The Historical Society of Ottawa’s first speaker series of 2023 was an exciting debate on who was Ottawa’s most remarkable mayor: Charlotte Whitton or Marion Dewar? In one corner we had Dave Mullington, a former journalist, author, and long time member of the HSO defending Whitton. In the other corner, defending Dewar, we had a last-minute substitution of Robert Fox. Fox was Dewar’s chief of staff, Oxfam Canada’s representative in Central America, Communications Manager for CUPE, National Director of the NDP, and is presently co-chair of the Ottawa People’s Commission on the Convoy Occupation. Both experts in their chosen champion, the audience was really in for a treat. 

Mullington was up first and jokingly pointed out it’s lucky that the subject of the debate was Ottawa’s most remarkable mayor rather than its kindest because in this debate of saint versus sinner he had chosen the sinner. He gave the audience great details on Whitton’s life and career before she became mayor. Whitton was elected to the Ottawa Board of Control in 1950, and, after the mayor Grenville Goodwin’s unexpected death the same year, she was immediately appointed acting mayor, becoming the first woman mayor of a major Canadian city. For those wishing to learn more about Whitton’s achievements it’s worth checking out Mullington’s book ‘Charlotte: The Last Suffragette’ published in 2010, which the HSO will have a few copies for sale at the next in-person speaker series. 

Fox was up next and came dressed in two campaign buttons he wore while campaigning with Dewar back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. As Dewar's Chief of Staff, Fox spent a lot of time with Dewar and spoke emotionally about her love of the city and its people. Dewar served as mayor from 1978 to 1985 and is well known for leading Project 4000, where in 1979, when Ottawa pledged to sponsor 4000 Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees. For those wishing to learn more about the project the HSO has a recorded speaker series from co-authors of the book "Running on Empty" by Michael Molloy and Robert Shalka, and Rivaux Lay, former Cambodian refugee, on the HSO YouTube page. 

To finish up the afternoon, the two joined together on stage for a question period with questions from the audience. Both were incredible speakers and I was left unable to choose a winner. Special thanks again to Robert Fox, who filled in at the last minute for Elisabeth Arnold, Ottawa City Councillor, Somerset Ward, 1994-2003.

As most of our older members, but few of our newer members know, the Historical Society of Ottawa is in strong financial shape because of former president George Neville’s prudent leadership. And now the next generation of directors are having fun finding meaningful projects to support around town that showcase local history.

On September 30, 2022, on only the second ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Ottawa Historical Society partnered with the Ottawa-based First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and Beechwood Cemetery for its annual educational activities.

Our donation provided a ride in style on the Lady Dive between Beechwood and Sparks Street where hourly walking tours were led up to St. Andrew’s at the corner of Wellington and Kent Streets.

Over 100 participants gathered at Beechwood at 10 am on the beautiful fall day, including HSO president Emma Kent and myself. First, we took in a children’s film produced by the First Nation Child and Family Caring Society to educate little ones about the history and enduring legacy of residential schools.

After the film we took the Beechwood tour which started off at Nicholas Floor Gavin’s memorial and ended at Peter Henderson Bryce’s. What most impressed me was the speaker’s focus on both their contributions and shortcomings. Gavin was a proponent of both women’s suffrage and the removal of Indigenous children from the “influence of the Wigwam”. Bryce documented and reported health abuses and high death rates in the residential school system while the chief medical officer of the Department of Indian Affairs; however, didn’t follow up on his observations with the publication of “The Story of a National Crime: An Appeal of Justice to the Indians of Canada” until after he had retired from the public service. Along the path down to Dr. Bryce’s memorial, there were 93 signs bearing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action.

We then headed over to Sparks Street on the Lady Dive where we learned more about the upcoming installation of the plaque “Reconciling History: Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce” – a trilingual (Algonquin, English, and French!) text that will be installed where his offices were located at 61 Sparks Street. The downtown tour ended at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, which was built in 1828, and which is now a strong supporter of the Every Child Matters movement. We were also provided with snacks and chats at St. Andrew’s and had the chance to take in the beautiful interior.

Many thanks to Nick McCarthy, Beechwood’s Director of Marketing, Communications and Community Outreach, for all of his support, and we hope to participate again next year!

You can see a very nervous yours truly and sincere Emma speaking about her experience on that day in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgpI0INDgKo

Arthur Milnes recalls how Jimmy Carter played a courageous role in repairing the damage from the world's first nuclear meltdown — here in the Ottawa Valley.

Over the years, the Historical Society of Ottawa has had many presentations about people who have had a significant impact on the history of Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley, and we’ve always been able to count on guest speakers who have researched their subject well, but its quite rare to have a presentation from a speaker who personally knows the subject of the presentation and has had that historic person as a guest at his Kingston home. In fact, for our Oct 26, 2022 Zoom presentation we had two speakers with first-hand knowledge of their subject.

Arthur Milnes considers former US president Jimmy Carter to be a friend. He has had many interviews with the 39th president since first attending one of Carter’s Sunday school classes in 2002, and has been invited to the home where Jimmy and former first lady Rosalynn still reside.

Arthur is the author of 98 Reasons to Thank Jimmy Carter. Arthur chose that number because his recently-published book came out soon after the former president’s 98th birthday.

So what does a US president have to do with Canada, and the Ottawa Valley in particular? Well, you may recall from a post at the HSO’s Facebook page about a year ago (the post received a million views on Facebook and millions more on Twitter!) that Carter was a lieutenant in the US Navy in 1952, and was placed in charge of an emergency radioactive clean-up at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, that year. In this presentation, Arthur left it to Carter himself to give the details of the event, via YouTube.

Joining Arthur for the evening was Jill Stuckey. She is the superintendent of the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. She joined us from Plains, Georgia; the hometown of President Carter. Jill took us on a quick tour of the museum, which is located in the high school that both Rosalynn and Jimmy attended. Jill had a meeting earlier that day with the former president and first lady, and they asked Jill to be sure to say hello to everyone watching Arthur’s presentation.

Also on the line for the evening was Morgan Brown, who is the president of the Society for the Preservation of Canada’s Nuclear Heritage. Morgan joined us to offer some details on the technical aspects of nuclear reactors and how decisions regarding their operation affected Lieutenant Carter’s efforts at Chalk River. Brown’s society faces the difficult, but important challenge of preserving a part of history that some Canadians would like to forget, or imagine didn’t happen. But it’s important to note that Canada played an early critical role in nuclear research, with Chalk River as the centre of that activity. Without that early contribution to nuclear research, a US president might never have become an important part of Canadian history.

Thank you to all three of our guests for a lively and informative presentation.

You can view the full presentation on the HSO YouTube channel.

See also: Jimmy Carter and Canada via YouTube. And The Society for the Preservation of Canada's Nuclear Heritage for a virtual tour of their museum in Deep River.

REGISTER at http://tinyurl.com/HSO-30-Nov-2022 for our free online presentation scheduled for Wednesday, November 30th at 7pm.

The Ottawa Valley has been home to the proud Algonquin people for as many as 8,000 years. Long before the arrival of Europeans, the Algonquins lived, hunted trapped, fished, socialized and traded on both sides of the Ottawa River and along its tributaries.

Councillor Merv Sarazin, band councillor Pikwakanagan First Nation and direct descendant of the Grand Chief Constant Pinesi, explores the Algonquin people's vital connection to this history.

Here is the Zoom registration link:  tinyurl.com/HSO-30-Nov-2022

Rod MacIvor enthralled us on November 16, 2022, with tales from his four decades as an award-winning Ottawa-based photojournalist, while sharing images of some the most remarkable photographs he has captured over the years.

His seemingly endless portfolio of iconic photos included those taken of Pierre Trudeau and family (including the former PM's ground-breaking trip to Cuba in 1976), the Royal family, Wayne Gretzky, Jean Chrétien and more.

Rod shared some fascinating inside stories including dust-ups with Cuban security and providing Margaret Trudeau with photography lessons. Rod shared many humourous stories from his long career and the laughter was abundant among those of us in that afternoon's audience in the auditorium of the Ottawa Public Library's main branch.

We were also treated to a glimpse of the everyday and nature photography Rod enjoys in his retirement. (Those interested in seeing more might consider following Rod on Facebook!)

We are not, at this point, simulcasting and/or recording our afternoon presentations in the OPL auditorium, such as Rod's, but we would very much like to begin doing so if the volunteer resources to do so come forward.

In the meantime, here are two video links that might be of interest:

• a four-minute video produced with Rod a few years ago
• a longer Zoom recording courtesy of the PROBUS organization where Rod did a similar presentation earlier this fall

Brian McDougall takes us back to the turbulent post-war era of labour unrest and explores the defeat of the radicals and the implications of that moment in Ottawa's history for our understanding of the underlying social tensions of 1919.

We returned to our in-person Speaker Series on September 14, 2022, after a two and half year hiatus, with a fascinating presentation by Rick Henderson, great-great-great-great-grandson of Philemon Wright.

Rick's presentation included not only thoroughly researched detail and a great selection of images, but also an excerpt from his recently completed "A Walk in Wright's Town in 1830" virtual tour of the Ottawa Valley's first permanent settlement.

In his talk, Rick traced how, arriving over two centuries ago, Philemon Wright and his family carved out a thriving community, launched the industrial development of the region and provided crucial support and assistance to the founding of Bytown and the construction of the Rideau Canal.