 in the Bible
- C. The motto of the Hudson's Bay Company
- D. A speech by Queen Victoria
Answer: B. Psalm 72 in the Bible
Tilley took the idea from Psalm 72 in the Bible.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Confederation)
Question 9. What event started the Great Depression?
- A. The end of the fur trade
- B. The 1929 stock market crash
- C. The Second World War
- D. The building of the CPR
Answer: B. The 1929 stock market crash
The Great Depression followed the crash of the stock market in 1929.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Between the Wars)
Question 10. When was the Bank of Canada created?
- A. 1832
- B. 1867
- C. 1934
- D. 1951
Answer: C. 1934
The Bank of Canada was created in 1934 as a central bank.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Between the Wars)
Question 11. Who worked for responsible government in Nova Scotia?
- A. Sir Leonard Tilley
- B. Sir Isaac Brock
- C. Louis Riel
- D. Joseph Howe
Answer: D. Joseph Howe
Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia, with La Fontaine and Baldwin in the Canadas, worked toward responsible government.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Responsible Government)
Question 12. Out of a population of eight million, how many Canadians served in the First World War?
- A. About 7,000
- B. About 60,000
- C. More than 600,000
- D. About 3 million
Answer: C. More than 600,000
More than 600,000 Canadians served, most of them volunteers.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (The First World War)
Question 13. True or false. In the 1920s, the British West Indies became part of Canada.
- A. True
- B. False
Answer: B. False
Some people wanted this in the 1920s, but it did not happen. Canada and the Commonwealth Caribbean still have close ties.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Expansion of the Dominion)
Question 14. In what year did the Battle of the Plains of Abraham take place?
- A. 1690
- B. 1759
- C. 1774
- D. 1812
Answer: B. 1759
The battle was fought at Québec City in 1759.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Struggle for a Continent)
Question 15. Who paid for the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway?
- A. The government of France
- B. British and American investors
- C. The Hudson's Bay Company alone
- D. The provinces of Ontario and Quebec
Answer: B. British and American investors
British and American investors financed the CPR, and European and Chinese workers built it.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (A Railway from Sea to Sea)
Question 16. Which reformer was in charge when responsible government began in the Canadas in 1849?
- A. Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
- B. Sir John A. Macdonald
- C. Lord Durham, the British official
- D. Joseph Howe of Nova Scotia
Answer: A. Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
La Fontaine became the first head of a responsible government in Canada, a role like a prime minister's.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Responsible Government)
Question 17. About how many Canadians were killed in the First World War?
- A. 10,000
- B. 44,000
- C. 60,000
- D. 170,000
Answer: C. 60,000
In the First World War, 60,000 Canadians were killed and 170,000 wounded.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (The First World War)
Question 18. By which decade was the name "Canada" appearing on maps?
- A. The 1490s
- B. The 1550s
- C. The 1700s
- D. The 1860s
Answer: B. The 1550s
The name Canada began to appear on maps by the 1550s.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Exploring a River, Naming Canada)
Question 19. After Confederation, who was the first Prime Minister from French Canada?
- A. Sir George-Étienne Cartier
- B. Sir Wilfrid Laurier
- C. Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine
- D. Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché
Answer: B. Sir Wilfrid Laurier
No French Canadian had been Prime Minister since Confederation until Laurier, who also promoted immigration to the West.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Moving Westward)
Question 20. In what year did the Yukon Territory become part of Canada?
- A. 1870
- B. 1880
- C. 1898
- D. 1905
Answer: C. 1898
The Yukon Territory was created in 1898, during the Gold Rush years.
In Discover Canada: Canada's History (Expansion of the Dominion)
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