HSO’s Declaration on Diversity of Perspective 2021 (updated)

HSO's Acknowledgement

The Historical Society of Ottawa's mission, since its founding in 1898, has been to preserve and increase public knowledge of our local history. 

We acknowledge that, in pursuing this mission, we have often done so within a narrow cultural perspective that has not always been inclusive of the equally important perspectives of those among us of different race, national or ethnic origin, mother tongue, colour, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

We are dedicated to highlighting the diverse experiences of Indigenous peoples, racialized groups, under-represented communities (including but not limited to children/youth, low income/in poverty, women, elderly, etc.), 2SLGBTQI+ groups, and others, who continue to enrich our communities.

HSO's Commitment

1. HSO shall do its utmost to ensure that our presentations, publications, and activities consider diverse cultural perspectives and address past and present injustices.
2. In further support of this commitment The Historical Society of Ottawa officially recognizes and embraces the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024)

In doing so, The Historical Society of Ottawa acknowledges the roles that the slave trade, colonialism, systemic racism, and civil and human rights violations have played in our history and which continue to resonate in present times.

If you missed our virtual Speaker Series presentation "Kettle Island: A Bridge to Ottawa's Past" with Randy Boswell, or you'd just like to watch it again, you can view this presentation online.

Here's a link to the recorded video of Randy's talk. Enjoy!

Wow! Did you miss our virtual Speaker Series presentation "Uncovering Canada's Past: Digging Up Parliament Hill" with Stephen Jarrett? What an amazing presentation it was!

The good news is... here is the video link to enjoy Stephen's talk in its entirety!

Our apologies to those who were unable to attend Stephen's presentation due to Zoom's 100 attendee limit. We had processed the request to increase attendance but we seem to have experienced a technical glitch.

We're so sorry! The November 2020 presentation was our third foray into the new world of virtual talks and we're still learning the ropes. We hope you enjoy this recorded version of this excellent talk:

We’ve all been obligated to face many new challenges this year, and it was with some concern that the Historical Society of Ottawa chose to make a transition to on-line meetings so that we can continue to reach out to our members and the community during this difficult time. We weren’t certain how well the transition would go. Perhaps people might pass on HSO presentations if they were to be presented via computer. However, for our second online lecture we gathered 86 participants. That compares favourably to some of our most well-attended live meetings.

Our October guest speaker is no stranger to on-line communication. As a part-time teacher at the University of Ottawa, Jo-Anne McCutcheon has been working with her students through Zoom since COVID restrictions began.

Jo-Anne talked about the many resources available to students, historians, genealogist and researchers online. Her presentation, which you can watch anytime at the HSO website, shows how to link to newspapers (current and historical), photo galleries, documents, academic papers, and records of meetings of Parliament. Jo-Anne’s presentation walks you through the process of creating your own files for storing information and even adding and sharing your own content.

You may be surprised to find out just how much is out there to help you do research or just surf the web for sites with unique, authentic historical content. In this HSO presentation, Jo-Anne has picked out some of her favourite sites and shows how to take advantage of their features.

You can link to Jo-Anne’s presentation by visiting our website, and choosing Videos on the ‘Resources’ tab.