B. People and Environments · Political and Physical Regions of Canada

Capital Cities Across Canada

B3 B2.3About 35 minutes

Learning goals

I can name the capital city of each province and territory.
I can explain what a capital city is.
I can find capital cities on a map using the legend.
I can explain why Ottawa is special.

Words to know

capital city
The city where a government meets and makes decisions.

national capital
The capital of the whole country. Canada's is Ottawa.

legislature
The building and group where a province's elected members meet to make laws.

Parliament Hill
The place in Ottawa where Canada's federal government meets.

legend
The part of a map that explains what the symbols mean.

Remember from Grade 3

In Grade 3 you learned two important capitals: Toronto, the capital of Ontario, and Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Today you will meet the capital of every province and territory.

What is a capital city?

A capital city is the city where a government meets and makes decisions.

Ottawa is Canada's national capital. The federal government meets there, on Parliament Hill.
Each province and territory also has its own capital. That is where its government meets. In a province, the building where the elected members meet is called the legislature.

On many maps, a capital is shown with a star (★). Ottawa sometimes gets a star inside a circle, to show it is the capital of the whole country.

Three symbols you will often see in a map legend. The ★ in a circle is saved for Ottawa, the capital of all of Canada.

Province or territory	Capital city	A clue to help you find it
British Columbia	Victoria	On Vancouver Island, off the west coast
Alberta	Edmonton	On the North Saskatchewan River
Saskatchewan	Regina	In the south of the province, on the flat prairie
Manitoba	Winnipeg	Where the Red River and Assiniboine River meet
Ontario	Toronto	On Lake Ontario
Quebec	Quebec City	On the St. Lawrence River
New Brunswick	Fredericton	On the Saint John River
Nova Scotia	Halifax	On the Atlantic coast, with a big harbour
Prince Edward Island	Charlottetown	On the island's south shore
Newfoundland and Labrador	St. John's	On the far eastern edge of the island of Newfoundland
Yukon	Whitehorse	On the Yukon River
Northwest Territories	Yellowknife	On the shore of Great Slave Lake
Nunavut	Iqaluit	On Baffin Island, at Frobisher Bay

The capital city of each province and territory. Ottawa, in Ontario, is the capital of all of Canada.

The capital is not always the biggest city

You might think the capital is always the biggest city. Not true!

In British Columbia, Vancouver is bigger than the capital, Victoria.
In Alberta, Calgary is bigger than the capital, Edmonton.
In Saskatchewan, Saskatoon is bigger than the capital, Regina.
In Quebec, Montréal is bigger than the capital, Quebec City.

But sometimes the capital is the biggest city, like Toronto, Winnipeg and Halifax.

In these four provinces, the city with the most people (big circle) is not the capital (★).

Capitals with Indigenous roots

Iqaluit means "place of many fish" in Inuktitut. Most people who live there are Inuit. You may remember Iqaluit from Grade 2.
Winnipeg takes its name from Cree words meaning "muddy water", describing nearby Lake Winnipeg.
Yellowknife is on the traditional land of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and Dene communities live there today.

Colourful red, blue, green and yellow houses on posts, built on bare rock beside a bay with floating ice. — A small Arctic town by the water, like Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. Notice there are no trees, and the houses stand on posts above the rocky, frozen ground. AI-generated image

Just for fun

Riddle: What is the capital of Saskatchewan?

S! (Every capital city, and every province, starts with a capital letter.) The other answer is Regina.

Memory tricks

Make up silly sentences: "Regina rides in Saskatchewan," "Whitehorse gallops through Yukon."
Learn them in groups, like the three Prairie capitals: Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg (west to east).
Point and say: touch each province on a map and say its capital out loud. Your hands help your memory!

Worked example

Let's use clues to find a capital

Mystery capital: "I am on the shore of a big lake in a territory. The lake is called Great Slave Lake." Which capital am I?

The clue says territory, so it is Whitehorse, Yellowknife or Iqaluit.
Whitehorse is on a river. Iqaluit is on a bay of the sea.
The one on Great Slave Lake is Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories.

Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories.

Worked example

Let's read a map legend

A map of Canada has this legend: ★ = provincial or territorial capital, ● = other city, ★ in a circle = national capital. On the map, beside Lake Ontario, you see a ★ labelled Toronto. Near the Ottawa River you see a ★ in a circle. What does each one tell you?

Check the legend first.
A plain ★ means a provincial capital. Toronto is the capital of Ontario.
A ★ in a circle means the national capital. That is Ottawa, the capital of Canada.

Toronto is Ontario's capital, and Ottawa is Canada's capital. Both cities are in Ontario.

Hands-on activity

Capital city match-up game

You need: 26 small cards or squares of paper, a pencil, and a map of Canada.

On 13 cards, write the names of the provinces and territories.
On the other 13 cards, write the 13 capital cities.
Mix them up and lay them face down in rows.
Take turns with a grown-up. Flip two cards. If you flip a province and its capital, keep the pair and find it on the map. If not, turn them back over.
The player with the most pairs wins.

Extra: Play again, but this time say one clue about each capital when you keep a pair ("Halifax is on the Atlantic coast").

Your turn

What is the capital of Canada?

What is the capital of Manitoba?

Victoria is the capital of which province?

What is the capital of Nunavut?

What is the capital of Nova Scotia?

Regina is the capital of which province?

What is a capital city?

More practice: warm-up

What is the capital of Ontario?

What is the capital of Quebec?

What is the capital of Yukon?

Charlottetown is the capital of which province?

What symbol often shows a capital city on a map?

More practice: on your own

Name the capitals of the three Prairie provinces, west to east.

Which two capitals are in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador?

Sam says, "Montréal is the capital of Quebec because it is the biggest city." Is Sam right? Explain.

Which capital city is on an island off the west coast?

Which two capital cities are in Ontario?

Challenge

Many capitals are beside water: a lake, a river, a bay or the ocean. Why do you think so many cities grew up beside water long ago?

Iqaluit means "place of many fish" in Inuktitut. What does the name tell you about the place and the people who named it?

Plan a trip from Victoria to St. John's that stops in every provincial capital along the way, in order from west to east. (You may skip the territories. Hint: visit Charlottetown before St. John's.)

Check your understanding

Quiz

What is the capital city of Canada?

What is the capital of Alberta?

Yellowknife is the capital of...

What is the capital of New Brunswick?

Which statement is true?

Which capital city's name means "place of many fish" in Inuktitut?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Every province and territory has a capital city where its government meets, and Ottawa is the capital of Canada. Knowing the capitals helps students read political maps and follow news from across the country.

How to help at home:

Play the match-up game a few times over a week. Short, frequent practice works better than one long session.
When you hear a city on the news or the weather report, ask: "Is that a capital? Which province is it in?"
Point at a map while practising. Linking each capital to its place helps memory.

Common difficulties:

Choosing the biggest city. Montréal, Vancouver, Calgary and Saskatoon are not capitals.
Mixing up the Maritime capitals (Fredericton, Halifax, Charlottetown). Practise them as a group of three.
Spelling. Spelling every capital is not the goal at this age; recognising and locating them is.