Ottawa
Ottawa is the
capital of
Canada, and the country's fourth largest
city. It is located in the
Ottawa Valley on the eastern edge of the
province of
Ontario, right at the border with
Quebec, about 400 km (250 miles) east of
Toronto and 190 km (120 miles) west of
Montreal. It is a city on the banks of the
Ottawa River, a major waterway that forms the border between the two provinces. Unlike the capital cities of countries like the
United States,
Brazil,
Mexico, and
Australia, there is no
federal capital district in Canada: Ottawa is a
municipality within the Province of Ontario. Although it does not constitute a separate administrative district, Ottawa is part of the officially-designated
National Capital Region. The population of the city proper is 808,391, while the population of the larger
Census Metropolitan Area is 1,146,790 (2004), including the
Quebec city of
Gatineau. The mayor of Ottawa is
Bob Chiarelli.
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The Byward Market provides fresh produce throughout the warm months |
The Ottawa region was long home to
First Nations peoples who were part of the
Algonquin. The Algonquin called the river the Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi, meaning "Great River". The first European settlement in the region was that of
Philemon Wright who started a community on the Quebec side of the river in 1800. Wright discovered that transporting timber by river from the
Ottawa Valley to
Montreal was possible and the area was soon booming based almost entirely off timber.
In the years following the
War of 1812, in addition to settling some military regiment families, the government began sponsored immigration schemes which brought over Irish Catholics and Protestants to settle the Ottawa area, which began a steady stream of Irish immigration there in the next few decades. Along with French Canadians who crossed over from Quebec, these two groups provided the bulk of labourers involved in the
Rideau Canal project and the booming timber trade, both instrumental in putting Ottawa on the map.
The region's population grew significantly when the canal was completed and constructed by Colonel
John By in 1832. It was intended to provide a secure route between Montreal and
Kingston on
Lake Ontario, by-passing the stretch of the St. Lawrence River bordering New York State (with the 1812 conflict with the U.S.A. being in recent memory). Construction of the canal began at the northern end, where Colonel By set up a military barracks on what later became
Parliament Hill, and laid out a townsite that soon became known as
Bytown. Original city leaders of Bytown include a number of Wright's sons, most notably
Ruggles Wright.
Nicholas Sparks,
Braddish Billings and
Abraham Dow who were the first to settle on the Ontario side of the Ottawa river.
The west side of the canal became known as "Uppertown" where the Parliament buildings are located, while the east side of the canal (wedged between the canal and
Rideau River) was known as the "Lowertown". At that time,
Lowertown was a crowded, boisterous shanty town, frequently receiving the worst of disease epidemics, such as the
Cholera outbreak in 1832 or later
typhus in 1847.
Ottawa became the centre for lumber milling and square-cut timber industry in Canada, and in fact for North America as a whole. From there, it quickly expanded further up (or westward along) the Ottawa River and logs were boomed by
raftsmen great distances down the river to the mills. Bytown was renamed Ottawa in 1855.
On
December 31,
1857, Queen
Victoria was asked to choose a common capital for the then
province of Canada (modern Quebec and Ontario) and chose Ottawa. There are old folk tales about how she made the choice: that she did so by sticking her
hatpin on a map roughly halfway between Toronto and Montreal, or that she liked watercolours she had seen of the area. While such stories have no historical basis, they do illustrate how arbitrary the choice of Ottawa seemed to Canadians at the time. While Ottawa is now a major metropolis and Canada's fourth largest city, at the time it was a sometimes unruly logging town in the hinterland, far away from the colony's main cities,
Quebec City and Montreal in Canada East, and Kingston and Toronto in Canada West.
In fact, the Queen's advisors had her pick Ottawa for three important reasons: first, it was the only settlement of any significant size located right on the border of Canada East and Canada West (Quebec/Ontario border today), making it a compromise between the two colonies and their French and English populations; second, the War of 1812 had shown how vulnerable the major cities were to American attack, since they were all located very close to the border; third, the government owned a large parcel of land on a spectacular spot overlooking the Ottawa River. Ottawa's position in the back country made it more defensible, while still allowing easy transportation via the Ottawa River to Canada East and the
Rideau Canal to Canada West. Two other considerations were that Ottawa was at a point nearly exactly midway between Toronto and Quebec City (about 500 km) and that the small size of the town made it less likely that politically motivated mobs could go on a rampage and destroy government buildings, as had been the case in the previous Canadian capitals.
The original Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa was destroyed by fire on
February 3,
1916. The House of Commons and Senate were temporarily relocated to the recently constructed Victoria Memorial Museum, currently the
Canadian Museum of Nature, located about 1 km south of Parliament Hill on Metcalfe Street. A new Centre Block was completed in 1922, the centre-piece of which is a dominant Gothic revival styled structure known as the
Peace Tower which has become a common emblem of the city.
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Map of Ottawa's annexation history. |
On
September 5,
1945, only weeks after the end of
World War II, Ottawa was the site of the event that many people consider to be the official start of the
Cold War. A
Soviet cipher clerk,
Igor Gouzenko, defected from the Soviet embassy with over 100 secret documents. At first, the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) refused to take the documents, since the Soviets were still allies of Canada and Britain, and the newspapers were not interested in the story. After hiding out for a night in a neighbour's apartment listening to his own being searched, Gouzenko finally persuaded the RCMP to look at his evidence, which provided proof of a massive Soviet spy networking operating in western countries, and, indirectly, led to the discovery that the Soviets were working on an atomic bomb to match that of the Americans.
In 2001, the old city of Ottawa (estimated 2005 population 350,000) was amalgamated with the suburbs of
Nepean (135,000),
Kanata (56,000),
Gloucester (120,000),
Rockcliffe Park (2,100),
Vanier (17,000) and
Cumberland (55,000), and the rural townships of
West Carleton (18,000),
Osgoode (13,000),
Rideau (18,000) and
Goulbourn (24,000), along with the systems and infrastructure of the
Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, to become one municipality. Ottawa-Carleton used to be just
Carleton County before 1969 and consisted of what is now the City of Ottawa except for Cumberland.
Ottawa is situated on the south bank of the
Ottawa River, and contains the mouths of the
Rideau River and
Rideau Canal. The oldest part of the city (including what remains of
Bytown) is known as
Lower Town and occupies an area between the canal and the rivers. Across the canal to the west lies
Centretown (often just called "downtown"), which is the city's financial and commercial hub. Between here and the Ottawa River, the slight elevation of
Parliament Hill is home to many of the capital's landmark government buildings, and is the Legislative seat of Canada.
The City of Ottawa includes many urban areas. The main one extends a considerable distance to the east, west and south of the centre, and includes the former cities of
Gloucester,
Nepean and
Vanier, the former village of
Rockcliffe Park and the suburban communities of
Manotick and
Orléans. In addition to the main urban area, there is the
Kanata urban area consisting of the urbanized part of the former city of Kanata and the former village of
Stittsville (pop. 70,320). There are also a number of satellite towns and rural communities that are also urban areas (urban fringes) that lie beyond the greenbelt but are administratively part of the Ottawa municipality. These are
Constance Bay (pop. 2,327);
Kars (pop. 1,539);
Metcalfe (pop. 1,610);
Munster (pop. 1,390);
Osgoode (pop. 2,571); and
Richmond (pop. 3,287).
Across the Ottawa River, which forms the border between Ontario and
Quebec, lies the city of
Gatineau. Although formally and administratively separate cities in two separate provinces, Ottawa and Gatineau (along with a number of nearby municipalities) collectively constitute the
National Capital Region, with a combined population exceeding one million residents, and the area is considered a single metropolitan area. One federal crown corporation (the
National Capital Commission, or NCC) has significant land holdings in both cities - including sites of historical and touristic importance. The NCC, through its responsibility for planning and development of these lands, is an important contributor to both cities.
Around the main urban area is an extensive
greenbelt, administered by the National Capital Commission for conservation and leisure, and comprising mostly forest, farmland and marshland.
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Map of Ottawa showing urban area, highways, waterways, and historic townships |
Ottawa itself is a single-tiered city, meaning it is in itself a
census division and has no county or regional municipality government above it. Ottawa is bounded on the east by the
United Counties of Prescott and Russell; by
Renfrew County and
Lanark County in the west; on the south by the
United Counties of Leeds and Grenville and the
United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry; and on the north by the
Regional County Municipality of Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais and the City of
Gatineau.
Ottawa is made up of eleven historic townships, ten of which are from historic
Carleton County and one from historic
Russell. They are
Cumberland,
Fitzroy,
Gloucester,
Goulbourn,
Huntley,
March,
Marlborough,
Nepean,
North Gower,
Osgoode and
Torbolton.
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Christmas Lights - Parliament Hill |
Ottawa has a range of temperatures from a record high of 37.8 °C (100 °F) in the summers of 1986 and 2001 to a record low of -36.1 °C (-33 °F) being recorded in the winter of 1943, the second coldest temperature recorded in a capital city (after
Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia). This extreme range in temperature allows Ottawa to boast a variety of annual activities and the requirement of a wide range of clothing. By annual average temperature, Ottawa is the seventh coldest capital in the world [
1].
Snow and ice are dominant during the winter season. Ottawa receives about 235 cm (93 inches) of snowfall annually. Its biggest snowfall was recorded on March 4, 1947 with nearly 2.5 feet of snow (73 CM)[
2]. Average January temperature is -10.8 °C (13 °F), although days well above freezing and nights below -25 °C (-13 °F) both occur in the winter. The snow season is quite variable; in an average winter, a lasting snow cover is on the ground from late November until early April, although some years are snow-free until around or beyond Christmas. High wind chills are common, with annual averages of 51, 14 and 1 days with wind chills below -20 °C, -30 °C and -40 °C respectively. The lowest recorded wind chill was of -47.8 °C on January 8, 1968.
Ice storms are also relatively common, even if compared with other parts of the country. One such large storm caused power outages and affected the local economy, and came to be known as the
1998 Ice Storm.
Summers are fairly warm and humid in Ottawa, although they are typically short in length. The average July maximum temperature is 26.5 °C (80 °F), although temperatures of 30 °C (86 °F) or higher occur frequently. During periods of hot weather, high humidity is often an aggravating factor, especially close to the rivers. Ottawa annually averages 41, 12 and 2 days with humidex readings above 30 °C, 35 °C and 40 °C respectively. The highest recorded humidex was 48 °C on August 1, 2006[
3]
Spring and fall are variable, prone to extremes in temperature and unpredictable swings in conditions. Hot days above 30 °C (86 °F) have occurred as early as April or as late as October, as well as snow well into May and early in October (although such events are unusual and brief). Average annual precipitation averages around 943 mm (37 in.). The biggest one-day rainfall occurred on
September 9,
2004 when the remnants of
Hurricane Frances dumped nearly 5 1/2 inches (136 MM) of rain in the city. There are about 2,060 hours of average sunshine annually (47% of possible).
Destructive summer weather events such as
tornadoes, major
flash floods, extreme
heat waves, severe
hail and remnant effects from
hurricanes are rare, but all have occurred before. Some of the most notable tornadoes in the region occurred in 1978 (F2), 1994 (F3, see
Aylmer, Quebec) and 1999 (F1). On January 1, 2000, an
earthquake measuring 5.2 on the
Richter Scale struck Ottawa. On February 24, 2006, an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale
struck Ottawa. On average a small tremor occurs in Ottawa every three years [
4].
Ottawa is served by
VIA Rail passenger service, a number of
airlines that fly into
Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, and inter-city bus companies such as
Greyhound through the
Ottawa Bus Central Station.
The capital city of Canada is also served by a network of freeways, the main one being provincial
Highway 417 (called
The Queensway), Ottawa-Carleton Regional Road 174 (Formerly Provincial Highway 17), and the newly constructed
Highway 416 (Veterans' Memorial Highway), connecting Ottawa to the rest of the
400-Series Highway network in Ontario. Highway 417 is also the Ottawa portion of the
Trans-Canada Highway. The city also has a few Scenic Parkways (Promenades), such as the
Ottawa River Parkway, and has a freeway connection to Quebec Autoroute 5, in
Hull. For a complete listing of the parkways and roads in Ottawa, see the
List of Ottawa roads.
Ottawa's main mass transit service is
OC Transpo (provided by the City of Ottawa). The Ottawa rapid transit system includes the
Transitway (a network of mostly grade-separated, extremely high-frequency, reserved
bus rapid transit lanes with full stations instead of stops) and a
light rail system called the
O-Train. Both OC Transpo and the Quebec-based
Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) operate bus services between Ottawa and Gatineau. A transfer or bus pass of one is accepted on the other without having to pay a top-up fare on regular routes.
The
Rideau Canal, which starts in
Kingston, Ontario, winds its way through the city. The final flight of locks on the canal are between
Parliament Hill and the
Château Laurier. Also, during the winter season the canal is usually open and is a form of transportation downtown for about 7.8 km for ice skaters (from a point near
Carleton University to the
Rideau Centre) and forms the
world's longest skating rink.
There is a large network of pedestrian and cycling trails that wind their way through much of the city, including trails along the Ottawa River, Rideau River, and Rideau Canal. In combination with a growing network of on-street bicycle lanes, it is possible to cycle between many of the major sites and office areas in the region.
Ottawa sits at the confluence of three major rivers: the
Ottawa River, the
Gatineau River and the
Rideau River. The Ottawa and Gatineau rivers were historically important in the logging and lumber industries, and the Rideau as part of the Rideau Canal system connecting the
Great Lakes and
Saint Lawrence River with the Ottawa River.
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The Château Laurier in downtown Ottawa. |
Some of the notable buildings in Ottawa include the Parliament Buildings, where Canada's government resides;
24 Sussex Drive, the home of the
Prime Minister of Canada; and
Rideau Hall, the home of the
Governor-General of Canada. Ottawa also has most of Canada's national museums, including the
National Gallery of Canada,
Canadian War Museum,
Canada Science and Technology Museum,
Canada Aviation Museum,
Canadian Museum of Nature and
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. The
Canadian Museum of Civilization is located across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec. Ottawa is also the home of the
University of Ottawa,
Carleton University, St-Paul University,
Algonquin College, and
La Cité Collégiale. Federal buildings in the National Capital Region are managed by the
Public Works Canada, while most of the federal lands in the Region are managed by the
National Capital Commission or NCC; its control of much undeveloped land gives the NCC a great deal of influence over the city's development. Ottawa also has its very own Fairmont Hotel, the Chateau Laurier. (shown at right)
As with other capital cities, the word "Ottawa" is also used to refer by
metonymy to the country's
federal government, especially as opposed to provincial or municipal authorities.
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The glass façade of Canada's National Gallery. |
Ottawa's primary employers are the Canadian federal government and the hi-tech industry. Because major companies have offices in the city it has become known as "Silicon Valley North."
List of major technology companies
*
3M*
Adobe Systems*
Agere*
Agilent*
Alcatel*
Bell Canada*
Cisco Systems*
Corel*
Cognos*
CGI Group*
CSC*
Dell*
Entrust*
Espial*
Fidus*
General Dynamics*
Hewlett-Packard*
Hot Lava Software*
IBM*
JDS Uniphase*
LogicVision*
MBNA Canada Bank*
Nortel*
Northern Micro*
PMC-Sierra*
Pythian*
Sybase*
TELUS*
Tundra Semiconductor*
Xandros*
Zarlink SemiconductorOttawa is home to two major league sports teams, the
Ottawa Senators ice hockey team (established 1992) of the
National Hockey League and the
Ottawa Renegades (established 2002 - suspended operations 2006)
football team of the
Canadian Football League. The Senators play at
Scotiabank Place and the Renegades at
Frank Clair Stadium. Ottawa is also home to a minor league
baseball team, the AAA farm team of the
Baltimore Orioles, the
Ottawa Lynx of the
International League. Ottawa also has a major junior ice hockey team, the
Ottawa 67's of the
Ontario Hockey League. Ottawa's two major universities,
Carleton University and the
University of Ottawa both have athletic associations; the team names are the
Carleton Ravens and the
Ottawa Gee Gees respectively. Ottawa's top
soccer team is the
Ottawa Fury who play in the women's
W-League and the men's
USL Premier Development League.
Harness and
Horse racing can be found at
Rideau Carleton Raceway off
Albion Road and
Auto racing can be found at the
Capital City Speedway off
Highway 7. Ottawa also has a professional women's hockey team, the
Ottawa Raiders. Ottawa will be hosting the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championship [
5].
The city also supports many casual sporting activities, such as skating on the
Rideau Canal or
curling in winter, cycling and jogging along the
Ottawa River, Rideau Canal, and Rideau River in summer, playing
Ultimate all year round (especially through the
O.C.U.A.), skiing and hiking in the Greenbelt and the nearby Gatineau Park, and sailing on Lac Deschenes, part of the Ottawa River or golfing on many of the golf courses in the Ottawa area. During the coldest parts of winter there is
ice fishing on the Ottawa river. Ottawa has many
cricket clubs for people of all ages.
Sports teams
In addition to being the capital of Canada, Ottawa is politically diverse with regard to local politics. Most of the city traditionally supports the
Liberal Party, although only some parts of the city are consistent Liberal strongholds. Perhaps the safest areas for the Liberals are the ones dominated by
francophones, especially in
Vanier and central
Gloucester. Central Ottawa is usually more
left-leaning, and the
New Democratic Party can win ridings there as government unions and activist groups are fairly strong. Some of Ottawa's suburbs are swing areas, notably central
Nepean and, despite its francophone population,
Orléans. The southern and western parts of the old city of Ottawa are generally moderate or slightly left of centre but periodically swing to the
Conservative Party. The farther one goes from the city centre - into suburban fringes like
Kanata and
Barrhaven and rural areas - the voters tend to be increasingly conservative, both fiscally and socially. This is especially true in the former Townships of
West Carleton,
Goulbourn,
Rideau and
Osgoode, which are more in line with the staunchly conservative areas in the surrounding
counties. However not all rural areas support the Conservative Party. Rural parts of the former township of
Cumberland, with a large number of francophones, traditionally support the Liberal Party, though their support has recently weakened.
Ottawa became the legislative capital of the Northwest Territories when it reverted to 1870 constitutional status, after
Alberta, and
Saskatchewan were carved out in 1905. From 1905 to 1951 almost all of the council members were civil servants living in Ottawa. From 1951 to 1967 the territory alternated legislative sessions with various
Northwest Territories communities. Ottawa only held legislative sessions of the council.
Fort Smith, Northwest Territories became the administrative centre and officially housed the civil service from 1911 to 1967.
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Map of Ottawa showing the francophone concentrations |
According to the
Canada 2001 Census, there were 774,072 people, 310,132 households, and 210,875 families residing in the city. The
population density was 278.6/km².
| Ottawa Demographics | | Population | - | Age structure | | 15-64 years: 69.9% (male 366,175/female 377,140)
65+ years: 10.8% (male 47,740/female 67,295)>-Median age: | | Male: 35.8 years
Female: 37.4 years>-Population growth rate: | - | Birth rate: | - | Death rate: | - | Net migration rate: | - | Total fertility rate: | - | HIV/AIDS | | Adult prevalence rate:0.3%>-Name: | | Adjective: Ottawan or Ottawa>-Religions:
(2001 census) | Christian (Roman Catholic, Anglican, United Church, Orthodox)
3.9% Muslim
1.0% Jewish
0.8% Buddhist
1.3% Sikh
0.3% Other
13.3% Unspecified or none
>- | Languages: | English (official)
32.6% French (official)
16.5% Other (includes Italian, Chinese, Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, German)
Note: almost every resident in Ottawa speaks English or French, but those who speak non-official languages speak the official languages as a second language.>}Family and ageAccording to the census, there were 210,875 families, of which 72.8% were married couples living together, 11.1% were common-law couples, and 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present.
The age profile of the city is spread out: 25.3% were under the age of 19, 6.9% from 20 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.1 males.
The median income for a working individual in the city was $39,713, and the median income for a family was $73,507. Males had a median income of $47,203 versus $31,641 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,061.| | Old city of Ottawa!New city of Ottawa | | Population (2001) | 337,031 | 774,072 | | Population (1996) | 323,340 | 721,136 | | % Change (1996-2001) | 4.2 | 7.3 | | Private Dwellings | 155,536 | 310,132 | | Density (per km²) | 3059.7 | 278.6 | | Land area (km²) | 110.15 | 2,778.64 |
*Algonquin College
*Carleton University
*La Cité Collégiale
*Saint Paul University
*University of Ottawa
 | Parliament Hill from the Mackenzie King Bridge |
 | The Rideau Canal serves as a waterway in summer and a skating rink in winter. |
*The National Research Council of Canada's shortwave time signal station, CHU, is located in Ottawa.
*The Ottawa ankle rules were developed in, and named after the city.
*List of attractions in OttawaGeographical features*List of bridges in Ottawa
*List of Ottawa buildings
**List of Ottawa churches
**List of Ottawa schools
**List of Ottawa-Gatineau's 10 tallest skyscrapers
**List of embassies and high commissions in Ottawa
*List of Ottawa neighbourhoods
*List of Ottawa parks
*List of Ottawa roads
*National Capital RegionEvents*Canada Dance Festival
*Carnival of Cultures
*CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival
*Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival
*Ottawa Fringe Festival
*Ottawa International Children's Festival
*Ottawa International Hockey Festival
*Winterlude is an annual winter carnival held each year in February. It is focused on the Rideau Canal.
*Tulip Festival: each May Ottawa receives a gift of several hundred thousand tulips from the royal family of the Netherlands. The festival takes place in various locations throughout the city.
*Canada Day is one of Ottawa's most important holidays and people from across the nation visit to celebrate the nation's birthday.
*Ottawa SuperEX is an eleven-day exhibition with entertainment and amusements that takes place every August.
*Hope Volleyball Summerfest is the world's largest volleyball tournament with more than 25,000 players and spectators attending a gigantic beach party with funds going to local charities.
*Ottawa Chamber Music Festival is the world's largest festival of chamber music, held annually.
*Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival, dubbed the largest blues festival in Canada.
*Ottawa Jazz Festival is an annual outdoor music festival highlighting local, national and international jazz musicians.
*Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual international animation festival featuring works of the film makers from all over the world.
* The August Ontario civic holiday which is called Simcoe Day in Toronto and Peter Robinson Day in Peterborough is named Colonel By Day in Ottawa.
* Westfest"Advance" is the motto of the Ottawa [6] and The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. From the Highlander's homepage:
The 43rd Ottawa and Carleton Battalion of Rifles was first permitted to adopt the motto "ADVANCE" and to bear the same upon its appointments in accordance with General Order - 82 dated 13 January, 1882. This motto has been perpetuated by all successors to the 43rd, including the Regiment today. It is the motto of the City of Ottawa. Although Ottawa is often associated with the Governor General's Foot Guards (who wear the distinctive scarlet tunic and Bearskin headdress, and parade regularly on Parliament Hill during the summer), the Cameron Highlanders have a special privilege: marching with bayonets fixed when they march through town. This is part of the "Freedom of the City" honour, accorded to the unit by the mayor of Ottawa in May 1969.*Canadian cities
*City of Ottawa (municipal government)
*City of Ottawa Act
*Dominion Arboretum
*Ottawa City Council
*Ottawa municipal election, 2003
*List of people from Ottawa
*List of Ottawa mayors
* City of Ottawa's website
* Parliament Hill Webcam
* Musée Bytown Museum
* Interesting Facts About Ottawa from Canadian Geographic
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