Working to preserve Ottawa's past
for future generations.
"This is Lotta Hitschmanova. Please give generously to the Unitarian Service Committee, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa 4."
While ensuring that "56 Sparks Street" reigned as one of the best-known addresses in Canada, Dr. Hitschmanova was also feeding and clothing children in desperate need around the world. Does hearing that iconic public service announcement still trigger strong memories?
Born in Prague to a well-to-do family, Lotta received a first-class education and began a career as a journalist, outspoken in her opposition of Nazi Germany. When Hitler's troops invaded Czechoslovakia, Lotta was forced to flee penniless and never again see her parents who would end up perishing in a German concentration camp.
Arriving in Canada as a refugee herself, Lotta founded the USC Canada (Unitarian Service Committe of Canada, now called Seeds of Change) in 1945, while still a landed immigrant. Over the decades the USC would raise over $100 million for those in need in strife-torn countries around the globe. Working tirelessly, Lotta was well known by the home-made military-type uniform she wore, patterned after those worn by army nurses. Her uniform is now preserved at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Dr. Hitschmanova was bestowed countless much-deserved honours over the years including Companion of the Order of Canada. After a lifetime of humanitarian pursuits, Lotta Hitschmanova passed away in Ottawa in 1990.
The Historical Society of Ottawa's James Powell shares the story of Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova:
Born in Hong Kong on February 10, 1939, Adrienne (Poy) Clarkson came to Ottawa with her family shortly afterward, following the Japanese invasion of the territory.
Arriving when she was 3 years old, Madam Clarkson’s family’s first home in Ottawa was on what was then known as Sussex Street –- little might they have suspected that their young daughter would one day reside further along Sussex Drive, at Rideau Hall.
In January 2024, HSO members James Powell and Ben Weiss had the unique opportunity to enjoy “tea” and a conversation with Madam Adrienne Clarkson, Canada’s 26th Governor General.
James Powell writes about what they learned during that afternoon with Canada’s former Vice-Regal: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/hso-news/tea-with-adrienne-clarkson
An Ottawa Family: The Story of Philip & Nancy Weiss / HSO Memory Project
-As we grow the HSO Ottawa Million Strong story collection, we invite you to share your stories with the HSO Memory Project team.
So many of our family stories are those of immigrants and refugees of some kind, and the Weiss family story is certainly no exception.
Historical Society of Ottawa member Ben Weiss sat down with the HSO Memory Project team and shared the story of how his mother, a WWII Dutch war bride, and his father, a Canadian soldier and son of early 1900s Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe, met during the Liberation of the Netherlands, and were later drawn to settle in Ottawa during the post-war boom years of federal public service expansion:
Would you like to sit down for an interview with the HSO Memory Project team to share your family’s story?
Visit our HSO Memory Project web page to learn more: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/publications/memory-project
Following WWII, approximately 40,000 Holocaust survivors resettled in Canada. Ottawa became home to many of those Holocaust survivors and hundreds of their descendants.
Phil Emberley shares his father Dieter's experience as one of the 10,000 Jewish children evacuated by the British government before the start of WWII from his home in Germany.
View this recording our Phil Emberley’s November 2025 HSO Speaker Series presentation: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/resources/videos/speaker-series/a-holocaust-testimonial-my-father-s-story
The Barber Family: Our Proud Place in Ottawa’s History / Tom Barber
-Born into slavery in Kentucky, Paul Barber, was one of Ottawa’s earliest Black permanent residents and a renowned horse trainer, founding a family that has made its mark in the capital for over a century.
Tom Barber, Paul Barber's grandson, shares the remarkable story of his family and their important role in Ottawa’s past, as well as reflecting on other immigrant groups that have come to make the nation’s capital their home.
View this recording of Tom Barber’s February 2022 HSO Speaker Series presentation: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/resources/videos/speaker-series/the-barber-family-our-proud-place-in-ottawa-s-history
Although never very numerous, Danish immigrants to Ottawa quickly found each other and gathered socially, thus forming a distinct Danish community. They integrated quickly and effortlessly, while remaining proud of their background and heritage.
In this 2023 HSO digital pamphlet, author Rolf Buschardt Christensen focusses on 12 families who represent fairly the community and provided its agenda and leadership.
The Algonquin Anishinaabeg of the Ottawa River Valley: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow / Lynn Gehl
-Long before the recent arrival of non-Indigenous settlers, the Ottawa River Valley had, for millennia, been home to the Algonquin Anishinaabe people and their ancestors.
Dr. Lynn Gehl, an Algonquinmakes the case that we have yet to resolve crucial issues such as that our national capital – the “heart of Canada” continues to trespass on the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg and that violation of Algonquin rights continue.
View this recording of the HSO’s February 2026 conversation with Dr. Lynn Gehl, Anishinaabe Algonquin advocate, academic, artist, and author:
Archaeological evidence suggests that the Ottawa Valley has been home to the AlgonquinAnishinaabe people and their ancestors for as many as 8,000 years.
Long before the arrival of Europeans, the Algonquin people lived, hunted, trapped, fished, socialized and traded on both sides of the Ottawa River and along its tributaries.
Over the years, First Nations across North America had been persuaded to sign treaties to hand their land over to the Europeans (frequently on less than favourable terms). The Algonquin, however, were never party to any such agreement.
As a result, we must acknowledge that the Ottawa Valley, including the city of Ottawa and the national capital region, remain the unceded territory of the Algonquin people -- the rest of us mere guests of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people at best, trespassers at worst.
James Powell, Historical Society of Ottawa member and author of the “Today in Ottawa’s History” blog, shares the story of Algonquin Anishinaabe people:
An HSO story collection celebrating the diverse communities that constitute Ottawa’s cultural mosaic.
Throughout our history, Ottawa’s (and Canada’s) cultural fabric has been continually diversified and enriched as its population has grown and flourished to represent peoples, cultures and languages from around the world.
Do you have a story to tell about your community, the joys and adversities experienced, and the proud contributions your community has made to Ottawa’s cultural mosaic? We invite you to add your story for the HSO Ottawa Million Strong Project!
All submissions are welcome and those selected will be added to this special HSO Ottawa Million Strong Project story collection. Submissions can be in a variety of formats, including written or audio/video. We welcome submissions of new as well as updated or previously published materials. Contributors will allow the Historical Society of Ottawa the right to publish these materials while also retaining the right to do so themselves.
In addition, the HSO Memory Project team will be recording a limited number of oral histories as part of the HSO Ottawa Million Strong Project. Please let us know if you might like to share your community’s story through an interview with the HSO Memory Project team.
Contact us to learn more: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Lest We Forget
An exploration of the valour and unequal Treatment of Algonquin who have served in Canada's Armed Forces
Featuring Wendy Jocko Sgt. CD (Ret’d), Former Chief of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation. Canadian Forces Veteran & Lynn Gehl Ph.D, Anishinaabe Algonquin Advocate, Academic, Author & Artist
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