At the March 2026 award ceremony, from left to right: Brendan Ray, Kevin Ballantyne, Allison Margot Smith, Jean-François Lozier, Ben Weiss, Christine Jackson, Janet Uren, Jane Waterston, Kathy Krywicki - Photo by David McEvoy.

The auditorium of the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library was packed to capacity on the afternoon of Saturday, March 28, 2026, when the Historical Society of Ottawa, prior to its scheduled Speaker program, presented their 2026 François Bregha Storyteller awards. Since its founding in 1898, it has been the mission of the Society to increase awareness of Ottawa’s history. For over a century and a quarter they have told the stories of Ottawa and the surrounding area, but they have not been alone in doing this.

Long-time Society member, Ben Weiss, assisted by Christine Matamoros, who created and leads the Society’s French language speaker series conducted the ceremony to present this year’s Francois Bregha Storyteller Awards. The award was created to recognize individuals, both from within and from outside the HSO, who are considered to have made an outstanding contribution toward increasing awareness of the history of the Ottawa area.

The award is named to honour the late François Bregha, a former HSO member and, posthumously, the inaugural recipient of the award. The Society honours the memory of François Bregha for his legacy and his intense passion… for history and heritage and for the sustainability of the world around us.The HSO was pleased to welcome back Jane Waterston to help present these awards that honour her late husband.

Previous recipients of the HSO François Bregha Storyteller Award have included Albert Dumont, Phil Jenkins, James Powell, Bryan Cook, Dianne Pepall, Paul Weber, Dave Allston, Rick Henderson, Ben Weiss, Arlene Stafford-Wilson, Denise Chong, Glenn Clark, Linda Seccaspina, and professors Sarah Templier and David Dean. 

The bulk of this year’s awards are being presented to individuals whose contributions have aligned with the Society’s Bytown200 Bicentennial themes around Bytown and the Rideau Canal. The first 2026 recipient was Ken Watson, who was unable toattend.

The 200th anniversary of the Rideau Canal cannot be celebrated without recognizing the gargantuan efforts of Ken Watson, not only in preserving the history of the Rideau Canal, but also in his passion for preserving the Rideau Canal from an environmental perspective.

Christine then detailed the contributions of the next two recipients, Alexandre Pampalon and Isabelle Regout, who were also unable to attend. They had travelled to Ottawa to speak at the November 2025 French language presentation on the history of raftsmen, and had taken the extraordinary step of bringing a reproduction raft along with them, that was displayed in the parking lot of the St. Laurent Branch of the Ottawa Public Library.

After these absentia presentations, Christine entertained the audience by singing part of a song about Ottawa she had discovered during her own research. The song was written in 1856, by a Hamilton resident who had been born in France. It was originally published on the front page of Le Journal de Montréal and Christine rediscovered it in a book of political songs. Christine pointed out that at that time, with no electronic mass communication, songs, based on well-known tunes, were a frequent and popular way of spreading news and opinion. Christine’s song was very well received.

The next awards were presented to a very special group. When the HSO created a special web page to collect stories along the Bytown200 themes, they were surprised when they were approached by the Ottawa Olde Forge Rug Hooking group last fall, saying they wanted to participate. It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and do the Rug Hookers ever make pretty pictures! Their amazing work, which was on display at the event and attracted a large crowd, can also be enjoyed online at: Ottawa Olde Forge Rug Hooking – Bytown200 Challenge - The Historical Society of Ottawa

The members of the Old Forge Rug Hookers were: Marion Agnew, Elaine Armstrong, Pat Bonn, Joanne Dickert, Nora Lee, Julie de Loë, André Pinard, Carol Pugsley, Jane Smith, Chris Tibelius and Lara Wellman.

Telling stories effectively in the modern world frequently requires more than just the talents of the storyteller. Thus, the next two recipients were both HSO volunteers, being recognized for the skills they possess and the quality of the work they perform in support of all who tell stories through the HSO. These were Christine Jackson, the HSO’s publications editor, and Kathy Krywicki, curator extraordinaire of the Society’s website.

The Society then honoured Janet Uren, who began collecting the stories of New Edinburgh more than 20 years ago. Janet met with and reached out to New Edinburgh’s residents, and descendants of residents to record their stories, and scoured newspaper accounts from the past, tracing New Edinburgh’s history all the way back to 1826, and the days of Thomas Mackay. The result was a book Janet launched a few months ago , The Villagers: History of the People and Life of New Edinburgh.

Brendan Ray has taken on the task of telling all of Ottawa’s history. To this end, he has so far released almost two dozen weekly podcast episodes.Brendan’s podcasts have taken us from the prehistoric era of the Champlain Sea… to the first Indigenous inhabitants and the first European intruders… and we’ve just now arrived at the point where the Rideau Canal is about to be built. Each episode is lively and informative and with an occasional dose of humour. To get more people to want to learn our history, we need to make it interesting and fun. Brendan has excelled at that with his Ottawa History Hub podcast series.

Kevin Ballantyne’s Forgotten Ottawa shorts and videos have been viewed and enjoyed by thousands. Often in videos as short as two or three minutes, Kevin ensures that fascinating aspects of Ottawa history are, indeed, not forgotten.Kevin’s Forgotten Ottawa videos are frequently shared on the Society’s Facebook page and the Society has been pleased to include Kevin’s 5-minute video on the Shiners in its special Bytown200 collection. In his latest video, in just 5 minutes, Kevin shared the story of the early landscape artists who so importantly left us a panoramic window through which to view Bytown’s early days by their skill with their pallets.

The Historical Society was honoured to include Jean-François Lozier among this year's recipients of the HSO François Bregha Storyteller Award. Dr. Lozier is a professor at the University of Ottawa, author, and curator at the Canadian Museum of History. All who encounter his work come away with a deeper appreciation of the foundation of history that lies beneath where we are today. Amazingly, in addition to all this, Jean-François has also found the time to twice share his passion and knowledge through the our Speaker Series.

This year’s final recipient was Allison Margot Smith, who was also the guest speaker for the afternoon. Allison’s great work has been previously recognized by the Ontario Historical Society who presented her with their Presidents Award in 2023. She has already produced numerous documentary films pertaining to the Rideau Canal and other important history. In response to the Historical Society of Ottawa's Bytown200 Storytelling Challenge, Allison has produced a new film for the Society.In fact, last fall, WPBS-TV caught wind of Allison’s films and has begun airing them on WPBS. They’re going to air Allison’s new film too, but she insisted that they do so after its presentation to the audience that afternoon.

The Historical Society of Ottawa would like to thank all of this year’s recipients of the François Bregha Storyteller Award for their many and varied contributions to the awareness and understanding of the history of Ottawa and its surrounding areas.

Ruth Hall-McMillan’s immense contributions to the Historical Society of Ottawa spanned four decades. Ruth passed away on December 8 2025, at the age of 93.

Inspired by Ottawa’s 150th anniversary in 1976, with the encouragement of HSO, Ruth produced a magnificent series of oil paintings, a collection called “The Rideau Canal Before 1900”. These works, featured in a solo exhibition at Ottawa City Hall, represented a meticulously researched visual record of the canal’s 19th century history.

In 1991, the HSO was honoured to publish a pamphlet by the same name, written by Ruth with narratives accompanying black & white reproductions of each of these wonderful oil paintings. (See Bytown pamphlet #37: The Rideau Canal Before 1900)

With the support of Ruth’s family, we are honoured to offer this digital exhibit of these paintings: Ruth Hall-McMillan - The Rideau Canal before 1900

Ruth’s late father, Bill Hall, had been Curator of the Bytown Museum during the long era when that was all still under the wing of the Historical Society of Ottawa.

Ruth, a lifetime member of the Historical Society of Ottawa, was a prolific painter whose work bridged the gap between fine art and historical preservation. Ruth had studied at Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts under the tutelage of Group of Seven member Arthur Lismer and later graduated from the Famous Artists’ School in Westport, Connecticut.

A series of 27 oil paintings Ruth created for Canada’s Centennial year, in 1967, remain on display in the public library in Thorold, Ontario.

In addition, is the enduring legacy of Ruth’s contribution to the health and wellness community. Despite her own struggles with MS, Ruth was determined to give back. Upon learning from her neurologist that a support system was needed for those with Parkinson’s, she co-founded the Parkinson’s Disease Society of Ottawa-Carleton.

In 2012, Ruth was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition for her 35 years’ service to the Parkinson’s community.

Our deepest condolences to Ruth’s family, and thank you Ruth for your life’s legacy and work.

Let’s hear your stories about Bytown and the Rideau Canal as we begin to mark 2026, the 200th anniversary of the beginning of both!

All contributions are welcome. Selected submissions will be shared on a special webpage on the HSO website for all to access, including educators. Eligible contributions can be submitted in a variety of formats, including written or audio/video.

We hope to also incorporate selected contributions into our many other platforms – such as our blog, the HSO Capital Chronicle newsletter, website articles and the Ottawa Stories sections and potentially our pamphlet series. All will be shared through our social media platforms well.

We welcome stories that pertain to the Rideau Canal or Bytown (1826-1855) or the Ottawa area’s history beforehand, as well as stories exploring the impact that the establishment of both had on the lives and livelihoods of Indigenous people.

We welcome new as well as updated or previously-published materials for submission. Contributors will allow HSO the right to publish their materials while also retaining the right to do so themselves.

Contact us to learn more: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We will also be happy to discuss any proposals for submissions you may have.

Have a look at our collection of stories: www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/resources/bytown-200

Beginning on November 26, 2025, subscribers to Rogers TV will be able to enjoy a brand new season of our series, “Time Travelling with the Historical Society of Ottawa”, a collaboration between Rogers TV and the Historical Society of Ottawa.

Each week's new episode will air Wednesday @ 7:30 p.m. and then be rebroadcast Friday at 5:30 p.m. and the following Tuesday @ 10:00 a.m. on Rogers TV Channel 22.

Here is the schedule of episodes and our featured presenters:

Wednesday, November 26, 2025 @ 7:30 p.m. - Call To Arms: The Fenian Threat with Phil Gurski

Wednesday, December 3 @ 7:30 p.m. - Canada’s Historic Beechwood Cemetery with Nick McCarthy

Wednesday, December 10 @ 7:30 p.m. - John Egan: Pine, Politics & the Ottawa Valley with Michael McBane

Wednesday, December 17 @ 7:30 p.m. - The History of Ottawa’s 2SLGBTQ+ Community with Glenn Crawford

Wednesday, January 7, 2026 @ 7:30 p.m. - Play Ball! The History of Baseball in Early Ottawa with Steve Rennie

Wednesday, January 14 @ 7:30 p.m. - The Château Laurier (If These Walls Could Talk!) with Dominique Lajoie

Wednesday, January 21 @ 7:30 p.m. -  Under the Archway: A History of Ottawa’s Chinese Community with Jeff Wang

All episodes were recorded at the Beechwood Cemetery pavilion. After initial exclusive broadcast on Rogers TV, the series will be made accessible on the HSO website, where you will also find our great episodes from Season #1.

Membership and Donations

Membership

Membership in The Historical Society of Ottawa is open to all. We are students, researchers, authors, retired people and working people from all walks of life and backgrounds. We are a diverse group with one thing in common—a love of history, especially Ottawa Valley history!

By becoming a member of The Historical Society of Ottawa, you are contributing to the preservation and sharing of the Ottawa Valley’s rich history. Your annual membership fees help fund the many activities of the Society which include:

• speaker presentations (in-person or by Zoom, in English or French);
• support for the Ottawa Regional Heritage Fair for youth,
• our annual Storyteller award,
• the publication of historical research and personal memories,
• outings to local museums, and other activities.

So, please join us. We’d be delighted to welcome you as a member! Please read on to see how to join.

Gift Memberships

Gift memberships may also be purchased. Please send your request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will contact you to complete the process.

Membership Types

To  obtain a Student membership, please contact the Society at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will send you an electronic form to complete.

To allow persons on a budget to join The Historical Society of Ottawa and to participate fully in the Society’s activities, a Bursary Fund has been established to reduce membership fees and other expenses. If you are in this position, please contact the Society at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Society’s Email Practices

To hear about events and publications, members may choose to receive regular updates by email. If at any time you no longer wish to receive these emails, please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and ask to be removed from the informational emails list. Members who opt out will still receive essential messages, such as information about the Society’s annual meeting and their annual membership renewal date.

The Society’s Privacy Policy

Only information that is necessary to conduct Society business is collected on our membership forms. Your information is not shared with other organizations. For more details see our Privacy Policy.

Membership Renewal

We send an email to members when it is time to renew. To continue your membership please complete a new form and make your payment as described below.  Many thanks for your continued support!

How to Start or Renew your Membership

ONLINE
To purchase a membership online, please select the secure Register Online button above.

BY MAIL
Memberships can be purchased by mail with a cheque or in person (with cash or cheque). Please download and complete this Membership form.  If paying by cheque, please make it payable to “The Historical Society of Ottawa."

Please mail the membership form and cheque to:
The Historical Society of Ottawa,
P.O. Box 523, Station "B",
Ottawa, ON K1P 5P6

Donations

Donations are another great way to support the work of The Historical Society of Ottawa. We are a volunteer-run organization, so your donations go a long way to support our programming.

The Historical Society of Ottawa is a registered charity.  Our Registration Number is BN 10748 4081 RR 0001.

MAKE A DONATION ONLINE
Use our secure online donation form.

MAKE A DONATION BY MAIL
Download our Donation Form and make cheques payable to:
"The Historical Society of Ottawa"

Mail your cheque along with the donation form to:
The Historical Society of Ottawa,
P.O. Box 523, Station "B",
Ottawa, ON K1P 5P6

We are saddened to learn that long-time HSO member and WWII veteran Elsa Lessard has passed away at the age of 103.

A “WREN”, a member of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service, and Bletchley Park “Secret Listener” during WWII, Elsa has been described as a national treasure” by the CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault and by Admiral Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy.

Read the Ottawa Citizen obituary.

Listen to a CBC interview with Elsa.

Read more about the story of the WRENs in Bytown Pamphlet #104: Our "Capitol" Wrens.

Read about Ottawa's Bletchley Park in Bytown Pamplhet #100: Canada’s Bletchley Park: The Examination Unit in Ottawa’s Sandy Hill 1941–1945. 

Beginning on April 2, 2025, subscribers to Rogers TV will be able to enjoy a fascinating new weekly series, “Time Travelling with the Historical Society of Ottawa”, a collaboration between Rogers TV and the HSO.

Each week's new episode will air Wednesday @ 7:30 p.m. and then be rebroadcast Friday at 5:30 p.m. and the following Tuesday @ 10:00 a.m. on Rogers TV Channel 22.

Here is the schedule of episodes and our featured presenters:

Wednesday, April 2 @ 7:30 p.m.
"Go Exploring" with Paul Weber

Wednesday, April 9 @ 7:30 p.m.
"Glimpses of Forgotten Ottawa" with Kevin Ballantyne

Wednesday, April 16 @ 7:30 p.m.
"Philemon Wright and his town" with Rick Henderson

Wednesday, April 23 @ 7:30 p.m.
"Gord Atkinson: Ottawa's Oldest Teenager" with Peter Atkinson

Wednesday, April 30 @ 7:30 p.m.
"Bytown 1847: Elisabeth Bruyere and the Irish Famine Refugees" with Michael McBane

Wednesday, May 7 @ 7:30 p.m.
"Ottawa's Golden Age of Rock and Roll" with Jim Hurcomb

Wednesday, May 14 @ 7:30 p.m.
"The Changing World of Photography" with Paul Couvrette

Wednesday, May 21 @ 7:30pm
"From Steamboats to the NHL: The Cowley Family" with Christine Jackson

Wednesday, May 28 @ 7:30pm
"Ottawa's Surprising Connections to Basketball's Beginnings" with Leo Doyle

Wednesday June 4 @ 7:30pm
"An Archaeologist's Perspective: Uncovering the Ottawa Area's Ancient Past" with Jean-Luc Pilon

Wednesday, June 11 @ 7:30pm
"Black History in Ottawa Streets" with Jean-Marie Guerrier

In addition, a series of French-language episodes have been been recorded to be broadcast on Rogers TV Cable 23.

All episodes were recording last Fall at the Rockcliffe Park pavilion, courtesy of the National Capital Commission.

After initial exclusive broadcast on Rogers TV, the series will be made accessible on the HSO website.

The French version of the series “Time Travelling” will being airing on May 14, 2025 on Rogers TV 23.

Timeslots will be as follows:

• Dominique Lajoie “Château Laurier: Si les murs pouvaient parler” – May 14, 2025
• Rick Henderson “Philemon Wright et son village” – May 21, 2025

Wednesday 9:00pm (mercredi 21h) *original timeslot*

Thursday 12:30pm (jeudi 12h30)

Thursday 8:30pm (jeudi 20h30)

Friday 4:00pm (vendredi 16h)

Monday 11:00am (lundi 11h)

Both shows will be available on the TV Rogers YouTube site at a later date.

Storyteller Award winners : Linda Seccaspina, Denise Chong and Glenn Clark with Jane Waterston. Photo by Sonja McKay.

The HSO François Bregha Storyteller Award is presented each year to individuals in recognition of their outstanding contribution toward increasing awareness of Ottawa area history – the mission of the Historical Society of Ottawa for the past 127 years.

On Saturday, April 26th it was our great pleasure to present the 2025 HSO François Bregha Storyteller Award to the first three of this year’s five esteemed recipients, Linda Seccaspina, Denise Chong and Glenn Clark.

We were again privileged to welcome Jane Waterston to present the award named in honour of her late husband, former HSO member François Bregha, who was also, posthumously in 2022, the inaugural recipient of this award.

Congratulations to Linda, Denise and Glenn… and many thanks for your wonderful work!

Ben Weiss presenting the HSO Storyteller Award winners David Dean and Sarah Templier with Jane Waterston. Photo by Jenny Armina.

In addition, congratulations to our final two 2025 recipients, David Dean and Sarah Templier. Many thanks for your wonderful work!

The awards were presented on June 16, 2025, during our HSO Speaker Series event with guest speaker Ursula Buchan.

We were again privileged to welcome Jane Waterston to present the award named in honour of her late husband, former HSO member François Bregha, who was also, posthumously in 2022, the inaugural recipient of this award.

On the evening of Wednesday, October 9, 2024, the Historical Society of Ottawa delved into its own past with an exploration of the early decades of the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa (WCHSO) and the remarkable women who formed and ran it. We were pleased to again welcome Connie Wren-Gunn, who reprised the session she had presented at our 125^th Birthday Bash in the summer of 2023. Connie is a professional historian, being the Director, Content & Interpretative Products for Know History. She holds an M.A. in History from Carleton University and is an accomplished writer and passionate researcher.

Connie explained that the women who founded the WCHSO were primarily women of privilege, from prominent local families, who were also responsible for the formation and operation of many other organizations and charities within Ottawa. Women had few rights in the late 1890s, and a number of organizations were created by women, such as the National Council of Women and the International Order of the Daughters of the Empire, which were focused on improving the position of women in society. Although a number of working women were involved in the formation of the WCHSO, they did not remain active with the organization for long. This may be due, in part, to the WCHSO holding its meetings on weekday afternoons.

Connie pointed out that the women who formed the WCHSO were trailblazers, giving women a voice they had never had before. Although some 20 Historical Societies were formed in Canada between 1869 and 1900, the WCHSO was the only one formed and managed entirely by women. It was also the first Canadian Historical Society to send a delegate to the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, Jenny Simpson, in 1909.

Connie then gave us the story of the founding of the WCHSO starting from June, 1898 when thirty-one women met at the home of Matilda Edgar, the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons. Their goal was to promote and preserve the history of Ottawa through publications and through the collection of artifacts. This collection eventually grew into the Bytown Museum, which opened in October 1917. The WCHSO was run as a formal organization, with a constitution, bylaws, officers with assigned responsibilities, scheduled meetings and a membership fee, initially 50 cents yearly, which was not raised until the 1930s. They also published a detailed annual report, which they began after about a decade of operation. The formality of the organization was an important point, as they realized that it would be too easy for them to be perceived simply as a group of ladies, sitting around, sipping tea and chatting. They were serious in what they were doing and wanted everyone to understand it.

Connie went on to describe some of the activities undertaken by the WCHSO in their early years. These included fundraising, money always being in short supply, the creation of scrapbooks based on local news clippings, see the link below, the staging of two major exhibitions of local artifacts and the lobbying of governments for the preservation of historic sites and the creation of plaques and monuments to honour significant events, such as Confederation, and  individuals, chief among these being Lieutenant-Colonel John By.

She then told us a bit about Transactions, a journal published by the WCHSO, which consisted of 10 volumes appearing between 1901 and 1928, which contained over 130 essays. Most of these papers were written by WCHSO members, and although some were based on archival documents, most were based on previously published books, or recorded the memories of local families. Much of the focus of the papers was on early life in Bytown and the Ottawa valley, reflecting the hardships faced and overcome by the early settlers.

Connie explained that in the early part of the 20^th century, universities began introducing mandatory methodologies for historical research for their graduate students requiring original research based solely on written archival documents. This professionalization of history discounted the work of passionate amateurs, such as the women of the WCHSO. Perhaps in response to the growing criticism from professional historians, the WCHSO modified their content of Transactions, reducing them in size and increasing the number of articles written by men. Connie pointed out that in the volume published in 1922, seven of the ten articles were written by men. The WCHSO, perhaps as a further response, shifted its focus away from its writings to the collection and preservation of artifacts in the Bytown Museum.  

In 1956 the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa became simply the Historical Society of Ottawa.

A full recording of Connie’s session can be viewed at: The Story of Us - The (Women's Canadian) Historical Society of Ottawa Est. 1898.

Connie’s Master’s Thesis can be read in full at: Etd | The Women's Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa: Constructing Public Memory and Preserving History in a Changing City, 1898-1932 | ID: j67314577 | Hyrax

The work performed by the 4^th year Digital History class of the University of Ottawa on the scrapbooks created by the WCHSO can be viewed at: Ottawa U Scrapbooking Ottawa History - The Historical Society of Ottawa

The Historical Society of Ottawa has a page on its website dedicated to the WCHSO, which can be viewed at:   WCHSO - The Historical Society of Ottawa