Gov.-Gen. Michaëlle Jean and her husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, attend a state banquet at the Norwegian Royal Palace in Oslo on April 28. Fewer than half of those surveyed could identify Jean from a photo. (Bjoern Sigurdsoen/Reuters)

Ahead of Canada Day, a new survey released Monday suggests many people can't identify some famous Canadians past and present.

Even though his face is on the $10 bill, only four in 10 people in Canada recognized a photo of the country's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, according to an Ipsos-Reid survey done for the Dominion Institute.

Only half of those surveyed correctly named Canada's current Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, from her picture. While 73 per cent of respondents could identify Pierre Elliott Trudeau, that dropped to 56 per cent among those aged 18-34.

"We live beside a country that is very good at telling their stories. As Canadians, we must find ways to tell our own stories and talk about our own icons," Marc Chalifoux, the Dominion Institute's executive director, said in a statement.

Least recognizable were Frederick Banting, who discovered insulin, and Tommy Douglas, the former Saskatchewan premier and father of medicare.

Celine Dion performs at the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City last August. Nearly nine in 10 respondents recognized the Quebec singer's face. (Mathieu Belanger/Reuters)

Modern-day Canadians were much more recognizable. Nine in ten respondents could identify Terry Fox and Céline Dion from pictures. Three-quarters of those surveyed could identify hockey star Wayne Gretzky.

A total of 1,013 adults over age 18 responded online across Canada from June 18 to 22. They were shown photos of 10 famous Canadians and asked to identify them.

The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.