Ottawa Cultural Centres

One of the most active community centres in the downtown core is the Glebe Community Centre. Originally called Abbotsford House, built in 1867 by Alexander Mutchmor, it had a few incarnations as a church before finally being sold to the City in 1974 to become the Glebe Community Centre. A centerpiece of the family-oriented neighbourhood, the main hall is a great place for kids and offers child-related
events throughout the week during the day (including a small kitchen for lunches) and a series of community and craft fairs on the weekends. The entire building was closed for renovation for a year and reopened again in 2005, and you can easily get lost in the maze of stairs and little tiny rooms throughout. 175 Third Ave., 564-1058

Centres of Culture

A highlight of Chinatown (or “Somerset Heights”) is the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre (381 Kent St., 235-1032), established in 1975 to advance the social and economic integration of people of Chinese descent into the mainstream society in Ottawa. The facility assists with settlement, counselling, language training, and community development.
Other community centres in Ottawa providing similar services for other communities across the region include the Italian Canadian Community Centre of the National Capital Region (101-865 Gladstone Ave., 567-4532), the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (21 Nadolny Sachs Private, 798-9818), the Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre (43 Capital Dr., Nepean, 225-8754), and the Somali Centre for Family Services (1719 Bank St., 526-2075). Not exactly a community centre, but along the same lines, there’s always the Irish Society of the National Capital Region, providing information on scholarships, genealogy, and various cultural events, including its annual Irish Week in March, when it hosts of the St Patrick’s Day parade.

Ottawa Cemetaries

The most famous eternal resting place in Ottawa is Beechwood Cemetery (280 Beechwood Ave., 741-9530). Established in 1873 as a Protestant counterpart to nearby Notre Dame cemetery, Beechwood is a National Historic Site, and only one of four cemeteries in the country to be designated as such. Have a look at the sections where veterans from the Northwest Rebellion (1885), World War II, and recent United Nations campaigns rest in peace. Also interred here are our eighth prime minister (and the handsome fellow on our $100 bill), Sir Robert Borden (1854-1937); the father of Canada’s Medicare system, Tommy Douglas (1904-1986); the inventor of standard time, Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915); Ottawa lumber baron J. R. Booth (1827-1925); the Saskatchewan poet John Newlove (1938-2003); and Confederation poet Archibald Lampman (1861-1899). Lampman even wrote a poem that suits this place:

Here the dead sleep, the quiet dead. No sound disturbs them ever, and no storm dismays.

Meanwhile, Pinecrest Cemetery (2500 Baseline Rd., 829-3600) is a veritable hockey hall of fame. Some notable skaters spending their eternal off-season here include: Boston Bruins’ left winger Arthur Gordon Bruce (1919-1997), former Bruins and Ottawa Senators players Harry Alexander Connor (1904-1947), Cyril Joseph “Cy” Denneny (1891-1970), one of the top-scoring left wings of his era (when he retired, he was the top goal getter in the history of the Ottawa Senators), and Senators players Erskine Rockcliffe Ronan (1889-1937), Gerald Edmund Shannon (1910-1983), Allan “Big Pete” Shields (1906-1975) (who won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Maroons in 1934-5), and Alexander “Boots”
Smith (1902-1963).

The most prominent Catholic cemetery in the city is Notre Dame Cemetery (455 Montreal Rd.), the final resting place of hockey greats Alex Connell (1902-1958), Tommy Smith (1885?1966), and Aurel Joliat (1901-1986), as well as photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), World War I hero (awarded the Victoria Cross) Filip Konowal (1886-1959), statesman Louis-Felix Pinault (1852-1906), and Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier (1841-1919), along with his wife Zoé.

James Naismith: Dr Hoops

If you travel a bit west of town, between Almonte and the Mill of Kintail, you’ll find a roadside plaque commemorating Dr James Naismith, the inventor of the game of basketball, who was born nearby. A physical education teacher and Presbyterian minister, he invented the game while working in Massachusetts in 1891.

The War Memorial

In 1925, a worldwide competition was held to solicit designs for the National War Memorial to commemorate those who had served in the armed forces during World War I. With the majority of entries from Canada, there were also applicants from around the world. The winner, a piece by Vernon March of England, was chosen from among 127 entries. March began work on the memorial in England, but he died in 1930 before completing it. The work passed to his sister and six brothers, who completed the bronze figures (including a group of soldiers pulling guns, and figure of an angel) in 1932; they were then displayed in Hyde Park in London for six months in 1933, as the Ottawa site was being prepared. In 1937, the figures were moved overseas; assembly of the entire structure was completed in 1938. About 100,000 people attended the address by King George VI at the official opening in 1939. The memorial was expanded in 1982 in honour of Canadians who had served in all wars.

The Unknown Soldier

In 2000, a Canadian Forces aircraft flew to France to bring the Unknown Soldier (an unidentified soldier from a cemetery in the vicinity of Vimy Ridge, the site of the famous World War I battle in which Canadian soldiers played a large role) back to Canada. Created by British Columbian artist Mary-Ann Liu, the current Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sits at the National War Memorial (see opposite page) on Elgin and Sparks Streets; it is patterned after the stone altar of the Vimy Memorial but, due to Canada’s harsher climate, is made of bronze.

Sir Galahad in Ottawa

Are you wondering why there is a statue of Sir Galahad directly in front of the grounds of Parliament Hill? Well, here’s the story: Lady Minto, wife of Canada’s Governor General at the turn of the 20th century (who later founded the Minto Skating Club in 1903), hosted a series of weekly skating parties at Rideau Hall, giving the sport a tremendous boost. At one of these outings, in 1901, Miss Bessie Blair, daughter of the Minister of Railways and Canals, and her skating partner fell through the ice on the Ottawa River near the mouth of the Gatineau River. Fortunately, Blair’s companion escaped, but the attempt by government employee Henry Albert Harper to rescue Miss Blair failed, and both were lost. To acknowledge both Harper’s bravery and the loss of such a close friend, William Lyon Mackenzie King, in the days before he became prime minister, commissioned a statue of Sir Galahad, known as “the pure.” A confirmed bachelor his whole life (if you don’t count his spiritual advisors or his faithful dog, who he thought was a reincarnation of his departed mother), Mackenzie King had many close friends, both male and female, but apparently Harper was especially close, leading to a particular kind of rumour around town. Perhaps this statue can be considered a tribute to Mackenzie King’s knight in shining armour.

The Centennial Flame

At one second past midnight on January 1, 1967, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson launched Canada’s Centennial by lighting, for the first time, the Centennial Flame, informally known as the “eternal flame.”

The shields surrounding the flame correspond to the years when each province or territory joined Confederation, and the water from the fountain symbolizes Canada’s unity from sea to sea. An Act passed by Parliament in 1991 ensures that all the coins thrown into the fountain go to fund research by and about Canadians with disabilities.