Annual Canada Day History Quiz

1 July 2000 -- This year's Dominion Institute and Council for Canadian Unity Canada Day quiz explores Canadians' knowledge of fifteen defining moments in the country's past. Conducted by the Angus Reid Group, this challenging telephone survey once again demonstrated great disparities in knowledge based on region and age. Only 23% of those surveyed were able to pass the test, with Canadians 55 and older out-performing those aged 18 to 34 by a ratio of three to one. Overall, Canadians demonstrated poor knowledge of 18th and early 19th century history, but did better on questions dealing with more recent events such as the Gold Rush, Vimy Ridge, the Halifax Explosion and D-Day.

The Canada Day quiz is a joint project of the Institute and Council. The purpose of the annual quiz is to promote greater knowledge and appreciation of Canadian history.

The Council for Canadian Unity's President and CEO, Jocelyn Beaudoin comments, "We believe dialogue and discussion about formative events in our past will lead to greater understanding of our evolution as a nation." Rudyard Griffiths, the Dominion Institute's Executive Director remarked, "We are a dynamic nation blessed with an equally dynamic history. It is time we stop defining ourselves in opposition to the U.S. and embrace a national identity grounded in the defining moments of the Canadian story."

Today's release marks the launch of a ten week campaign by the Dominion Institute to discover which events in Canadian history continue to shape our identity and values today.

Over the Summer of 2000, major Southam metro papers will carry weekly interviews where prominent Canadians discuss the significance of key events in the country's past. Participants in the series include such luminaries as Glen Sather, Pierre Burton and Shirley Douglas. Parallel to the short story series The Saturday Globe and Mail and La Presse will feature short stories by leading authors on great events in Canadian history.

The campaign will culminate September 8 with the release of a mass Internet poll of Canadians' choice for the most important event in the country's past. The poll can be accessed through the websites of the Globe, Southam papers or www.dominion.ca

Analysis Of Survey Findings

Overview

The 2000 Canada Day quiz was conducted as part of the National Angus Reid Poll between May 18th and May 25th, 2000. A total of 1516 adult Canadians were surveyed, yielding results which are accurate to within  2.5% (19 times out of 20) of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger for regions and other sub samples of the population. The data have been statistically weighted to ensure that the regional, age and gender composition of the sample reflects that of the adult Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

Overall, approximately a quarter (23%) of respondents passed (i.e. correctly answered 8 of 15 questions) the quiz. The following are some of the highlights.

Age

Generally speaking, older Canadians performed much better than younger Canadians. Over one-third of respondents aged 55+ (35%) passed the quiz, compared with 25% of those aged 35-54 and 11% of those aged 18-34. Older Canadians did especially well on questions concerning Vimy Ridge (49% among those aged 55+ versus 25% among those aged 18-34), the 1917-8 Influenza Epidemic (43% among those aged 55+ versus 13% among those aged 18-34) and the Discovery of Insulin (49% among those aged 55+ versus 20% among those aged 18-34). The 18-34 age group did best on questions dealing with the Invasion of Normandy (69% correct) and the Klondike Gold Rush (65% correct).

Region

Regionally, residents of Ontario were most likely to pass the quiz (28%) while Quebec respondents were least likely to pass (16%). Nonetheless, there were a number of questions on which Quebecers significantly outperformed the rest of the country.

A majority of Quebec respondents could identify the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (61%) as the 1759 battle that decided the fate of New France (compared with 36% in the next highest province - Ontario). Quebec (58%) led the other regions on identifying Jacques Cartier as the explorer who claimed the St. Lawrence River region for France (compared with 39% for the next highest region - Atlantic provinces). Similarly, Quebecers (35%) outpaced the rest of the country on correctly identifying the 1917-8 Influenza Epidemic, as the country's worst epidemic (compared with 27% for the next highest province - B.C.).

Those in the Atlantic provinces (73%) were more likely to correctly identify the Halifax Explosion as the worst accident in Canadian history. Those on the Prairie Provinces (30%) were more likely to correctly identify the Red River Settlement as the first permanent European colony in the Canadian West. The questions dealing with the Klondike Gold Rush and the Invasion of Normandy generated the greatest uniformity of response across the country with 50% or more in each region providing correct answers.

Gender

Men did better than women with approximately 3 in 10 males (29%) passing the quiz versus approximately 1 in 5 females (18%). The largest difference on any question between males and females was naming Paul Henderson as the player who scored the winning goal in the 1972 Canada-Soviet Union hockey series. While only one half of males (49%) answered this question correctly, barely 1 in 5 (19%) females provided the correct response. Women and men though were equally likely to correctly answer the questions dealing with the 1917-18 Influenza Epidemic (25% correct for men versus 26% for women) and the Discovery of Insulin (36% correct for men versus 35% for women).

Education and Income

Those with a University education (41%) were most likely to pass the quiz. Followed by those with other post secondary education (19%), and those with a high school education (14%). Those with less than a high school (9%) were the least likely to pass the quiz.

Similarly, higher income Canadians were more likely to pass the quiz than lower income Canadians. Three in ten (31%) respondents in the highest income bracket passed the quiz. Compared with approximately 1 in 4 (23%) of those in the middle bracket and just over 1 in 10 (12%) of those in the lower income bracket.

Highest Correct Response

The question that resulted in the highest correct response rate was identifying D-Day as the Invasion of Normandy. Overall almost 8 in 10 (79%) correctly answered this question. This trend is consistent across demographic variables such as age; income; education; region and gender. The second highest overall correct response was generated by the question on the Klondike Gold Rush (72%).

Other Surveys on Canadian History

Results of other surveys on similar subjects conducted by the Angus Reid Group on behalf of the Dominion Institute and the Council for Canadian Unity include:

• The 1997 Canada Day Youth History Survey
• The 1998 Canada Day Quiz
• The 1998 Remembrance Day Survey
• The 1999 Canada Day Heroes Survey

To view the complete media release and tables please download the PDF file.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Public Affairs
Angus Reid Group
(416) 324-2900

or

Rudyard Griffiths
Executive Director
Dominion Institute
(416) 368-9627