Ottawa, Ontario

Alternate meanings: Ottawa (disambiguation)

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, located in the eastern part of the province of Ontario. The population as of 2001 was approximately 774,072 people. The Ottawa region has a population of approximately 1,110,498. The mayor of the city today (2004) is Bob Chiarelli.

Location

Ottawa sits on the Ottawa River, which divides Quebec from Ontario. The majority of its residents speak English and a significant minority speak French. A majority of the residents of the Quebec city of Gatineau, directly across the river from Ottawa, speak French.

The Rideau Canal, which starts in Kingston, Ontario, wends its way through the city. The final flight of locks on the canal are adjacent to the Parliament Buildings.

The changing of the guards in front of the Parliament of Canada.

Notable buildings and institutions

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 several museums, including the National Gallery of Canada, Canadian War Museum, Canada Science and Technology Museum, and Canadian Museum of Nature. The Canadian Museum of Civilization is located across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec. Ottawa is also the proud home of the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. Ottawa is served by Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. All federal buildings and lands are managed by the National Capital Commission an organization that has a great deal of power over the city.

Annual Events

• Winterlude is an annual winter carnival held each year in Febraury. 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. These are displayed throuhgout 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.

Primary industries

Ottawa's primary employers are the Canadian federal government and high technology. Many publicly traded companies such as Nortel, Alcatel, JDS Uniphase, Mitel and Corel have offices in the city.

Sports

Ottawa is home to two major league sports team, the Ottawa Senators (established 1992) of the National Hockey League and the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League. It is also home to the AAA farm team of the Baltimore Orioles, the Ottawa Lynx of the International League, and the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League.

History

The Ottawa region was long home to First Nations peoples who were part of the Algonquin. The first European settlement in the Ottawa 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 Ottawa was soon booming based almost entirely off timber. The city grew even further in importance when the Rideau Canal was constructed by Colonel John By. The city was then known as Bytown, but it was incorporated as Ottawa in 1855. On December 31, 1857 Queen Victoria, asked to settle a dispute between Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Kingston and Ottawa, chose Ottawa to be the capital of Canada. She hid so by sticking her hatpin on a map roughfly halfway between Toronto and Montreal; Ottawa was the nearest city to were it landed. This decison was made because it was midway between the centres of French and English population. The city was also far further from the American border and was thus safer from attack than the other options.

The original Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa burned down on February 3, 1916. The House of Commons was temporarily relocated to the Victorian era building which was then the Victoria Museum, and is currently (2004) the Canadian Museum of Nature, located about 1 km south of Parliament Hill at the opposite end of 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.

In 2001, the city of Ottawa was amalgamated with the suburbs of Nepean, Kanata, Gloucester, Rockcliffe Park, Vanier and Cumberland, and the rural townships of West Carleton, Osgoode, Rideau and Goulbourn, to become one municipality.

See also: List of Ottawa mayors

According to the 2001 Statistics Canada Census:

• % Change (1996-2001): 7.3
• Dwellings: 310,132
• Area (sq. km.): 2,778.64
• Density (persons per sq. km.): 278.6

The dramatic rear view of Parliament Hill, with the
Library of Parliament perched atop the deep gorge of the
Ottawa River