Provinces and capitals of Canada: the full list and memory tips

Published October 15, 2026 · 4 min read

Canada has ten provinces and three territories, and each one has its own capital. Ottawa is the national capital. Learning the provinces and capitals of Canada is one of the quickest wins in citizenship test preparation, because it is a small, fixed set of facts you can master in a few days.

Below is the full table, followed by memory tips grouped by region and the traps to watch for.

The provinces and capitals of Canada

The official study guide, Discover Canada, divides the country into five regions: the Atlantic provinces, Central Canada, the Prairie provinces, the West Coast and the Northern Territories. The table follows that order.

National capital: Ottawa, on the Ottawa River. The guide notes that Queen Victoria chose it as the capital in 1857, and that the National Capital Region straddles the border between Ontario and Quebec.

For the official text, read the Canada's Regions section of Discover Canada on canada.ca.

Memory tips by region

Do not try to learn all thirteen at once. Learn one region at a time, and say each pair out loud as province and capital together.

Atlantic provinces: four on the ocean

Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick sit on the Atlantic, Canada's eastern ocean.

• Group them by sound. Two capitals end in a familiar English ending: Charlotte*town* and Frederic*ton*. Pair the "town" with the island (Prince Edward Island) and the "ton" with the bilingual province (New Brunswick).
• St. John's belongs to Newfoundland and Labrador. Note the apostrophe and the s.
• Halifax is Nova Scotia's capital. The guide describes it as an ice-free port, which is an easy hook: Nova Scotia's port city is also its capital.
• Anchor facts: Prince Edward Island is the smallest province, and New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province.

Central Canada: two provinces, two traps

Quebec and Ontario make up Central Canada, where more than half of Canadians live near the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

• Quebec City is the capital of Quebec. The name does the work for you.
• Toronto is the capital of Ontario. It is also Canada's largest city.
• The trap: Ottawa is the national capital, sitting in the National Capital Region on the Ontario-Quebec border, but it is not the capital of either province. And Montreal, Canada's second-largest city, is not Quebec's capital.

Prairie provinces: three in a row

Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta are the Prairie provinces.

• Learn them as a chant: "Manitoba, Winnipeg. Saskatchewan, Regina. Alberta, Edmonton." Repeat it until the rhythm sticks.
• Watch the famous cities that are not capitals. In Alberta, the capital is Edmonton. If another Alberta city comes to mind first, that is exactly the kind of option a test question might offer.
• Anchor facts: Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905, and Manitoba joined Confederation in 1870.

West Coast: one province

British Columbia is Canada's Pacific province.

• Victoria is the capital. The guide names the Port of Vancouver as a major trade gateway, but Vancouver is not the capital.
• Anchor fact: British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871.

The North: three territories

Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are territories, not provinces. Together they cover about a third of Canada's land mass but hold a very small share of its people.

• Use the colours. Two of the three capitals start with a colour. In table order, think "white, yellow, then Iqaluit": Yukon goes with Whitehorse, the Northwest Territories with Yellowknife, and Nunavut with Iqaluit.
• Remember the newest. Nunavut is the newest territory, created in 1999 from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories, and it has a predominantly Inuit population. Linking Nunavut, Inuit and Iqaluit gives you three words that belong together.

Practise in both directions

A question can come at the same fact from either direction: the capital of a province, or the province a capital belongs to. Practise both ways:

1. Cover the capital column and name each capital.
2. Cover the province column and name each province.
3. Mix the order so you are not relying on the sequence.
4. Add the region, because some questions ask which region a province belongs to.

Flashcards work well here. The study chapters in igotcitizenship include the same table, and the recall deck blanks out the key part of each fact so you have to produce it from memory.

Where this fits in your study

Provinces and capitals belong to the regions and economy topic, one of the six topics we use to organise the test. To see how they fit into the whole test, read our guide to the Canadian citizenship test format. For a full study schedule, see how to study for the citizenship test. And for a short list of key facts from every topic, try our citizenship test cheat sheet.

igotcitizenship is independent and is not affiliated with IRCC. Discover Canada is the only official study guide.

Frequently asked questions

How many provinces and territories does Canada have?

Ten provinces and three territories: Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

What is the capital of Canada?

Ottawa is the national capital. It is not a provincial capital: Ontario's capital is Toronto and Quebec's is Quebec City.

What is the newest territory?

Nunavut, created in 1999 from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories. Its capital is Iqaluit.

Which province is the smallest?

Prince Edward Island. Its capital is Charlottetown.

Which was the last province to join Confederation?

Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1949. Its capital is St. John's.

Test yourself now: start a practice session and see how many capitals you know.

• provinces and capitals
• Canada's regions
• geography