Can You Name These Famous Canadian Heroes?
Test your knowledge of Canada’s best-known heroes and heroines.
Name This Canadian Hero
Woman who headed Canadian production of Hawker Hurricane fighter planes flown by Canadian and Allied airmen in the Battle of Britain.
Answer: Elsie MacGill
Known as the “Queen of the Hurricanes,” Elsie MacGill was the first woman to earn her master’s degree in aeronautical engineering (which she received in 1929) and became the first female engineer in Canadian history.
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Name This Canadian Hero
Man who rode the Great Wall of China in a wheelchair to raise money for spinal cord research.
Answer: Rick Hansen
A three-time world champion in wheelchair racing, Hansen wheeled more than 40,000 kilometres in 34 countries to raise awareness for spinal cord research and wheelchair sports between 1985 and 1987.
Did you know the electric wheelchair was invented by a Canadian? Find out 20 Canadian inventions that changed the world.
Name This Canadian Hero
Woman who walked 32 kilometres through the bush and swamps to warn British soldiers of a pending American attack in the War of 1812. (Hint: think chocolates!)
Answer: Laura Secord
In 1913, Frank P. O’Connor, the founder of a Toronto-based chocolate business, chose her name for his company because she was “an icon of courage, devotion and loyalty.”
Find out why 1815 is known as the year Canada didn’t have a summer.
Name This Canadian Hero
Young man with an artificial leg who began in Newfoundland to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research in 1981.
Answer: Terry Fox
The annual Terry Fox Run has now been held in more than 60 countries around the world, making it the largest one-day fundraiser in cancer research.
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Name This Canadian Hero
Nova Scotia woman who fought against racial segregation in 1946 and the first woman (other than the Queen) to have her photo on a Canadian bill.
Answer: Viola Desmond
Prior to her 1946 arrest, Desmond mentored many young Black women in Nova Scotia through her beauty school business. She died in 1965 at the age of 50. In 2010, she was granted a posthumous pardon—the first ever in Canada.
Read up on more incredible Canadian women you didn’t learn about in school.
Name This Canadian Hero
A founder of the province of Manitoba and a political leader of the Métis people seeking to preserve their rights and culture.
Answer: Louis Riel
Riel was executed in 1885 for high treason. Initially regarded as a traitor by early Canadian historians, Riel is now commonly seen as a hero who fought to protect his people from the Canadian government.
Did you guess Louis Riel correctly? You might find these tricky history questions more challenging.
Name This Canadian Hero
A Siksika leader’s quote: “What is life? The flash of a firefly in the night. The breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. The little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
Answer: Chief Crowfoot
Crowfoot played an essential role in the passing of Treaty 7 in 1877: a deal in which the Canadian Crown promised the Blackfoot Confederacy financial compensation, hunting privileges and reservations in exchange for land rights of what is now southern Alberta.
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Name This Canadian Hero
On a snowy Friday night in 1964, this woman fired up her Singer sewing machine and sewed the first version of the Canadian flag as we know it.
Answer: Joan O’Malley
The new flag made its first official appearance on Feb. 15, 1965—now the National Flag of Canada Day.
Don’t miss these other mind-blowing facts about Canada.
Name this Canadian hero
Together with Charles H. Best, this Canadian doctor isolated insulin—a medical discovery that saved millions of lives by making diabetes a manageable condition.
Answer: Dr. Frederick Banting
Dr. Frederick Banting made his world-changing discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto in 2021. Although it wasn’t a cure for diabetes, it would add years to the life expectancies of those living with the condition.
Find out the 10 greatest Canadian health discoveries.
Name This Canadian Hero
A woman who raised sheep dogs, wrote stories and found her inspiration for painting in the tall forests and Indigenous villages of the Pacific Coast.
Answer: Emily Carr
Closely associated with the Group of Seven, Carr was one of the few major female painters in North America and Europe.
Next, read up on 20 Canadian heroes you might not know about—but should.
