Working to preserve Ottawa's past
for future generations.
HSO 2026 Bytown200 Bicentennial Storytelling Collection
The Historical Society of Ottawa is proud to share stories about Bytown and the Rideau Canal to highlight the 200th anniversary of both in 2026.
Have a story to share as part of our Bytown200 Challenge? Follow this link to learn more: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/hso-news/the-hso-2026-bytown200-bicentennial-storytelling-challenge
The HSO Bytown200 initiative has been made possible, in part, thanks to the generous legacy bequeathed to the Historical Society of Ottawa by the late Ms. Vivian Lawrence.
Kevin Ballantyne – Peter Aylen & The Shiners’ War
13 October 2025
HSO
Kevin Ballantyne is an Ottawa-based computer programmer, musician, and historian. As part of his “Forgotten Ottawa” series of short video presentations, Kevin shares the story of the “Shiners”, whose…
Peter Di Gangi – Algonquin Territory – Indigenous Title Yet Resolved
13 October 2025
HSO
Peter Di Gangi, based in Ottawa, is an established expert on Indigenous historical, legal and cultural research, working with Indigenous communities for over 40 years. Peter points out that the…
Lynn Gehl – Akikodjiwan
11 October 2025
HSO
Lynn Gehl, PhD, author, activist and member of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, makes the case, in this 2018 article, that historic and current development has betrayed the "Asinabka"…
Special 2026 Bytown200 Speaker Series
29 September 2025
HSO
James Powell, Allison Margot Smith and Lynn Gehl will be our guest speakers as we mark the 200th anniversary of the start of the Rideau Canal and Bytown – and also…
Chloe Dennis – Luxury Passenger Steamboats of the Rideau Canal
16 September 2025
HSO
Chloe Dennis is Exhibitions and Collections Manager for the Bytown Museum. After the completion of the Rideau Canal, it was actively used by transport steamers until the 1870s when a…
Allison Margot Smith – The Rideau Canal (Films)
18 August 2025
HSO
Historian and documentary filmmaker Allison Margot Smith, winner of the Ontario Historical Society’s President’s Awards for her fascinating documentary films, shares four of her short films reflecting back on the…
Jean-Luc Pilon – Paddling through the Past
18 August 2025
HSO
What vast history existed here in the Ottawa area, long before the establishment of Bytown and the Rideau Canal? Renowned archaeologist/anthropologist Dr. Jean-Luc Pilon helps us reveal our area’s past.…
Michael McBane – Bytown 1847
15 August 2025
HSO
Historian Michael McBane, author of Bytown 1847: Élisabeth Bruyère & the Irish Famine Refugees, re-tells this important story for the "Time Travelling with the Historical Society of Ottawa" HSO/Rogers TV…
Jim Stone – Chief Pinesi
15 August 2025
HSO
Much of our nation’s capital today sits specifically on the (unceded) traditional land of Grand Chief Pierre Louis Pinesi and his family. Jim Stone, a non-Indigenous historian, researched the story…
Rick Henderson – The Capital Builders
11 August 2025
HSO
Rick Henderson is the great-great-great-great-grandson of Philemon Wright & Abigail Wyman and author of "Capital Chronicles". Rick recounts the history of the region in four parts: The Curious Cast that Created Canada's…
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