Working to preserve Ottawa's past
for future generations.
Our in-person speaker session of February 8, 2023, hosted by the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, featured two speakers – double the pleasure, double the fun! One of our speakers related fascinating stories of places, many of which we can no longer see, while the other encouraged us all to get out and look at what we still can, at least for now. We welcomed Hagit Hadaya as our first speaker of the afternoon. Hagit holds a Master of Canadian Heritage Conservation and a High Honours BA in…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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: …
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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…
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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…
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Thursday, 27 October 2022 10:25
Hatpins & Defiance: The Battle in Ottawa against Regulation 17
Written by James Powell
Members and guests who attended the October 2022, in-person, HSO presentation at the Auditorium of the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library were treated to a tour de force by Jean-François Lozier, Curator at the Canadian Museum of History. Jean-François told a story that, while familiar to Ottawa’s Francophone community, is mostly unknown in the city’s Anglophone community—the “Battle of the Hatpins” or la battaille des épingles. In this David-Goliath struggle, Francophone parents, in particular mothers, fought the Government of Ontario in 1916 to have their primary-aged children attending…
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After four years as our President, the Board of Directors and HSO members would like to thank Karen Lynn Ouellette for a job well done. As former Past President George Neville can attest, the president’s job is a tough one—herding cats at the best of time! Doing it while holding down a full-time job made it all the more challenging for Karen Lynn. And let’s not even talk about the difficulties posed by two years of COVID, and running a virtual organization virtually, so to speak. But she did it…
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