Article content

TORONTO — The organization behind Canada’s Heritage Minutes says provincial education systems need to do a better job of teaching students about the country’s most historically significant women, pointing to a new poll that suggests the majority of Canadians have a lot to learn.

An Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Historica Canada posed a dozen true or false questions about Canadian women’s history.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canadians widely unaware of accomplishments of famous women, poll suggests Back to video

Some of the questions included statements such as “Canada has never elected a party with a female leader to form the federal government” and “Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, and Lucy Maud Montgomery are among Canada’s best-known authors” — both of which are true.

Historica says 55 per cent of those who took the quiz failed, with only three per cent answering well enough to score an A.

A regional breakdown indicated 62 per cent of Alberta respondents failed the quiz, followed by 57 per cent of British Columbia respondents and 56 per cent of both Ontario and Quebec residents polled. Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Atlantic Canada all tied with the lowest fail rate of 45 per cent.