Citizenship · Quick reference

Quick reference

The dates, names, holidays, capitals and numbers from the chapters, regrouped as tables you can drill. We built these tables by hand from the official study guide, Discover Canada, and hand work slips. Before test day, read the guide itself: the test marks against it and nothing else.

01Dates the test asks about

Year	What happened
1497	John Cabot draws the first map of Canada's East Coast and claims the New Founde Land for England.
1534 to 1542	Jacques Cartier crosses the Atlantic three times and claims the land for King Francis I of France.
1604	Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain found the first European settlement north of Florida, on St. Croix Island then at Port-Royal in Acadia.
1608	Champlain builds a fortress at what is now Québec City.
1670	King Charles II grants the Hudson's Bay Company exclusive trading rights over the watershed draining into Hudson Bay.
1701	The French and the Iroquois make peace.
1758	The first representative assembly is elected in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1759	The British defeat the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, ending France's empire in America.
1774	The Quebec Act allows religious freedom for Catholics and restores French civil law while keeping British criminal law.
1776	The 13 colonies south of Quebec declare independence; more than 40,000 Loyalists flee north.
1791	The Constitutional Act divides the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, each with an elected assembly.
1793	Upper Canada, led by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, becomes the first province in the Empire to move toward abolishing slavery.
June 1812 to 1814	The United States invades Canada; by 1814 the American attempt to conquer Canada has failed.
1840	Upper and Lower Canada are united as the Province of Canada.
1847 and 1848	Nova Scotia becomes the first British North American colony to attain full responsible government.
1867	The British North America Act creates the Dominion of Canada, born on July 1 with Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
1870	Manitoba and the Northwest Territories join Canada.
1871	British Columbia joins Canada after Ottawa promises a railway to the West Coast.
1873	Prince Edward Island joins Canada; Prime Minister Macdonald establishes the North West Mounted Police.
1885	Donald Smith drives the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway; Riel's second rebellion ends in his trial and execution.
1898	The Yukon Territory joins Canada.
1905	Alberta and Saskatchewan join Canada.
1914 to 1918	The First World War: more than 600,000 Canadians serve, 60,000 are killed and 170,000 wounded.
April 1917	The Canadian Corps captures Vimy Ridge, with 10,000 killed or wounded.
1918	Most Canadian female citizens aged 21 and over are granted the right to vote in federal elections.
1921	Red and white become Canada's national colours; Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman MP.
1929	The stock market crash leads to the Great Depression.
1934	The Bank of Canada is created as a central bank to manage the money supply.
1939 to 1945	The Second World War: more than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders serve and 44,000 are killed.
June 6, 1944	D-Day: 15,000 Canadian troops storm and capture Juno Beach.
1949	Newfoundland and Labrador joins Canada.
1960	Aboriginal people are granted the right to vote in federal elections.
1965	The new Canadian flag, red-white-red with a single maple leaf, is raised for the first time.
1969	The Official Languages Act provides federal government services in English and French across Canada.
1980 and 1995	Sovereignty is defeated in two Quebec referendums.
1982	The Constitution is amended without the agreement of Quebec, entrenching the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
1999	Nunavut is established from the eastern Northwest Territories.
2006	The House of Commons recognizes that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada.
2008	Ottawa formally apologizes to the former students of residential schools.

02People to know

Name	Why the test cares
John Cabot	An Italian immigrant to England, the first to draw a map of Canada's East Coast, in 1497.
Jacques Cartier	Claimed the land for France and heard the Iroquoian word kanata, meaning village, which gave Canada its name.
Samuel de Champlain	Helped found the first European settlement north of Florida in 1604 and built the fortress at Québec City in 1608.
Count Frontenac	Helped build the French Empire in North America and refused to surrender Quebec to the English in 1690.
Brigadier James Wolfe and the Marquis de Montcalm	The commanders of the two armies, both killed leading their troops at the Plains of Abraham in 1759.
Joseph Brant	Led thousands of Loyalist Mohawk Indians into Canada after the American Revolution.
John Graves Simcoe	The Lieutenant Governor who led Upper Canada toward abolishing slavery in 1793.
Sir Isaac Brock	Captured Detroit in the War of 1812 and was killed defending Queenston Heights.
Chief Tecumseh	The Shawnee chief whose warriors supported British soldiers in the War of 1812.
Laura Secord	Walked 30 km in 1813 to warn of an American attack, helping win the Battle of Beaver Dams.
Charles de Salaberry	With 460 soldiers, mostly French Canadiens, turned back 4,000 American invaders at Châteauguay in 1813.
Lord Durham	Reported on the rebellions of 1837 and 1838 and recommended merging the Canadas and granting responsible government.
Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine and Robert Baldwin	Worked for responsible government in the Canadas; La Fontaine became its first leader in 1849.
Joseph Howe	Worked for responsible government in Nova Scotia, the first colony to attain it.
Sir John A. Macdonald	Canada's first Prime Minister, in 1867; his portrait is on the $10 bill and January 11 is his day.
Sir George-Étienne Cartier	A key architect of Confederation who led Quebec into it and helped bring in Manitoba, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
Sir Leonard Tilley	The Father of Confederation from New Brunswick who suggested the name Dominion of Canada in 1864.
Louis Riel	The Métis leader of the Red River uprising, seen by many as the father of Manitoba; executed for high treason in 1885.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier	The first French-Canadian prime minister since Confederation; his portrait is on the $5 bill.
Dr. Emily Stowe	Founder of the women's suffrage movement in Canada and the first Canadian woman to practise medicine in Canada.
Agnes Macphail	A farmer and teacher who became the first woman MP in 1921.
John McCrae	The Canadian medical officer who composed In Flanders Fields in 1915.
Sir Arthur Currie	The general who led the Canadian Corps in the advances of 1918, including the Battle of Amiens.
Terry Fox	Began his Marathon of Hope in 1980.

03National holidays

Holiday	Date
New Year's Day	January 1
Sir John A. Macdonald Day	January 11
Good Friday	The Friday before Easter Sunday
Easter Monday	The Monday after Easter Sunday
Vimy Day	April 9
Victoria Day	The Monday preceding May 25
Fête nationale (Québec)	June 24
Canada Day	July 1
Labour Day	The first Monday of September
Thanksgiving Day	The second Monday of October
Remembrance Day	November 11
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Day	November 20
Christmas Day	December 25
Boxing Day	December 26

04Provinces, territories and capitals

Province or territory	Capital	Region
Newfoundland and Labrador	St. John's	The Atlantic Provinces
Prince Edward Island	Charlottetown	The Atlantic Provinces
Nova Scotia	Halifax	The Atlantic Provinces
New Brunswick	Fredericton	The Atlantic Provinces
Quebec	Québec City	Central Canada
Ontario	Toronto	Central Canada
Manitoba	Winnipeg	The Prairie Provinces
Saskatchewan	Regina	The Prairie Provinces
Alberta	Edmonton	The Prairie Provinces
British Columbia	Victoria	The West Coast
Nunavut	Iqaluit	The Northern Territories
Northwest Territories	Yellowknife	The Northern Territories
Yukon	Whitehorse	The Northern Territories
Canada	Ottawa	National capital

05Numbers to memorize

Number	What it counts
20	Questions on the citizenship test.
15 of 20	Correct answers needed to pass, that is 75%.
45 minutes	Time allowed for the test; the online timer cannot be paused.
3	Chances to pass the test.
18 to 54	Ages that must take the test, counted on the day you sign the application.
About 34 million	People in Canada, the guide's figure.
10 million square kilometres	Canada's area, making it the second largest country on earth.
3	Oceans bordering Canada: the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Arctic.
5	Regions of Canada in the guide.
5	Great Lakes: Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior.
308	Electoral districts, the guide's number and the test answer.
3	Founding peoples: Aboriginal, French and British.
18 million and 7 million	Anglophones and Francophones in Canada.
65%, 30% and 4%	Shares of the Aboriginal population who are First Nations, Métis and Inuit.
4	Fundamental freedoms in the Charter.
6	Responsibilities of citizenship.
9	Judges of the Supreme Court of Canada, appointed by the Governor General.
75	The age until which senators serve.
96	Canadians awarded the Victoria Cross since 1854.
More than 75%	Share of Canadian exports that go to the United States.

06What the guide says and what is true today

The test takes its answers from the guide. Answer with the guide's column.

Topic	The guide says (test answer)	Today
Electoral districts	308 electoral districts.	343, since 2025.
Group of leading economies	The G8, which includes Russia.	The G7, since 2014.
North American trade agreement	NAFTA, which Mexico joined in 1994.	CUSMA, which replaced NAFTA.
The Sovereign	The Queen or King, shown in the guide as the Queen.	King Charles III, King of Canada.
Court names	The Court of Queen's Bench.	The Court of King's Bench in several provinces.
The Commonwealth	The Sovereign links Canada to 53 other Commonwealth nations.	56 members today.