Memory tricks for the Canadian citizenship test

Follow the Crown down the chain

Canada has a King, not a president. The King inherits the throne, and each of his representatives below him is appointed, never elected.

• •The King (or Queen) is the head of state.
• •The Governor General represents the Sovereign in Canada, appointed on the Prime Minister's advice.
• •A Lieutenant Governor represents the Sovereign in each province, appointed by the Governor General on the Prime Minister's advice.
• •The Prime Minister is the head of government; a Premier plays that role in a province.
• •The Crown is the symbol of government, including Parliament, the courts, police services and the Canadian Forces.

Memory hookKing → Governor General → Lieutenant Governor: head of STATE. Prime Minister → Premier: head of GOVERNMENT.

Elected or appointed?

If the person sits in a house you vote for, or runs a city, they are elected. Everyone on the Crown side, and every Senator, is appointed.

• •Elected: Members of Parliament, provincial members (MLA; MPP in Ontario; MNA in Quebec; MHA in Newfoundland and Labrador), mayors and councillors.
• •Appointed: the Governor General, Lieutenant Governors and Senators. Senators are appointed by the Governor General on the Prime Minister's advice and may serve until age 75.
• •Nobody votes for the Prime Minister directly: you vote for your local MP, and the leader of the party with the most seats becomes Prime Minister.
• •The Prime Minister chooses the Cabinet ministers.

Count the seats

Elections are won seat by seat, and governments by counting seats.

• •In each riding, the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority of the votes.
• •The party with the most seats is invited by the Governor General to form the government; its leader becomes Prime Minister.
• •At least half the seats is a majority government; fewer is a minority government.
• •The party with the second-most seats is the Official Opposition.
• •A government that loses a confidence vote in the House of Commons must resign or call an election. That is responsible government.

The voting card

One card answers almost every voting question.

• •To vote in a federal election: a Canadian citizen, at least 18 on voting day, on the voters' list.
• •You vote for one local candidate by marking an X, and the ballot is secret: nobody, not even family, may make you say how you voted.
• •Elections Canada runs federal elections and mails you a voter information card saying when and where to vote.
• •Federal elections are held on the third Monday in October every four years, unless called earlier.
• •Voting is a citizen's right. Legal rights, like a lawyer or a fair trial, belong to everyone in Canada.

Which level of government? Ask how far it reaches

If it concerns the whole country or crosses a border, it is federal. If it happens inside one province, it is provincial. If it is on your street, it is municipal.

• •Federal: national defence, foreign policy, citizenship, currency, criminal law, interprovincial trade and communications.
• •Provincial or territorial: health care, education, highways, natural resources, property and civil rights.
• •Municipal: garbage and recycling, snow removal, firefighting, local police, public transit, water. A council led by a mayor (or reeve) passes by-laws.
• •On reserves, band chiefs and councillors hold similar responsibilities.

Canada comes in threes

Many answers are one of a few famous triples, and the wrong options are usually borrowed from a different triple. Check the question asks about THAT triple.

• •Three levels of government (where): federal, provincial or territorial, municipal.
• •Three branches (what they do): executive, legislative, judicial.
• •Three parts of Parliament (who passes federal laws): the Sovereign, the Senate, the House of Commons.
• •Three key facts about government: federal state, parliamentary democracy, constitutional monarchy.
• •Three founding peoples: Aboriginal, French, British.
• •Three Aboriginal groups: First Nations, Inuit, Métis.
• •Three territories, three oceans, three types of industry (natural resources, manufacturing, services).

How a bill becomes law

House of Commons, then Senate, then royal assent from the Governor General.

• •Readings in order: first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage, third reading.
• •The same steps happen in the Senate.
• •Royal assent is given by the Governor General on the Sovereign's behalf.

The six responsibilities (and which two are the law)

Discover Canada lists six responsibilities of citizenship. Only two are legal duties; the rest are what a good citizen does.

• •Obeying the law (legal duty).
• •Serving on a jury when called (legal duty).
• •Taking responsibility for yourself and your family: getting a job, caring for your family, working hard.
• •Voting in elections.
• •Helping others in the community, for example by volunteering.
• •Protecting and enjoying our heritage and environment.

Memory hookSix verbs: Obey, Serve, Provide, Vote, Help, Protect. The first two are the law.

The shape of the Charter

Four fundamental freedoms, plus a short list of other protected rights. If an option is not on this card, it is not in the Charter.

• •Fundamental freedoms: conscience and religion; thought, belief, opinion and expression (including the press); peaceful assembly; association.
• •Other rights: mobility (live and work anywhere in Canada), Aboriginal peoples' rights, official language rights, minority language education rights, multiculturalism, equality, democratic and legal rights.
• •English and French have equal status in Parliament and throughout the federal government, not in every school or workplace.
• •The right to own property is not in the Charter.

Memory hookThe four freedoms: Believe, Speak, Gather, Join.

Run the values filter

Canadian law rests on equality, the rule of law and the presumption of innocence. Cross out any option where someone is above the law, guilt comes before proof, people are treated unequally by sex, race or religion, or a past injustice is described as good.

• •Men and women are equal under the law.
• •Nobody is above the law, including government, police and the powerful.
• •Past wrongs have been acknowledged: the government apologized for the internment of Japanese Canadians (1988), the Chinese head tax (2006) and residential schools (2008).

Who does what in justice

Each part of the justice system has one job. Match the job to the role.

• •Parliament and the legislatures make laws. Police enforce them. Courts settle disputes. Juries of ordinary citizens decide guilt in serious criminal trials.
• •The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court. The Federal Court deals with matters involving the federal government.
• •Small claims court handles disputes over small amounts. Legal aid helps people who cannot afford a lawyer.
• •Habeas corpus, the right to challenge unlawful detention, comes from English common law.
• •Canada's laws come from statutes, English common law and the French civil code.
• •You can question the police about their conduct if you feel they treated you unfairly.

The name usually tells you

Many answers are the term itself, read literally. Before you panic over an unfamiliar word, take it apart.

• •Suffrage is the right to vote. Francophones speak French. Equalization payments even out wealth between provinces.
• •A Mari Usque Ad Mare: "mare" is sea (as in marine), so the motto means "from sea to sea".
• •The Official Opposition opposes; the Fathers of Confederation brought about Confederation; the North West Mounted Police rode in the North West.
• •NATO is a military alliance of North Atlantic nations; NORAD defends North American airspace with the United States.

The American answer is the wrong answer

Distractors often describe the United States. For questions about Canadian institutions, symbols and holidays, an American-sounding option is almost never right.

• •Canada has a King, a Governor General and a Prime Minister, not a president, and provinces, not states.
• •Canada's symbols: the beaver, the maple leaf, O Canada. Not the bald eagle or the Star-Spangled Banner.
• •Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October; the fourth Thursday of November is American.
• •The exceptions are trade and geography: the United States IS Canada's largest trading partner, the border is the world's longest undefended one, and Lake Michigan is entirely in the United States.

When options overlap, the complete one wins

If one option contains all the others (two of three provinces, one of three promises), the full list is the answer.

Flip the NOT questions

When a question asks which one is NOT true, three options are correct facts. Tick off the true ones and the leftover is your answer.

Explorers: Cabot, Cartier, Champlain

The three C's arrived in alphabetical order, which is also the order of the dates.

• •Vikings first, around the year 1000, at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.
• •Cabot, 1497, for England: first to map Canada's Atlantic shore.
• •Cartier, 1534, for France: explored the St. Lawrence and heard the word "kanata" (village).
• •Champlain, 1604 at St. Croix Island and then Port-Royal, and 1608 at Quebec City: founder of New France.

Memory hookCa-b, Ca-r, Ch-a: alphabetical is chronological.

The road to Confederation, on one ladder

The province of Quebec was split in 1791, joined back together in 1840, and split again at Confederation in 1867. Hang every other date on that.

• •1215 Magna Carta · 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham · 1763 Royal Proclamation · 1774 Quebec Act.
• •1776–83 the Loyalists arrive · 1791 Constitutional Act: Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec), with the first elected assemblies in the Canadas.
• •1793 Upper Canada moves to abolish slavery · 1833 slavery abolished throughout the British Empire.
• •1812 the US invades and is pushed back · 1837–38 rebellions · 1840 Upper and Lower Canada united.
• •1847–49 responsible government (Nova Scotia first) · 1867 British North America Act: the Dominion of Canada.

Memory hookSplit 1791, joined 1840, split again 1867. "Upper" Canada is up the St. Lawrence River: Ontario.

Who joined when, and the railway that held it together

Learn the joining order once and a dozen questions fall out of it.

• •1867: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick.
• •1870: Manitoba and the Northwest Territories · 1871: British Columbia · 1873: Prince Edward Island.
• •1898: Yukon · 1905: Alberta and Saskatchewan · 1949: Newfoundland and Labrador · 1999: Nunavut.
• •British Columbia joined on the promise of a railway. The Canadian Pacific Railway was built largely with Chinese labour, and its last spike was driven in 1885.

Memory hookFour founders, then west and north: MB (1870), BC (1871), PEI (1873), Yukon (1898), AB and SK (1905), NL last among provinces (1949).

The troop ladder: 7,000 → 600,000 → a million

Each war has one headline number. The wrong options are usually the other wars' numbers.

• •South African (Boer) War, 1899–1902: over 7,000 volunteered.
• •First World War, 1914–18: over 600,000 served and about 60,000 were killed. Vimy Ridge, April 1917. The Armistice: November 11, 1918.
• •Second World War, 1939–45: over one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served, and 44,000 were killed. Juno Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944; the liberation of the Netherlands.
• •Korean War, 1950–53: part of the UN force defending South Korea (about 26,000 Canadians served).

Indigenous peoples: 65 / 30 / 4

Three groups, three numbers.

• •About 65% of Aboriginal people are First Nations, 30% are Métis and 4% are Inuit.
• •Inuit means "the people" in Inuktitut. Most live in the Arctic.
• •The Métis are a distinct people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry. Louis Riel led their resistance; Gabriel Dumont was the military leader.

Who got the vote, and when

One short timeline covers the suffrage questions.

• •1916: Manitoba is the first province to give women the vote.
• •1917: the federal vote goes first to nurses at the front, then to women related to men in active service.
• •1918: most women citizens aged 21 and over can vote federally.
• •1921: Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman elected to the House of Commons.
• •1940: Quebec gives women the vote, thanks to Thérèse Casgrain and others.

The calendar: remember the two 11s

January 11 and November 11 anchor the calendar questions; the rest hang around them.

• •January 11: Sir John A. Macdonald Day · November 11: Remembrance Day (poppies).
• •November 20: Sir Wilfrid Laurier Day · April 9: Vimy Day.
• •Monday before May 25: Victoria Day (the Sovereign's birthday) · June 24: Fête nationale (Saint-Jean-Baptiste).
• •July 1: Canada Day · second Monday of October: Thanksgiving.

Symbols come in pairs

Most symbol questions set a national symbol against its royal, older or seasonal partner. Learn them as pairs.

• •Anthems: O Canada (national) and God Save the King (royal). O Canada was first sung in 1880 and became the official anthem in 1980.
• •Flags: the maple leaf flag (1965) and the Royal Union Flag (the Union Jack). Red and white were colours of France and England since the Middle Ages, and Canada's national colours since 1921.
• •Sports: hockey (winter) and lacrosse (summer) are the national sports.
• •Hundred-year echoes: Confederation 1867, the Order of Canada 1967 (the centennial).
• •The fleur-de-lys on Quebec's flag comes from the French royal family.
• •Two trophies named for Governors General: the Stanley Cup (hockey, Lord Stanley, 1892) and the Grey Cup (Canadian football, Lord Grey, 1909).

Capitals, regions, and the five capitals that are not the biggest city

In five provinces the capital is not the biggest city, and those are exactly where the questions set their traps. Everywhere else, the capital is also the biggest city.

• •Capital, but not the biggest city: Victoria (not Vancouver), Edmonton (not Calgary), Regina (not Saskatoon), Quebec City (not Montreal), Fredericton (not Saint John). Nationally: Ottawa, while Toronto is the largest city.
• •Capital AND biggest city: Toronto, Winnipeg, Halifax, Charlottetown, St. John's, and the three territorial capitals.
• •Five regions, east to west: Atlantic (4 provinces), Central (Ontario, Quebec), Prairies (3), West Coast (British Columbia), North (3 territories). The Maritimes are only three of the Atlantic provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI.
• •Territorial capitals, west to east: Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Iqaluit.

Memory hookRegions 4-2-3-1-3. St. John's has the apostrophe and the capital (Newfoundland and Labrador); Saint John is spelled out and is not a capital.

The Great Lakes: HOMES

Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. They lie between Ontario and the United States.

• •Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world.
• •Lake Michigan is the one Great Lake entirely in the United States.
• •More than half of Canadians live near the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

Memory hookHOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. Any lake not in HOMES (like Lake Winnipeg) is not a Great Lake.

Ontario and Quebec are the big two

When a question asks where most people, most manufacturing or most French speakers are, the answer is usually Ontario, Quebec, or both.

• •More than half of Canadians live in Central Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec); Ontario alone is more than one-third.
• •They produce more than three-quarters of Canada's manufactured goods.
• •They have their own provincial police; the RCMP polices the other provinces and the territories.
• •Most Francophones live in Quebec; the next largest French-speaking community is in Ontario.

Three-quarters, and the United States

Discover Canada's economy numbers cluster around three-quarters, and on trade the United States really is the answer.

• •More than 75% of working Canadians work in service industries.
• •Over three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the United States, Canada's largest trading partner.
• •Ontario and Quebec make more than three-quarters of manufactured goods.

One fact card per province

Give every province one "personality" line and the superlative questions answer themselves.

• •Newfoundland and Labrador: most easterly, oldest colony, its own time zone, last province to join (1949).
• •PEI: smallest province. Nova Scotia: first elected assembly (Halifax, 1758), the highest tides (Bay of Fundy).
• •New Brunswick: the only officially bilingual province, with Loyalist and French roots.
• •Manitoba: the largest Aboriginal population of any province (over 15%). Saskatchewan: the RCMP training academy in Regina.
• •Alberta: the most populous Prairie province. British Columbia: Canada's Pacific gateway, the Port of Vancouver.
• •Yukon: the Klondike Gold Rush and Mount Logan, Canada's highest mountain. Nunavut: about 85% Inuit, and its legislature chooses the premier by consensus.

Each region's signature industry

Match the region to what it digs, grows, catches or builds.

• •Atlantic provinces: fishing (and PEI potatoes). Quebec: hydroelectricity, forestry, aerospace.
• •Ontario: manufacturing. Manitoba: agriculture, mining and hydroelectricity.
• •Saskatchewan: grain, potash and uranium. Alberta: oil and gas, cattle.
• •British Columbia: forestry and the Port of Vancouver. Northwest Territories: diamonds and other minerals.
• •The three types of industry: natural resources, manufacturing, services (the biggest employer).