Know Canada?

While we are celebrating the 142nd anniversary of Confederation, why not take a few minutes to discover how much you really know about our corner of the world? Mensa Canada has compiled this quiz to test your knowledge of all things Canadian. Whether you are native-born or an immigrant, we are sure we have some surprises for you. Good luck!

1. Canada's first prime minister was named John. How many other prime ministers have borne that first name?

a) 2

b) 3

c) 4

d) 5

2. How heavy is a regulation curling rock?

a) between seven and 11 kilograms

b) between 12 and 16 kilograms

c) between 17 and 20 kilograms

d) between 21 and 25 kilograms

3. In the TV comedy series Little Mosque on the Prairie, Baber Siddiqui -- the most conservative Muslim in his community -- is played by actor Manoj Sood. What religion does Sood himself follow?

a) Islam

b) Hinduism

c) Christianity

d) Buddhism

4. The 36th Winnipeg Folk Festival is just days away. The first Winnipeg Folk Festival was held to mark what occasion?

a) Manitoba's 150th anniversary

b) The opening of Birds Hill Park

c) The Golden Boy's 50th birthday

d) Winnipeg's 100th anniversary

5. How often does Canada conduct its national census?

a) every year

b) every two years

c) every five years

d) every 10 years

6. Manitoba entered Confederation in July 1870. When were the province's current boundaries finally settled?

a) 1871

b) 1886

c) 1899

d) 1912

7. Wayne Gretzky was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1984. In what year did he accept the honour?

a) 1985

b) 1989

c) 1993

d) 1998

8. Manitoba's early population was almost entirely rural. In what year did the urban population first exceed the rural population of the province?

a) 1916

b) 1941

c) 1968

d) 1979

9. A silver dollar struck in 1949 to mark Newfoundland's entry into Canada bears the image of a ship. Whose ship was it?

a) John Cabot's

b) Henry Hudson's

c) Leif Ericson's

d) Jacques Cartier's

10. Canada's chartered banks were allowed to issue their own currencies until what year?

a) 1854

b) 1868

c) 1918

d) 1944

11. Canada's motto, A mari usque ad mare (From sea to sea), is taken from which book of the Bible?

a) Psalms

b) Genesis

c) Deuteronomy

d) Revelation

12. October 23 of last year was the 50th anniversary of the Springhill Mining Disaster. Which member of the Royal Family was in Canada at the time and visited the site?

a) Duchess of Kent

b) Prince Charles

c) Princess Margaret

d) Prince Philip

13. The world-famous Cirque du Soleil is based in Montreal, but what is the name of its real hometown?

a) Baie-Saint-Paul

b) Quebec City

c) Chicoutimi

d) Baie Comeau

14. What is Manitoba's area?

a) 578,912 square kilometers

b) 613,742 square kilometers

c) 647,797 square kilometers

d) 712,654 square kilometers

15. Canada won gold in the World Junior Hockey Championship in January. What team did they beat to take the title?

a) Slovakia

b) Sweden

c) Russia

d) United States

16. What was Premier Gary Doer's first Cabinet post?

a) Minister of Health

b) Minister of Labour and Immigration

c) Minister of Urban Affairs

d) Minister of Education and Youth

17. The House of Commons has seats for Members from 308 constituencies. How many of those represent Manitoba?

a) 8

b) 14

c) 18

d) 21

18. What famous Briton gave two speeches at Toronto's Massey Hall in the winter of 1900-01?

a) C.S. Lewis

b) Arthur Balfour

c) Bertrand Russell

d) Winston Churchill

19. Which novelist was a finalist for both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in English in 2008?

a) Joseph Boyden

b) Rawi Hage

c) Nino Ricci

d) Marina Endicott

20. Out of every 100 forest fires in Canada, about how many are started by lightning?

a) 10

b) 20

c) 40

d) 60

21. A man born in what is now Canada was the only prime minister of Great Britain to have been born in one of the colonies. What was his name?

a) Andrew Bonar Law

b) George Grenville

c) Herbert Henry Asquith

d) James Ramsay MacDonald

22. What province is home to lakes named Adam, James, Max and Oskar?

a) Ontario

b) Newfoundland

c) New Brunswick

d) Manitoba

23. In what year did the designation "Canadian citizen" come into official use?

a) 1847

b) 1867

c) 1947

d) 1967

24. Canada's northernmost point is located in what province or territory?

a) Yukon

b) Quebec

c) Nunavut

d) Northwest Territories

Mensa Canada is part of an international organization of people with high IQs. Mensa welcomes people from all walks of life. To find out more about us, go to www.canada.mensa.org, phone 613-547-0824 or email mensa@eventsmgt.com.

Mensa Canada Day Trivia Quiz 2009-- Winnipeg

ANSWERS

1. c) In addition to John A. Macdonald, four men named John have held the post of prime minister -- John J.C. Abbott, John Sparrow Thompson, John George Diefenbaker and John Napier Turner.

2. c) According to the World Curling Federation, a curling rock must weigh between 17 and 20 kilograms (38 and 44 pounds). It must also be circular, with a circumference of no more than 910 millimetres (36 inches) and a height of at least 110 millimetres (4.5 inches).

3. b) Manoj Sood, who delivers the rantings of loveable but irascible Baber Siddiqui on Little Mosque on the Prairie , is a Hindu. The multi-ethnic, multi-religious cast of the popular series has made Mercy the second-most-famous fictional Saskatchewan town on television.

4. d) The first Winnipeg Folk Festival was planned as a one-time event to celebrate the city's 100th anniversary. More than 20,000 people attended the first festival, which spanned three days. This year the expanded festival is expected to draw more than 60,000 people.

5. c) The 1971 version of the Statistics Act requires a national census be done every five years. Canada's first Census Act (1870) stipulated a 10-year interval, but that was eventually found to be inadequate. In addition to conducting a census every five years, Statistics Canada carries out more than 300 other active surveys on various aspects of Canadian life.

6. d) The change that set the province's current borders was made in 1912. Starting out at a fraction of its current size, the province expanded gradually, mostly by absorbing land from the Northwest Territories. The last change took the province's northern boundary to 60� north latitude.

7. d) Since the investiture ceremonies are always held during the hockey season, it was 1998 by the time The Great One was actually invested into the Order.

8. b) Manitoba's urban population was larger then the rural population for the first time in 1941 and the rural population has continued to shrink since. Winnipeg alone accounts for about half of the total population today.

9. a) The coin depicts the Matthew, the ship on which John Cabot made his famous discovery of the island in 1497.

10. d) The Bank Act of 1935 set 1944 as the last year that individual banks would be allowed to issue currency. Since then, only the Bank of Canada has issued our money. In 1950, all the outstanding notes that had been issued by chartered banks before 1945 became the liability of the Bank of Canada -- meaning that old money still has value.

11. a) Despite the fact that Canada has shores on three oceans, our bi-oceanic motto comes from the book of Psalms (72:8): "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth."

12. d) Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been at meetings in Ottawa, visited the site on Oct. 31, 1958, while rescue efforts were still in progress.

13. a) Baie-Saint-Paul, Que., with a population of well under 10,000, is the birthplace of Cirque du Soleil. The company, which has redefined circus performing, now stages shows in every part of the world. Founded in 1984 by Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier, Cirque du Soleil's estimated annual revenue is approaching $1 billion.

14. c) Manitoba has an area of 647,797 square kilometers, making it the smallest of the Prairie provinces. Saskatchewan's area is 651,036 and Alberta's is 661,848 square kilometers.

15. b) Beating Sweden 5-1 gave Canada its fifth straight gold in Ottawa. Russia won over Slovakia to take the bronze.

16. c) Then-premier Howard Pawley made the newly elected Doer his Minister of Urban Affairs in 1986.

17. b) Manitoba sends 14 Members to Parliament.

18. d) Winston Churchill, on his first visit to Canada, spoke at Massey Hall about his experiences in the Boer War. He spoke on Dec. 29, 1900 and Jan. 2, 1901 and drew full houses on both occasions. The 26-year-old Churchill had only recently been elected to Parliament at the time.

19. b) Rawi Hage saw his novel Cockroach make it to the shortlist for both prizes without winning either. Nino Ricci won the Governor General's award in English-language fiction for his The Origin of Species and Joseph Boyden won the Giller Prize for Through Black Spruce.

20. b) Each year in Canada, lightning causes more than 20 per cent of all forest fires. In British Columbia, it is 40 out of a hundred.

21. a) Andrew Bonar Law, who was born in Rexton, New Brunswick, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from October 1922 to May 1923. Born in 1858, he went to live with relatives in Scotland when he was 12 and spent the rest of his life in Great Britain. The farm where he lived as a young boy is now a New Brunswick provincial historical site. Prime ministers Grenville, Asquith and MacDonald were all born in Great Britain.

22. d) Manitoba's Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is home to lakes Adam, James, Max and Oskar.

23. c) The first law in Canada designating the country's people as Canadians came into effect on Jan. 1, 1947. Before that both native-born and naturalized residents were officially considered British subjects.

24. c) Nunavut extends much further north than any other part of Canada. While parts of both the Northwest Territories and the Yukon are within the Arctic Circle, all of Quebec falls below the parallel of latitude (66.56083 degrees) that defines it. Parts of Nunavut are even north of Greenland!

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 30, 2009 B4