Sixty of us gathered in the auditorium of the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library on the afternoon of June 20, 2026 to hear a presentation from Glenn Crawford on the history of “Gays of Ottawa”, (GO), the first major social and political 2SLGBTQI+ organization in Ottawa. The presentation was timed to coincide with Pride Month.

Glenn was born in Edmonton but has lived in Ottawa since he was three. He is an entrepreneur/designer with an extensive background in design, service, journalism, art, communications and marketing. In 2021, he relocated his home and business. Jack Of All Trades, to Gatineau. Glenn has been an activist within the 2SLGBTQ+ community in the National Capital area for the past 20 years. In 2007, Glenn won the Capital Extra’s Hero award as Community Activist of the Year and in 2010 he was the Grand Marshall of the Capital Pride Parade. Since 2015, Glenn has been the researcher and creator of the Village Legacy project that documents Queer history in the Ottawa area: The Village Legacy Project | Le Projet de legs du village.

Glenn began by discussing, what he called the “touchy subject” of the various acronyms and abbreviations that are used to describe his community, including: LGB, LGBT, 2SLGBTQ+ and Queer. He explained that there is no term agreed to within the community, but that he would use “Queer” as an umbrella term to represent the whole community, noting that it is not always embraced by all members.

Glenn then described some of the risks of being Queer before the “Liberation Movement”. The risks were many upon discovery: loss of employment, loss of family and friends, loss of housing and the risk of physical assault, even from the police. Isolation was a serious problem, leading to depression, self-destructive behaviours, such as alcohol and drug usage, and suicide. With no organizations and no formal communications, word of mouth was the only means of communications available. There were few Gay bars, many being allegedly Mafia owned. A “Cruising Culture” developed in the male community exposing members and non-members to additional risks. Major’s Hill Park became a well-known venue. The risks faced were tragically illustrated when, on August 21, 1989, 33-year-old Alain Brosseau was assaulted and thrown to his death from the Alexandra Bridge. Brosseau, a waiter at the Château Laurier, and not Gay himself, was attacked by a gang of teens in a targeted homophobic hate crime. The same teens were involved in another targeted attack the same night. The tragic incident sparked public outrage and eventually forced the Ottawa police to start to take anti-Gay violence more seriously.

At the height of the Cold War in the 1950s &1960s, Glenn explained, the RCMP became focused on national security and saw the 2SLGBTQ community as a potential risk. What followed was “The Purge” in which individuals suspected as being queer were hunted down, exposed, threatened, and fired. A special device was “invented” to detect these individuals, known as "The 'Fruit Machine", though its use was more as a tactic of intimidation than any scientific merit. The irony was, of course, that it was the risk of persecution at the hands of the RCMP and other government agencies that created the very threat they feared.

Change was coming, if slowly, and perhaps remarkably it was starting at the top. On February 21, 1967, then Minister of Justice, Pierre Trudeau commented in a press scrum “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation” while discussing Bill C-150, which came into effect on August 26, 1969. This was a broad modernization and liberalization of the criminal code and most famously legalized private, consensual sexual acts between adults 21 and older, the age restriction being lowered to 18 in 1972. Another incident that raised public awareness of the persecution being inflicted upon the community was the June 28, 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City. The subsequent spontaneous demonstrations are widely regarded as the start of the liberation movement in North America.

With this background, Glenn went on to explain that, sparked by the “We Demand Rally” of August 28, 1971 on Parliament Hill, which had been organized by Gay groups from Toronto to present a list of 10 demands,Gays of Ottawa (GO) was formed on September 14, 1971. The first meeting was held in an apartment on Sommerset Street West, subsequent meetings also being held in private homes, until a space was obtained in the basement of St, George’s Church a few months later. By 1975, GO had moved, and along with public awareness, advocacy and social programming, it had created a newsletter, a helpline and had started a library.

Glenn explained that not all members of the Gay community were comfortable with the efforts of GO. Some believed that the new openness being promoted by GO risked “rocking the boat” and threatened their own carefully balanced double-lives. Despite this, by 1975, and after another move, GO became increasingly involved in the support of the legal defence of individuals being charged with criminal offences or dismissed from their jobs, based solely on their sexual orientation.

Glenn described GO in its early days as primarily a male organization, queer women having different needs and goals and not always being comfortable with the culture of GO. They were also not always welcomed by other feminist organizations, though they shared many of the same objectives. In June 1976, Lesbians of Ottawa Now, (LOON), was formed in preparation for the National Lesbian Conference, which was held in Ottawa that October, with over 300 delegates from across the country. By 1981, however, GO had established gender parity on their Board of Directors.

After two more moves, one the result of a fire of uncertain origins that destroyed all of GO’s materials and records, it settled again and in 1984 split its social services components, such as the helpline and library, away from its political and social activities to form Pink Triangle Services, the first 2SLGBTQ+ registered charity in Canada.

Glenn told us that, in August 1982, near the start of the AIDS epidemic, GO hosted a meeting of over 70 concerned members. Later, in 1985, two of their members were key in forming the AIDS Committee of Ottawa. In total, there were over 350 AIDS related deaths in Ottawa between 1984 and 1995 with almost 9,000 AIDS related deaths in Ontario during the epidemic.

GO moved for the last time in 1985, when their landlord refused to renew their lease. It remained at the new location, above a laundromat, until it ceased operations in 1995, changing its name twice, first to the Association of Lesbians and Gays of Ottawa, and then to the Association of Lesbians, Bisexuals and Gays of Ottawa. Though gone, GO’s legacy lives on in the organizations it spawned, the leaders it inspired and the attitudes it changed.

On April 25, 2026, the Society hosted the third presentation of its Bytown200 series. It followed a February presentation by Dr. Lynn Gehl on the past, present and future of the Anishinaabeg Algonquin of the Ottawa Valley, and one in March by Allison Margot Smith who gave a screening of her documentary on the Rideau Canal. Presented by Society member James Powell, the third and final part of the Bytown200 trilogy focused on Bytown itself. Despite stiff competition from two hockey games that afternoon with both the Ottawa Senators and the Ottawa Charge in action, close to 100 people attended James’s presentation at the Ottawa Public Library.

James started by looking at the men who were instrumental in Bytown’s early development, starting with Lord Dalhousie, Canada’s Governor General, who with great foresight bought 400 acres of land in 1821 at would become the entrance of the Rideau Canal in anticipation of a sizeable town developing there. James then talked about Colonel By who was given the task of planning the new town that took his name along with constructing the Rideau Canal. Attention then shifted to Nicholas Sparks, who owned much of the land that was to become downtown Ottawa. Sparks became extremely wealthy when the Rideau Canal cut through his property. And let’s not forget Philemon Wright, the founder of Hull, Quebec, Thomas Mackay, the father of New Edinburgh, and Louis-Théodore Besserer, the father of Sandy Hill.

James then gave a fascinating overview of life in Bytown. With a population of about 2,000 in 1840, the small community was divided in two parts--Upper Town which was mostly well-to-do, English and Protestant and Lower Town which was mostly poor, French or Irish and Catholic. The two communities, separately by about a half mile, were linked by one road and one bridge over the Rideau Canal. Regardless of where one lived, however, Bytown was “unsafe, dirty, smelly, unsanitary and unhealthy.”

Ethnic rivalries, often fuelled by alcohol, spilled over into the streets. Irish loggers called Shiners fought their French counterparts for control of the timberlands. Shiner atrocities led one Catholic priest to say Il n’y a pas de Dieu à Bytown. Without running water, sanitary sewers, garbage collection or paved streets, life in Bytown was harsh and unpleasant. Roads were often muddy and covered with horse manure. People donned wooden pattens (overshoes) to protect their boots. But one thing that they could not protect themselves from was disease. Cholera, typhoid, typhus, smallpox, diphtheria, measles, and scarlet fever ran rampant through the town. A measure of health care was brought to the town in 1847 by Élisabeth Bruyère, mother superior of Bytown Sisters of Charity, who founded the first civilian hospital aided by Dr. Van Cortlandt.

Still, there were opportunities for fun and education. In addition to boozing in the town’s many bars and taverns, Bytown citizens enjoyed cricket and lacrosse. Plays were produced at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Wellington Street. Two newspapers, the Bytown Gazette and The Packet, the forerunner of The Citizen, provided windows to the world outside of Bytown. Two literary groups—the Bytown Mechanic’s Institute and Atheneum and L’Institut canadien français d’Ottawa—gave learned lectures and for a fee provided Bytown residents access to circulating libraries.

James also talked about the fraught political scene in Canada at that time with people divided between Tories and Reformers. When rioting Tories burnt down the Parliament building in Montreal in 1849, incensed by Lord Elgin, the Governor General, signing into law the Rebellion Losses Act, Bytown’s was back in the running to become the capital of Canada. But Bytown too was divided between Tories and Reformers. Just months after Parliament was torched in Montreal, fighting between the two groups broke out on the streets of Bytown. Stones were thrown and shots fired in the Stony Monday Riot in the Byward Market during a public meeting to discuss an invitation to Lord Elgin to check out Bytown as a potential future capital. One man died. Two days later, armed Reformers and Tories squared off close to the canal. Separated only by a group of British soldiers, calmer heads fortunately prevailed and the two groups peacefully dispersed. Civil war was averted. The Packet newspaper wrote: Can it be true? Can such a scene have occurred in the middle of the 19 ^th century in enlightened Canada?

Four years later, the political environment had mellowed, and Lord Elgin finally journeyed to Bytown where he was warmly greeted by Joseph-Balsora Turgeon, Bytown’s first Francophone mayor. Both Tories and Reformers, eager to make a good impression, wined and dined the governor general during his stay in Bytown and his trip up the Ottawa River. The political storm had passed.

Bytown became Ottawa in 1855, a name viewed as more fitting for a town aspiring to be the new capital of Canada. After years of sterile debate and failed votes in the legislature, the Canadian government asked Queen Victoria in 1857 to settle the debate over the location of the new capital. Ottawa won, beating outrivals Toronto, Quebec and Kingston. Following more months of political wrangling, Parliament finally ratified the Queen’s choice in 1859, but the vote was close. Had three MPs voted differently, ratification would have failed.

After the presentation concluded, there was a lively question and answer period covering such topics as John LeBreton’s land speculation, reasons why Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as the capital, schools in Bytown, and the occupations of people who lived in Upper Bytown.

For those unable to attend (or were watching the hockey games!), the presentation was recorded.

On Saturday March 28, 2026, Allison Margot Smith gave a film-screening of her recent film “Two Wars, Three Watersheds, a Slew of Surveys and a Canal.” The film describes the history of the Rideau Canal, and in particular, the planning of the route of the canal, starting in the 1780s.

The reasons for building the canal changed over time, as did ideas for the route. So, it took more than fifty years to arrive at a plan for the canal. Even the geography of the land mass to be transited by the canal changed due to human activity in this relatively wild country. But by 1826, 200 years ago, a route had been chosen and budget had been allocated by British Parliament. Lieutenant-Colonel John By was sent to start work on this mammoth project, and his encampment – called Bytown – was established, launching what is now our city.

Following her film, Allison gave a short talk on the imagery used to create her film, including the challenges of sourcing archival imagery for historical documentary films. She discussed how archival imagery and archival film footage can, in some cases, act as a kind of citation, offering proof that the assertions in a film reflect the realities of the past. This is important in a historical documentary film, since films, unlike academic papers, don't have traditional citations. And while archival images may be imperfect citations, even traditional citations may not be perfect proof of an assertion.

Allison also talked about questions, raised recently, about the potential inability to trust documentary films, with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and AI-generated films. Her talk addressed the intent and legitimacy of AI in film-making, and she suggested that these new technologies may not be so different from traditional photography or historical art composition, depending on the intent. Finally, she touched on the use of archival cartoons as a way of illustrating and providing a "citation" for historical social commentary.

The Historical Society of Ottawa’s Zoom presentation of February 11^th, 2026, was the 1 ^st of a 3 part series on the beginning of the Rideau Canal, (March 28), and the founding of Bytown, (April 25), in recognition of 2026 being the 200 ^th anniversary of both. We started the series with a look at the effects these events had on the Algonquin Anishinaabeg peoples. We were pleased to welcome Dr. Lynn Gehl, noted academic, author, artist, and advocate. She is a member of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation . Dr. Gehl holds a Doctorate in Philosophy in Indigenous Studies as well as a Masters in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies and an Undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology. She is also the recipient of a Governor-General’s award.

The evening’s presentation took a conversation format, with questions being posed by Ben Weiss, long time member of the Historical Society of Ottawa, and Dr. Gehl, both providing specific answers and using the questions as a lead to discuss related issues. To get the full impact of the information and perspective provided by Dr. Gehl, we encourage you to watch the presentation or check out her other works through the links provided below.

Ben Weiss: Can you start off by telling us about your early life?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl started us back with her Great-grandfather, Joseph Gagnon and Great-grandmother Annie Jane. They lived on what was then known as the Golden Lake Reserve, but after returning wounded from the First World War, Joseph was advised by the government to move off the reserve to receive benefits. Dr. Gehl’s father grew up in the area and was a fisherman on the lake. Her mother went to Residential School in the Montreal area. Dr. Gehl is the 5 ^th of 8 children, and after the breakup of her parents, her mother raised the 8 children in the Toronto area. She suffered through poverty, housing and food insecurity and a series of operations that attempted, unsuccessfully, to correct a medical issue. As a youth, she found reading and writing difficult, both due to a vision impairment and because her focus was, by necessity, more on physical survival than intellectual development. She wanted to share these aspects of her personal story so others would recognize that she is not approaching these issues as a person of privilege.

Ben Weiss: You are now our foremost Indigenous scholar. Could you take us through a bit of your academic journey?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl confirmed that reading is still a burden for her, but she does a lot of it and has what may be the largest Algonquin library existent. At 30, she decided to leave her job monitoring water quality for the Ontario Provincial government to pursue her desire to understand what had happened to the Algonquin people. She started as a part-time student in Psychology, later switching to anthropology that better matched her interests. Her studies in anthropology revealed to her that there are many ways to be a human being and that poverty is often related to the power system in place. For her Masters work, she investigated the question of identity and the way it has been assessed. Are you Indigenous because you look Indigenous? Are you Indigenous as the result of a blood test or are you Indigenous because the government has said you are Indigenous. She was concerned how this assessment, especially when the identity is denied, affects the spirit of the individual. For her PhD, Dr. Gehl switched topics and studied the Algonquin Land Claims Process. Her findings were later converted into a book, The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin on the Algonquin Land Claims Process – Fernwood Publishing . Unlike most who find the results of her PhD a happy one, Dr. Gehl characterized hers as brutal, as an understanding that Canada has yet to move past its colonial period.

Ben Weiss: Could you tell us about your decades- long struggle around the key issue of unknown or unstated paternity inside the Indian Act, Gehl v Canada ?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl explained that in 1985, the government amended the Indian Act and she thought that they would remove sex discrimination from the Act, which they did not. They instead added additional stipulations that they falsely claimed would bring the definition in line with the Charter. As a result, Dr. Gehl, then 23, approached the Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto to see if they would accept her case challenging the Act. She found herself, one individual taking on the Department of Justice. After much archival research, a dismissal in 2012, a verdict against her in 2014, she finally received a partial victory from the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2017. Dr. Gehl explained that at this time, Sharon McIvor was going through a similar struggle and, in 2010, had petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Commission, who found in her favour in 2019 (McIvor Case | The Canadian Encyclopedia). Dr. Gehl pointed out that though her fight lasted 34 years, her Great-grandmother had written a letter, in 1945, asking about her status following the death of her husband and was informed that she was now a “White Woman”.

Ben Weiss: Can you take us through the concepts of Indigenous knowledge and the Debwewin Journey?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl explained that when she was completing her Indigenous Studies PhD, she made the decision to do so through Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous ways of knowing and being. She did this by getting as much exposure to Indigenous knowledge as she could, through the literature, ceremonies, talking with Elders and by learning the language. In this process, she learned of the concept of “Heart Knowledge” and gave the example of looking at each other when we talk so we can tell that we are being truthful. Dr. Gehl discovered that truth exists when our “Mind Knowledge (reasoned knowledge) and our “Heart Knowledge” agree. She developed this understanding into a Methodology, the Debwewin Journey .

Ben Weiss: Can you tell us something about Algonquin contact and pre-contact history?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl reminded us that the history of Canada is taught as the French and English being the benevolent founders of the nation. This is obviously untrue. She noted that the Algonquin territory covers some 200,000 square miles, larger than the combined lands of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, yet the Algonquin peoples have little control over this territory. The European historic record dates as far back as 1613, when Champlain documented the control of the territory by the Algonquin. After the British defeated the French to gain control over these lands, they signed a treaty in 1760, vowing to protect Indigenous lands, which they later broke. Dr. Gehl detailed a number of treaties and a Royal Proclamation, that defined Algonquin lands, as far as the governments of the day were concerned, eventually resulting in 2 federally recognized Algonquin First Nations in Ontario and 9 in Quebec, though some actually have no land associated with them. There are also 4 unrecognized Algonquin collectives in Ontario. The Algonquin lands in Ontario were lost through a series of treaties signed by the Mississauga peoples, not the Algonquin. Dr. Gehl noted additional pieces of legislation that granted Algonquin lands to settlers, but not to Algonquin peoples, and remarked that Parliament itself is built on stolen Algonquin land.

Ben Weiss: Do the Algonquin have any land treaties?

Dr. Gehl: No. Dr. Gehl explained that the only treaties that cede their lands are those signed by the Mississaugas. There are, however, Peace Treaties, such as the Treaty of Niagara, which identified the 24 Indigenous nations attending as Nations, but also as Subjects. They were, in fact, allies, of equal status to the British.

Ben Weiss: What is the significance of the Wampum Belt in Indigenous culture?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl explained that a Wampum Belt is a form of symbolic literacy, just like words on a page. Though many believe that only the Haudenosaunee used Wampum Belts, this is not true; Wampum Belts were used by a number of peoples including the Algonquin. Wampum Belt Diplomacy was often used to codify agreements, such as those between Indigenous Nations and the British Crown.

Ben Weiss: Why is it important to understand the significant difference between what Canada calls the Modern Treaty process and the Land Claims process?

Dr. Gehl: It is crucial. Dr. Gehl explained that a Treaty Process is about sharing the land and resources in equal and equitable ways. A Land Claims process is about extinguishing Indigenous Rights. Canada’s Modern Treaty process is simply a Land Claims process. The Canadian government is currently offering the Algonquin Nation only 1.7% of their territory and a one-time buy-out of $800 Million.

Ben Weiss: Can you tell us about the Algonquins of Ontario and the 2016 agreement in principle?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl explained that the Agreement in Principle, which includes transfers of funds, ownership of some lands and jurisdictional rights over resource exploitation, was signed by the Algonquins of Ontario and the governments of Ontario and Canada. She told us that this happened when only 47% of those eligible to vote participated and it was opposed by the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation. Later, a tribunal removed over 2,000 ‘pretendians’ who had been eligible to vote on the Agreement.

Ben Weiss: Can you talk about the harmful effect of ‘pretendians’? 

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl explained that some 2,500 members had been removed as Algonquins from the Pikwàkanagàn / Sharbot Lake communities along with the 2,000 previously mentioned. A CBC investigation discovered that about 1,000 of these had been signed-up through a fraudulent document. This means that at least 4,500 non-Algonquins were corrupting the Land Claim process. Pretendians’ are often in positions of influence, such as university professors, and so control such things as scholarships and research funds. If Indigenous peoples are to have a better world, they don’t need ‘pretendians’ telling them how. The ‘pretendians’ are white people and it should be the responsibility of white people and the government to deal with them, not the Indigenous community, who have many other issues to address.

Ben Weiss: Can you finish off by talking about the important work you’ve been doing regarding Indigenous Women and girls with disabilities?

Dr. Gehl: Dr. Gehl explained that when you are discriminated against by sex, race and disability, your life is “extra extra miserable”. Being oppressed by three layers of structural oppression can, and does, lead to death. Rates of disability are higher in Indigenous communities because they lack housing, lack nutrition, and are frequent victims of sexual violence.

Dr. Gehl then shared some images of various maps that relate to her research, as well as a diagram and a video that help to explain Indigenous Knowledge.

For those interested in reading more, Dr. Gehl is offering her books as a bundle for $100, including shipping within Canada.

This presentation was the most attended of the year, with over 130 participants, and was exceptionally well received.

The full presentation can be viewed at: Lynn Gehl Ph.D. - Algonquin Anishinaabeg of the Ottawa River Valley:Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.

Dr. Gehl’s website can be found at: Lynn Gehl, PhD, Algonquin Anishinaabe-Ikwe.

On the afternoon of Monday, February 23^rd, the Historical Society of Ottawa offered its first English language in-person Speaker presentation for 2026, generously hosted by the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. That afternoon, we were honoured to welcome Mohamed Ghadban, former member of Tannis Food Distributors and current Vice-President of the Ottawa Muslim Association. He has been recognized by the awarding of the King Charles III Medal for his community work, Mohamed told us the history of the Ottawa Mosque, the oldest Mosque in the City and the second oldest in Canada.

Mohamed Ghadban was born in Lebanon, coming to Canada in 1956, aged 2 ½, with his parents and 11-month-old brother. Some older siblings remained in Lebanon, rejoining the family a couple of years later. Mohamed was one of 8 children, and after the marriage of his eldest sister and the death of his father, his mother raised Mohamed and his 6 siblings on her own. Fortunately, his father had always insisted that in a family all members had responsibilities, so together they managed. It had been Mohamed’s father’s dream that Ottawa have a Mosque and so he sees himself as helping to fulfill that dream.

Mohamed stated that when his family arrived in Ottawa, after a month at sea and a train trip from Halifax, they found themselves in a city with only about 200 other Muslims. The community had been so small that they had initially held their prayer meetings outside in Vincent Massey Park. In 1962, they began renting the basement of the Western United Church, 545 Wellington Street, every Sunday afternoon for these services. The church was expropriated in 1963 and later demolished as part of the National Capital Commission “rehabilitation” of the LeBreton Flats, and a new church was built on Northwestern Avenue, and simply called the Northwestern United Church, which began services in September 1964. Mohamed explained that the Ottawa Muslim Association, which was founded in 1965, decided that they would follow their friends, and so began renting the basement of the Northwestern United Church on Sunday afternoons, for their 500 members, as they had done before.

The dream of a mosque for Ottawa remained, and after considering other sites, Mohamed explained that, in 1967, they decided to purchase the ½ acre lot adjacent to the Northwestern United Church. One of the two old houses on the lot was demolished to make way for the Mosque, while the other was retained and used by the community. Mohamed told us that it was really thanks to the work of the Muslim Women’s Auxiliary, who, from the mid-1960s, undertook much of the required fundraising that the project proceeded. He said that they raised enough to complete the basement, but not the entire $700,000 for the mosque. Many governments of predominantly Muslim countries, notably Pakistan, contributed funds to allow the project to continue and the Mosque to be completed. They continued to hold their services of worship on Sundays until they were able to obtain an imam in the 1990s, who instituted the more traditional Friday observance.

Mohamed showed us a photo of the ceremony in September 1973, at which two children, Basher Ghadban and Yasmine Ismaily, broke ground for the mosque, at 251 Northwestern Avenue, as G. K. Chaudhry, the then president of the Ottawa Muslim Association looked on. The Ottawa Mosque began offering prayer services in the basement in the fall of 1975, with the upper portions being completed in the spring of 1977. He then gave us a brief description of the Mosque. Its three levels, including the basement, can accommodate about 1,000 people, the main hall itself with room for 700. Its large dome is copper clad and is supported by 16 wooden beams. Its minaret, the only one in the city, stands some 35M (115ft) in height and has, on occasion, been used to call the faithful to prayer. Since its construction, some upgrades have been made including the addition of air conditioning and enhancements to the parking lot. During the Covid 19 lockdown, when all other mosques were closed, the Ottawa Mosque was able to conduct its prayer services, the worshipers sitting in their cars in their parking lot, where by great fortune, all the parking spots faced to the east.

Declining attendance at the United Church in the early 2000s, led to the amalgamation of three neighbouring congregations, those of Kingsway, Westboro and Northwestern United, which was decommissioned in 2016 – see: A farewell to Northwestern United Church . Rather than seeing the church which had befriended them and supported them in the early years demolished, the Ottawa Mosque purchase the Northwestern United Church, preserving it for the community, and has renamed it as The Hall of Peace. It provides many of the social services offered by the Ottawa Muslim Association and is used for overflow on major services.

The Ottawa Mosque follows the teachings of Sunni Islam, but welcomes all Muslims to come and join them in prayer. There are now over 150,000 Muslims in Ottawa, almost 15% of the population, and there are now many mosques in the city, though the Ottawa Mosque is considered to be the Mother Mosque.

The Ottawa Mosque received heritage status in 2025 and the Ottawa Muslim Association invites all members of the public to come and visit, not only at Doors Open, but on any day.

Barbara Ann Scott, Queen of the Ice, was the subject of the Historical Society of Ottawa’s first Zoom presentation of 2026, which was held on the evening of January 14, 2026. We were joined that evening by Ryan Stevens, an award-winning author and noted figure skating historian. Ryan runs the Skate Guard Blog, has written for a number of leading skating magazines and his expertise are sought out by both journalists and museums. Ryan is the author of a number of books, including: Barbara Ann Scott: Queen of the Ice .

Ryan gave us a wonderful account of Barbara Ann’s life and her many accomplishments.

Barbara Ann was born on May 9, 1927, in Ottawa, the daughter of Clyde Rutherford Scott and Mary (née Purves). She asked Santa Claus for her first pair of skates when she was 3. Receiving a pair of double runner skates, not what she was hoping for, she begged for real skates, and on getting them, loved them so much that she took them to bed with her.

She began her formal skating at the Minto Skating Club on Waller Street, under the guidance of Melville Rogers, himself an Olympic skater and Otto Gold, a Czechoslovakian coach.Ryan gave us a quick timeline of her early career: 1939 - youngest skater at the Minto Skating Club to pass the Canadian First Class test; 1940 – Canadian Junior Ladies Champion; 1941 – Canadian Senior Ladies Silver Medalist; 1944 – Canadian Senior Ladies Champion; 1945 - North American Champion; 1947 was her breakthrough year internationally.

Barbara Ann won the European Championship in 1947. She followed this soon after by winning the World Championship in Stockholm. The competition was held on outdoor ice, a disadvantage for Canadians who did most of their training indoors. It was the first World Championship after the Second World War and Barbara Ann was the first North American skater to win the World Championship. She was welcomed by a huge crowd on her return to Ottawa, was the first skater honoured by the House of Commons and was presented with a canary yellow Buick convertible, with the license “47-U-1”, by the City of Ottawa. Barbara Ann had to return the car to retain her amateur status and so be eligible for the 1948 Olympics.

In 1948, Barbara Ann became the first Canadian woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in any sport.She was “Canada’s Sweetheart”, adored by the nation. On her return to Ottawa her train was met by Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Mayor Stanley Lewis. Over 150,000 well-wishers, about 2/3 the population of the city, packed her parade route. She had also had tea with Princess Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace and would later meet President Truman in the White House. She got her car back, this time licensed “48-U-1”.

Ryan explained that this fame came with a dark side.She was in the papers almost daily, rumours were reported as fact, nothing getting in the way of a good story. Unbelievable today, her address and phone number were published in the newspaper, leading to stalking incidents and police assistance being required.Barbara Ann had no manager or media training. She and her mother were left to the wolves.

Following her Olympic victory, Barbara Ann turned professional, making her debut in December 1948. A charitable organization had been set up as her employer and a large portion of her earnings went to the St. Lawrence Foundation for Crippled Children. Later she led the Skating Sensations of 1950 tour that played across Canada, not only in the major cities but in many small towns that had never experienced such a performance.

There was, of course, merchandizing associated with Barbara Ann. The most famous of these was the Barbara Ann Scott doll, produced by the Reliable Toy Company between 1948 and 1955. Each year featured a different skating costume, shoes as well as skates, and a letter from Barbara Ann. They quickly became collector’s items.

She retired from skating in 1955, married Tommy King, a retired basketball player & businessman, and moved to Chicago. She was a torch bearer at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, marking the 40^thanniversary of her Gold Medal performance. She also participated in the ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She continued her life-long association with figure skating, frequently serving as a judge and always encouraging younger skaters. She was also an experienced equestrian. Barbara Ann died on September 30, 2012 at age 84, having received many honours including being a member of the Order of Canada.

Ryan’s presentation, which includes film clips of Barbara Ann skating, can be viewed on our YouTube channel. The presentation was followed by many interesting questions and personal memories that are well worth hearing.

On the evening of November 12, 2025, the Historical Society of Ottawa held its first Zoom presentation of the season. In partnership with The Centre for Holocaust Education and Scholarship - Ottawa (CHES), we were pleased that night to welcome Phil Emberley, who told us of his father whosurvived the Nazi Holocaust of the Second World War.

Mina Cohn, current Chair of CHES gave us some background on her organization before introducing Phil. CHES is an Ottawa-based volunteer organization which has, for the past 10 years, helped to sharethe memories of Holocaust survivors and their children, run educational programs,combat antisemitism and racism and promote Human Rights. One of their projects is a bilingual multi-media interactive AP that enhances visits to the National Holocaust Memorial. The HSO Museum Club is planning such a visit in spring 2026.

Phil Emberley is a pharmacist by profession and a long-time member of CHES.

Phil began his presentation with an overview of the Holocaust, recognizing that those attending would likely have different levels of knowledge. Following the First World War, the reparations demanded from Germany through the terms of the Treaty of Versailles lead to economic collapse, which was further intensified by the Great Depression. The economic failure and general despair proved to be fertile ground for political extremism.In 1933, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, became Chancellor of Germany. The Chancellor was then granted extended powers, under the pretext of an emergency, which Hitler used to suppress democracy and establish a dictatorship.

Phil described the main points of the antisemitic Nuremberg Laws which came into effect in 1935.

These were:

The Protection of German Blood and German Honour – which disallowed Jews from having relations or marrying German citizens;

Only those who were German, (i.e. not Jewish) could hold Reich citizenship;

The law also contained complicated provisions for establishing who were Jews.

There were also provisions that barred Jews from any role in management or ownership of German companies.

These laws created an environment where spying on your neighbour was encouraged and Jews were routinely arrested with little evidence or cause. Jews, who had always considered themselves to be Germans, were shocked at these changes. By 1941, Hitler enacted his Final Solution to the Jewish question, which meant an organized attempt to imprison, and eventual murder, all Jews within Germany’s grasp.

Phil told us that his father’s family name was Eger and that they had lived in the Frankfurt and Main area of Germany for many centuries. His father,Dieter, was born on November 11, 1925, the only child of Berthold, the Managing Director of a company that sold supplies to butchers. and his wife Mina, who was an accountant. Phil described how the applications of the laws and the resulting attitudes affected his family. Poverty, the lack of food and fuel, restrictions to education and activities, and physical intimidation were all part of family life.

On the night of 9/10 November 1938, Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were vandalized and,in many cases, totally destroyed in what has been known as Kristall Nacht, but is now becoming known as the November Pogrom or the Reich Nacht Pogrom. The pretext for this night of terror was the shooting of a German diplomat in Paris by a 17 year old German Jew on the 7 ^th of November, the diplomat dying of his wounds on the 9^th. Some 30,000 Jews were arrested, including Berthold, who was shipped to Buchenweld Concentration Camp, where he was held for 10 days before being released, as he was a decorated German veteran of the First World War.

After this, life in Germany got even worse for Jewish families, and Phil explained how it directly affected his own family and their attempts, like many other Jewish families to find some way to escape from Germany. Though this proved impossible for Berthold and Mina, Dieter was more fortunate. The British government, at the urging of U.K.based Jewish and Quaker groups, created a scheme whereby they would waive normal immigration requirements to allow unaccompanied children aged 4 to 17 to enter England. The scheme, known as the Kinder Transport, eventually allowed some 10,000 children to find safety in England.

Phil told us that Dieter left Frankfurt by train on the 24 ^th of August 1939, one week prior to the outbreak of war. He was one of 81 children on this trip that took them first to the Netherlands and from there by ferry to England. Dieter spent the next 3 months in a children’s refugee camp, learning little about life in England.

Many of the younger children were formally adopted, becoming part of their new English family, and many were converted to Christianity. Dieter, who was older, was fostered by a retired British military officer who enrolled him in Dulwich College, a private boy's school. Though no doubt well intentioned, Dieter’s lack of previous formal education and rudimentary knowledge of English must have posed difficulties, as he only stayed at the College for 2 terms.

In 1944 Dieter joined the British army and was posted back to Germany as part of the forces of occupation. In 1947, he officially changed his name to Denis Walter Emberley, maintaining the initials of his original name. In 1948, he became an officer in the Canadian army and while serving in Germany in 1953, met his future wife, Ursula Warmbier. In 1975 Major Denis Emberley was awarded the Order of Military Merit, one of the highest honours bestowed by the Canadian Armed Forces. In 1990 he was made a Member of the British Empire, (MBE).

With the exception of one uncle, Denis was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. His parents, Berthold and Mina were deported to Poland in October 1941 and were murdered, while his grandmother, who had lived with the family, was murdered in 1943. Though he escaped their fate, he did not escape the trauma, which remained with him until his own death in 2006 at age 80.

Phil noted that at age 55, his father began to write a journal, which included many short exerts that detailed his early life that had been unknown to the family. In the journal and in their discussions, Denis repeatedly emphasized two points: that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it; and that democracies are fragile and we must be vigilant and prepared to protect them. Good lessons for our own time.

Watch Phil's presentation on the HSO YouTube channel.

On the afternoon of April 26^th, 2025, members of the Historical Society of Ottawa, along with many members of the general public, gathered at the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library for the presentation of the 2024 / 2025 François Bregha Storyteller awards. Following the ceremony, the large crowd, numbering some 75, settled in to listen to one of the recipients, Denise Chong, speak to us about many of the aspects of being a non-fiction writer.

Denise Chong, an Order of Canada recipient, is the highly acclaimed author of five non-fiction books. These are: “The Concubine's Children” (1994); “The Girl in the Picture: The Kim Phuc Story” (1999); “Egg on Mao: The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship” (2009); “Lives of the Family: Stories of Fate and Circumstance” (2013) and “Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse” (2024). Prior to her career as a writer and historian, Denise studied economics at the University of British Columbia, later receiving her M.A. from the University of Toronto in 1978. She moved to Ottawa to work as an economist in the federal government and in 1981 became a senior economic advisor to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau until his retirement in 1984.

Denise began her presentation with a brief summary of part of The Concubine's Children, which is the story of her own family. She explained that her grandfather, Chan Sam, came to Canada in 1913 to find work and send money home to his wife, Huangbo, who remained in China. Life in Vancouver was lonely, so in 1924, Chan Sam sent to China for a concubine, a second wife, May-ying, who was 17. They had two daughters together, Ping and Nan, before returning to China. Discovering that she was pregnant again, May-ying sought information from a blind soothsayer and was told that she would have a son this time. Believing that it would be better for their son to be born in Canada, Chan Sam and May-ying left their two daughters in China with Huangbo returning to Vancouver in 1930. Shortly thereafter, a third daughter, Hing, was born to the couple. This was a great disappointment for May-ying. Hing went on to have five children of her own, one of these being Denise.

Denise explained that her interest in her own history had been sparked by a couple of old photos. Her desire to understand the story behind the photos lead to her research, her trip to China, and eventually to the book. A similar thirst was initiated when she was offered an opportunity to do a quick biography of Kim Phuc. She knew, however, that the only way she could write one was to really dig into the full story. Research in countries like China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh is fraught with danger as such governments are not anxious to have challenging stores told ad have the inclination and means to suppress investigation. Denise told us of some of the tricks she has used, such as memorizing the map of a village so she would not look like a tourist or recording her covert research notes in the form of a travel journal and by conducting interviews while walking along public pathways.

Memory, Denise reminded us, is the pond from which the non-fiction writer must try to catch much of their information. Memory can be a flawed source, fragmentary, sometime manipulated, and sometimes contradictory. Different people may have different, but equally valid, memories of the same event and the writer must try to sift out what really took place. Denise pointed out that the act of asking promotes a rethinking of events and that for the most important questions, the initial time asking often yields the least contaminated responses.

Denise spoke to us of how the non-fiction writer uses the story of an individual or a single incident to tell a larger story. As such, the story of one family can represent the history of a community or of a collective experience, the story of one girl can tell the broader story of the horror of war, one man’s act of defiance can reveal an entire culture of oppression and an attack on one woman can expose not only systemic domestic violence but courage and triumph as well.

There are strong parallels in the writing of fiction and non-fiction, Denise explained, the only real difference being that the non-fiction writer does not create their characters and events. Their obligation remains to create a compelling narrative. One of the ways this is done is by inhabiting the characters, walking where they walked, seeing what they saw, feeling what they felt and doing, as much as is possible, what they did. She gave us the example of filling eggs with honey and throwing these against the second storey of her own house so she would have the feel of the egg in her hand and the sense of force and motion of hurling eggs, so she could accurately reflect this in her book “Egg on Mao: The Story of an Ordinary Man Who Defaced an Icon and Unmasked a Dictatorship”.

As Denise concluded her session, she let the audience know the final piece in becoming a successful non-fiction writer. Apart from all the research, work and skill that goes into a book, luck plays a large part. Her publisher had only intended to print a couple of hundred copies of The Concubine's Children, believing that these would sell in and around Vancouver. Instead it became an international best seller, and is now even being adapted for TV in China. The great success of her first book meant that other opportunities were presented to her and her initial success gave her the power to tell those stories in the way she felt they should be told.

We filled the virtual bleachers on the evening of Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 as we watched Steve Rennie start for the Historical Society of Ottawa. Steve is a baseball writer and researcher who lives in Ottawa. A former journalist, he is the president of the Ottawa-Gatineau and Eastern Ontario chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). In the spring of 2024, he presented on Ottawa’s early baseball history at the Frederick Ivor-Campbell 19th Century Base Ball Conference in Cooperstown, New York. He has a particular interest in 19th century baseball in Canada and enjoys unearthing long-forgotten games and teams. He is a contributor and co-editor of “From Bytown to the Big Leagues: 150 Years of America’s Pastime in Canada’s Capital: Ottawa Baseball from 1865 to 2025” available online  and his upcoming work will cover early baseball history in the far north and during the  Klondike Gold Rush.

Steve began his session with a brief introduction to the origins of the sport.  Although it has been widely claimed that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown, New York, this myth has been debunked by baseball historians, the Doubleday family not living in Cooperstown at that time. The game had clearly existed earlier. It had made its way to Canada by 1838, the first recorded game being played in Beachville, Ontario. The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York formalized a set of rules in the 1840s that were widely adopted and form the basis of today’s rules. Steve highlighted some of the differences, pitching being underhand, the batter being able to accept as many pitches as he liked as long as he didn’t swing and an out being recorded if the ball was caught on the first bounce. He pointed out that early on there were no gloves, catcher’s masks, or other protective equipment.

By the 1850s, Steve explained, Base Ball had become very popular, especially in the New York metropolitan area and was spreading following the rail lines. International play began as early as 1860 when a game was played by a team from Buffalo against a team from Hamilton, while another was played a few weeks later by teams from Ogdensburg and Prescott. Steve showed us that the Prescott team was identified in the newspaper as Greenville, but he suspects that it could have actually been Grenville, as in Leeds and Grenville. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first fully professional Base Ball team, leading in 1871 to the establishment of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players.

Steve told us that the first game he has so far been able to find in the Ottawa area took place in Metcalfe on September 13, 1865. An interesting aspect of the write-up of this event is that there was no description of the play, indicating that the readers must have been familiar with the game and that it must have been played locally for some time.

In 1867 Ottawa’s first Base Ball Club was formed, the New Dominion Club of Ottawa, likely taking its name from Confederation. They established a Club House at the Ottawa Skating and Curling Club on Albert Street and played in a field behind it. Shortly after their formation they travelled to Ogdensburg for a game, which they lost 141 – 20. Scores of this type were not uncommon in the early days due to the differences in pitching, rules and the relative experience of the players. The next year saw increasing interest in the game, the New Dominion Club often splitting into two teams to play themselves. They also played a team of mechanics, a 4 game set against a local cricket club, in which 2 games were Base Ball and 2 were cricket. There were 2 more games against the team from Ogdensburg, losing both but doing well in the first of thee two matches. There was a strong social element in the sport at this time, the games being followed by dinners, drinks and songs. In 1869, or just after, their club house and the field on which they played was subdivided into lots and sold, bringing an end to the New Dominion Club of Ottawa.

In 1871 a new club was formed, the Ottawa Base Ball Club, which included a number of members of the earlier New Dominion Club. Steve explained that they were responsible for creating the first Ball Park in Ottawa, actually in Stewarton, a separate village. The park was in the Gladstone/Cartier area to the canal and was needed to host a game on August 27, 1872 against the Boston Red Stockings, the most famous team in the world at that time. The Red Stockings returned to play a second game in 1873, Ottawa losing both games.

Steve gave us a bit of information about two of the early stars that are associated with Ottawa. George Latham, an American born player, played for the Ottawa Base Ball Club against the Red Stockings in the 1873 game. He joined the Red Stockings briefly in 1875 before moving on to play for a number of other teams. Jack Humphries was born in North Gower and was the first locally born player to go to play in the Major Leagues, serving as a backup catcher for a couple of teams.

Although Base Ball was very popular in Ottawa during the 1880s and 1890s, all the teams were amateur. Teams based around professions, government departments, or other local towns competed against each other. In the summer of 1898, Steve explained, the Ottawa Citizen started a campaign to bring professional Base Ball to Ottawa. The timing was good as the Rochester team of the Eastern League was in financial difficulty and so in mid-July it relocated to Ottawa. Met with initial excitement, the attraction faded as the team struggled to a losing season, and continued to lose money, an estimated $4,000 in just its 6-week stay in Ottawa. The team, known as the Senators, as was the team in Washington, folded at the end of the season. It was some years before Ottawa had another professional Base Ball team. July 19, 1898: Jimmy ‘Gussie’ Gannon leads Ottawa to its first home victory in professional baseball – Society for American Baseball Research

You can view Steve’s full presentation at: Ottawa’s Early Baseball History - The Historical Society of Ottawa

Steve also produced a pamphlet for us which has even more information and can be found on our website at: 127. Forgotten Gems: Ottawa’s Early Baseball History (1865–1900)

If you didn’t have a chance to hop aboard Black History Ottawa’s excellent bus tour last summer then grab a seat now. The Historical Society of Ottawa is proud to partner with Black History Ottawa for a virtual re-creation of the tour. The bus leaves on Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 19:00, or anytime through the link below. Our driver tonight is Jean-Marie Guerrier.

Jean-Marie is a cardiology technologist at the Ottawa Heart Institute. He is a member of the Board of Flo’s Seniors Health and Care Programs Network and has more than 25 years of volunteering in Montreal and Ottawa. Jean-Marie’s name is now inscribed on Ottawa’s Wall of Inspiration at City Hall and he is also the Vice-President of Black History Ottawa.

The bus tour evolved from an earlier project that looked at slavery in Canada and how it remains today embedded in the street names in Ottawa. It was felt that a broader project that highlighted the accomplishments and contributions of Canadians of African descent would shift the focus to the positive and be an inspiration to younger Canadians.

The first stop for our virtual bus was Notre Dame Basilica, where we have evidence of the first Black family recorded in Bytown.  In 1844, Perry Adams and Henrietta Joyce baptized their child Frances.  A few steps down Sussex Drive we find the Royal Canadian Mint, which has produced a number of coins that highlight the contributions of Black Canadians or events of historic importance. These include: Willie O’Ree, Oscar Peterson, the Black Loyalists, and the Underground Railroad, among others.  Jean-Marie noted that the Bank of Canada produced a vertical $10 bill in 2018 featuring a portrait of Viola Desmond. Viola was a Black business woman from Halifax who, in 1946, was arrested, jailed overnight, and fined for sitting in the whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. Her appeal to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court was unsuccessful, serving as a catalyst to the Civil Rights movement in Canada.

We swing briefly up to the Canada Post building on Sparks Street, where Jean-Marie tells us of some of the Black Canadians that Canada Post has featured on their stamps. These include: Albert Jackson, Mathieu Da Costa, and Chloe Cooley. We then popped over to Osgoode Street in Sandy Hill where Jean-Marie told us Chloe Cooley’s tragic story. Osgoode Street is named for William Osgoode, who on December 31, 1791, was named the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada. In March 1793, Chloe Cooley, a young Black slave, was, despite her struggles and calls for help, bound and taken across the Niagara River to New York State and sold by her enslaver. What happened to her after is unknown. On July 9th 1793, during Osgoode’s term, legislation was passed to limit, but not abolish, slavery in Upper Canada.

From here, Jean-Marie drove us to Rockcliffe Lookout, where we could see across the Ottawa River to lands where London Oxford, the first Black settler in the area arrived in March 1800 as one of the five families in the party led by Philemon Wright. It is unclear if he was alone or if he had a family with him. On June 11, 1806, London was one of the five men who took the first timber raft down the Ottawa River and then on to Quebec City.

From there we travelled to the Lord Elgin Hotel where Jean-Marie gave us some background on the Underground Railroad. Between 1800 and 1865, this secret network of routes and safe-houses allowed some 30,000 escaped slaves to make their way to Canada. In 1847, Lord Elgin was appointed as the first Governor-General of the Province of Canada, and two years later, Reverend William King established the Elgin Settlement (aka Elgin-Buxton Settlement), in his name in southwestern Ontario. It was one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad and now a National Historic Site. In the second half of the 1800s many other Black settlements were established across Canada, including in both British Columbia and Alberta.

In Lowertown, Jean-Marie told us the fascinating story of Paul Barber and the Barber family. Born into slavery, Paul was sold to the Barber family in 1852 at age 4. They were horse breeders and trainers in Kentucky and taught Paul the skills. In 1885 he moved to Ottawa and in 1892 married Elizabeth Brown, a white woman from Renfrew County, this being the first known inter-racial marriage in Ottawa.

We then stopped at Laurier House, former residence of Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier, who was responsible for Order-in-Council PC 1911-1324, which was approved on August 12, 1911, and prohibited immigration of Blacks to Canada and declared that they were unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada.

Jean-Marie had us “get off the bus” at the National War Memorial so we could learn more about the contributions of Black Canadians in the Canadian military. During both World Wars Black Canadians faced and fought racism in the recruiting practices of the Canadian military. Despite these challenges, during the First World War some 1,300 Black Canadians served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. They participated in many actions, including the battle of Vimy Ridge. On July 5^th 1916, Canada formed the 2^nd Construction Battalion, a Black unit lead by white Officers, four of these Officers being from Ottawa. In the Second World War, thousands of Black Canadians joined the armed forces and served throughout Europe. They continued to serve with distinction in the Korean Conflict through to today.  Nearby there are also relevant memorials which relate to those who served during the American Revolutionary war and the war of 1812,. To learn more stories of Black Canadian Veterans, please visit: Black History | Black Canadian Veterans Stories

We made a quick stop at Browns Cleaners where we learnt the story of Herbert “Pops” Brown and his wife Estelle. Herbert came to Canada in 1937, serving in the Canadian army between 1939 and 1942. His family joined him in Canada in 1953 and they moved first to Hull and then to Ottawa opening Brown’s Cleaners and Tailors on Murray Street in 1957. Having worked through the immigration challenges themselves, the Browns opened their home and business to support newcomers from the Caribbean and Africa. The nickname “Pops” arose as Herbert was a stand-in father at some weddings of young women who had come to Ottawa under the West Indian Domestic Scheme. Estelle often made the dresses. The family sold the business in the late 1970s but asked that the new owners retain the name.

Next, Jean-Marie took us to the old Union Station, currently the home of the Senate. It served as Ottawa’s railway station until 1966. This site is important for a couple of reasons. On April 27, 1954, Donald Moore led a delegation to Ottawa to meet with the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Walter Harris. The discussions, related to Canada’s discriminatory immigration policy, eventually leading to the government adopting the West Indian Domestic Scheme a year later. See: West Indian Domestic Scheme (1955–1967) National Historic Event.  The railways are of special significance to the Black community as many Black men were employed as porters or sleeping car porters, to serve the railway’s passengers. Portering was one of the few employment opportunities for Black men prior to the 1950s. Pay and working conditions were poor, eventually leading the porters to unionize for improved conditions.

The West Indian Domestic Scheme shows up again as Jean-Marie took us to the YM/YWCA. The YM/YWCA, though not at this location at the time, was the meeting place for many of the young women who had come to Ottawa through the scheme. They met on Thursday afternoons, their only time off from their 7-day work week, to share companionship and information. These women, once liberated from their domestic service contracts, went on to advance their education, open businesses, and establish many of the social and community organizations directed to Caribbean immigrants in Ottawa. The current YM/YWCA stands on the site of the old Ottawa Auditorium, where the Hull-Ottawa Canadians played some of their home games. Willie O’Ree, the first Black player in the NHL, was a member of this team after being traded from the Boston Bruins to the Montreal Canadians who owned the team. He was sent down to the Hull-Ottawa minor league team without being given a chance to play for Montreal.

We next stopped at the statue of Oscar Peterson beside the National Arts Centre, where Jean-Marie challenged us to guess the occupations of Oscar’s mother and father. Not surprisingly, based on what we had learnt so far, his mother was a domestic worker and his father was a porter. Born in Montreal, he was a world-famous musician and activist. One of his compositions, the 1963 Hymn to Freedom, was widely adopted by Civil Rights movements around the world: Oscar Peterson - Hymn To Freedom

We made a series of other stops along the way, one at the Public Service Alliance Commission, where we heard about Cal Best, a noted union organizer and activist. At the Ottawa Police station on Elgin Street, Jean-Marie told us a bit about the first Black officers who joined the service in the 1970s, the first Black women who joined the service in the 1990s, and Peter Sloly, the first Black Police Chief in Ottawa, who held the position from October 2019 to February 2022. We then moved to City Hall, where we acknowledged Rawlston King, who became the first Black City Councillor in Ottawa, 164 years after its incorporation. Jean-Marie also told us of some Black Ottawans who have received the Order of Ottawa and of the Black athletes in the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, including Olympic Gold Medalist Glenroy Gilbert.  We then paused at Nelson Mandela Square on Elgin Street across from the Human Rights monument. This was dedicated on Thursday July 17th 2014 in recognition of his life-long dedication to democracy and human rights.

From there we moved to the University of Ottawa where Jean-Marie gave us some information on a couple of remarkable health care professionals. Myrtha Lapierre was the first Black Francophone woman in the Nursing Program at the U of O, earning both a B.A. and an M.A. She taught nursing in hospitals and at Algonquin College between 1961 and 1997 and was very active in empowering immigrant women in Ottawa. The City of Ottawa declared October 25, 2008, as “Myrtha Lapierre Day” and in 2018 she was appointed to the Order of Ontario. The second person mentioned was Dr. Rudy Gittens, long-time doctor for many of our local sports teams including the Ottawa Gee-Gees, the 67s, the Rough Riders and the National Men’s Soccer team among others.

Our final two stops were at Rideau Hall where Jean-Marie told us a bit about the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean. After arriving in Canada as a refugee in 1968, she completed her education before serving as a journalist with both Radio-Canada and the CBC.  She served as the 27^th Governor-General of Canada between 2005 and 2010. In 2010 she was appointed as the Special Envoy for Haiti for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and from 2015 to 2018 served as the Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.

As we slow down at the end of our journey we pass Parliament Hill, where Jean-Marie highlighted the careers of several Black MPs including Jean Augustine and Lincoln Alexander. Jean Augustine was born in Granada and came to Canada in 1960 under the West Indian Domestic Scheme. Following her contract she obtained a teacher’s certificate in Toronto, followed by a B.A. and an M.A. in Education from the University of Toronto. After working as a teacher and school principal she entered federal politics, becoming the first Black woman elected to Parliament. She served as the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien from 1994 to 1996. From 2002 to 2004, she became the first Black woman to hold a Cabinet position, serving as the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of Women. In 1995 she introduced the Bill in the House of Commons that eventually led to February being officially recognized as Black History Month. Lincoln Alexander was the first Black Canadian Member of Parliament in 1968. In 1979 he became the first Black Cabinet Minister and on September 9, 1985, he became the 24^th Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, the first Black Canadian to hold such a position anywhere in the country.

You can view Jean-Marie’s full presentation, which contains many further examples, at: Black History in Ottawa Streets

The virtual tour is only a sample of the real thing, so put aside some time this summer to hop on the real bus for the full experience.