Canada’s provinces, territories and capitals

Many citizenship test questions ask you to match a place with its capital, its region, the year it joined Canada or one famous fact. This page puts all of that in one place, with memory tips to help it stick. For geography and life in the North, see the Canada’s Regions chapter guide.

The five regions

Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories. They are grouped into five regions:

• Atlantic provinces (4): Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
• Central Canada (2): Quebec, Ontario
• Prairie provinces (3): Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta
• West Coast (1): British Columbia
• Northern Territories (3): Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut

Tip: count from east to west: 4 – 2 – 3 – 1 – 3. The numbers add up to 13, one for each province and territory.

Capitals and joining dates

The national capital is Ottawa, in Ontario. It is not the capital of any province: Ontario’s capital is Toronto.

Key facts from Discover Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador

• Has the most easterly point in North America and its own time zone.
• Was the oldest colony of the British Empire, but the last province to join Canada (1949).
• Known for fisheries, offshore oil and gas, and large hydro-electric resources in Labrador.

Prince Edward Island

• Canada’s smallest province, famous for its red soil and potatoes.
• Called the birthplace of Confederation, because early talks about uniting the colonies took place in Charlottetown.
• Linked to the mainland by the Confederation Bridge; the setting of Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Nova Scotia

• The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world.
• Halifax has Canada’s largest naval base.

New Brunswick

• Canada’s only officially bilingual province (English and French).
• Founded by the United Empire Loyalists.
• Moncton is the main centre of the French-speaking Acadians. Saint John is a port city, not the capital.

Quebec

• Most people live along or near the St. Lawrence River.
• Canada’s largest producer of hydro-electricity, and a leader in pharmaceuticals and aeronautics.
• Montreal is Canada’s second-largest city.

Ontario

• Toronto is Canada’s largest city and main financial centre.
• Founded by the United Empire Loyalists; has the largest French-speaking population outside Quebec.
• The Niagara region is known for vineyards, wine and fruit.

Manitoba

• Its economy is based on agriculture, mining and hydro-electric power.
• St. Boniface, in Winnipeg, is Western Canada’s largest French-speaking community; Manitoba is also a centre of Ukrainian culture.
• Became a province in 1870, after the Red River uprising led by Louis Riel.

Saskatchewan

• Once called the “breadbasket of the world” and the “wheat province”; Canada’s largest producer of grains and oilseeds.
• Has rich deposits of uranium and potash.
• Regina is home to the RCMP training academy. The largest city is Saskatoon, not Regina.

Alberta

• Named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, a daughter of Queen Victoria.
• Banff National Park was set up in 1885; the Badlands are rich in dinosaur fossils.
• Canada’s largest producer of oil and gas, and known for its cattle ranches.

British Columbia

• The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s gateway to the Asia-Pacific.
• Forestry produces about half of the province’s goods.
• Joined in 1871 after Ottawa promised a railway to the West Coast.

Yukon

• The Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s brought thousands of miners north.
• Holds Canada’s coldest recorded temperature (−63°C) and its highest mountain, Mount Logan.

Northwest Territories

• Formed in 1870 from Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory.
• Yellowknife is called the “diamond capital of North America”.
• The Mackenzie River is the second-longest river system in North America.

Nunavut

• Created in 1999 from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
• “Nunavut” means “our land” in Inuktitut. Iqaluit was once called Frobisher Bay.

How these facts show up in questions

Questions about places usually come in a few simple patterns. Knowing them helps you read each question quickly:

• Capital: “What is the capital of …?” The wrong options are often the biggest city of the same province, or a capital from a neighbouring province.
• Region: “Which provinces are the Prairie provinces?” Watch for Quebec placed in the Atlantic group, or Manitoba placed in Central Canada.
• Year: “When did … join Canada?” The wrong options are often nearby dates from the list above, such as 1870, 1871 and 1873.
• Famous fact: “Which province is known for …?” Link each fact to one place: tides to Nova Scotia, potash to Saskatchewan, diamonds to Yellowknife.
• True or false: a real fact with the wrong place, such as “Mount Logan is in British Columbia” (false: it is in Yukon).

A good way to study is to cover one column of the table above and say the missing answers out loud, in English.

Memory tips

The order in which Canada grew

1. 1867: the four original provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
2. 1870: Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories.
3. 1871: British Columbia.
4. 1873: Prince Edward Island.
5. 1898: Yukon becomes a separate territory.
6. 1905: Alberta and Saskatchewan, together.
7. 1949: Newfoundland, the youngest province.
8. 1999: Nunavut, the youngest territory.

• The original four: the old Province of Canada was split into Ontario and Quebec, and they joined the two Maritime colonies whose names start with “N”: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
• A surprise: Prince Edward Island is the “birthplace of Confederation”, but it did not join until 1873, six years later.
• Twins: Alberta and Saskatchewan both became provinces in 1905. They sit side by side on the map.
• Oldest colony, youngest province: Newfoundland was the British Empire’s oldest colony but joined Canada last, in 1949.
• Ottawa: chosen as the capital by Queen Victoria in 1857, ten years before Confederation. It was not chosen by Sir John A. Macdonald.
• Capital or biggest city? Victoria, not Vancouver. Regina, not Saskatoon. Edmonton, not Calgary. Quebec City, not Montreal. St. John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador) is not Saint John (New Brunswick).
• Three northern capitals, west to east: Whitehorse (Yukon), Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), Iqaluit (Nunavut).

For more dates in order, see Key dates to remember. To learn the history behind them, such as the Red River uprising and the railway promise, read the Canada’s History chapter guide.

Now test yourself: try a practice test and see how many capitals you get right.