Canadian Trivia

Are you ready for some facts about our northern neighbors – a little Canadian trivia? Did you ever wonder where the name Canada came from? It comes from the word Kanata, a Huron-Iroquois word meaning a village. Did you know that Canada is second only to Russia in land mass? It touches three oceans (the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Artic), but only one other country (the United States). Canada does not have states. It has providences and there are ten: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. There are six different times zones in Canada. There are three territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) and the capital is in Ottawa. The first prime minister’s name was Sir John A. Macdonald. Canada has two official national languages: English and French. Sir Wilfrid Laurier was the first French-Canadian prime minister. The highest mountain in Canada is Mount Logan (named after one of Canada’s greatest surveyors and scientist, Sir William Edmond Logan).

Now would you like to hear some fun Canadian trivia? Did you know the Caribou is on the Canadian quarter? In addition, did you know that the Canadian dollar coin is called the Loonie after the picture of a loon on it? Although “O Canada” has been sung since the late 1800s as the Canadian national anthem, it was not named the official anthem until 1980. The first (and only) Canadian to win a Nobel Peace Prize was Lester B. Pearson. It was awarded for his United Nations Peacekeeping Force that helped the Suez Crisis of 1956.

Here’s some Canadian trivia related to sports. Do you like hockey? If you do, you probably know that the championship trophy for the National Hockey League (NHL) is called the Stanley Cup. Canada also has a football league, the Canadian Football League. Their championship trophy is called the Grey Cup.