Everything about Ottawa Ontario totally explained
|leader_title3 =
MPPs
|leader_name3 =
|leader_name =
Larry O'Brien
|established_title = Established
|established_date = 1850 as "Town of
Bytown"
|established_title2 =
Incorporated
|established_date2 = 1855 as "City of Ottawa"
|established_title3 =
Amalgamated
|established_date3 =
January 1,
2001
|area_footnotes =
|population_note =
|population_total = 848720 (
Ranked 4th)
|population_density_km2 = 305.4
|population_density_sq_mi =
|population_metro = 1,168,788
(External Link
)(External Link)
|population_density_metro_km2 = 313.6
|population_density_metro_sq_mi =
|population_urban =
|timezone = Eastern (EST)
|utc_offset = -5
|timezone_DST =
EDT
|utc_offset_DST =-4
|latd=45 |latm=25 |lats=15 |latNS=N
|longd=75 |longm=41 |longs=24 |longEW=W
|elevation_m = 70
|elevation_ft = 230
|website = http://www.ottawa.ca
|postal_code_type = Postal code span
|postal_code = K0A, K1A-K4C
|area_code =
(613)
|footnotes =
}}
Ottawa (or sometimes /ˈɒtəwɑː/) is the
capital of
Canada and the country's
fourth largest municipality, as well as the second largest city in the province of
Ontario. It is located in the
Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of the
province of Ontario. Ottawa lies on the banks of the
Ottawa River, a major waterway that forms the boundary between Ontario and
Quebec.
There is no
federal capital district in Canada. Ottawa is a
municipality within the Province of Ontario. Although it doesn't constitute a separate administrative district, Ottawa is part of the federally-designated
National Capital Region, which includes the neighbouring Quebec municipality of
Gatineau. As with other national capitals, the word "Ottawa" is also used to refer by
metonymy to the country's
federal government, especially as opposed to provincial or municipal authorities.
The current mayor of Ottawa is
Larry O'Brien, who succeeded
Bob Chiarelli on
December 1,
2006.
History
The Ottawa region was long home to
First Nations peoples who were part of the
Algonquin. The Algonquin called
the river the Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi, meaning "Great River". The first European settlement in the region was that of
Philemon Wright who started a community on the Quebec side of the river in 1800. Wright discovered that transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Montreal was possible, and the area was soon booming based almost exclusively upon the timber trade. Favoured by many European nations for its extremely straight and strong trunk, the White Pine was found throughout the valley.
In the years following the
War of 1812, in addition to settling some military regiment families, the government began sponsored immigration schemes which brought over
Irish Catholics and
Protestants to settle the Ottawa area, which began a steady stream of Irish immigration there in the next few decades. Along with
French Canadians who crossed over from Quebec, these two groups provided the bulk of labourers involved in the
Rideau Canal project and the booming timber trade, both instrumental in putting Ottawa on the map.
The region's population grew significantly when the canal was completed by Colonel
John By in 1832. It was intended to provide a secure route between Montreal and
Kingston on
Lake Ontario, by-passing the stretch of the
St. Lawrence River bordering
New York State (with the U.S invasions of Canada from the War of 1812 with the U.S.A. being in recent memory). Construction of the canal began at the northern end, where Colonel By set up a military barracks on what later became
Parliament Hill, and laid out a townsite that soon became known as
Bytown. Original city leaders of Bytown include a number of Wright's sons, most notably
Ruggles Wright.
Nicholas Sparks,
Braddish Billings and Abraham Dow were the first to settle on the Ontario side of the Ottawa river.
The west side of the canal became known as "Uppertown" where the Parliament buildings are located, while the east side of the canal (wedged between the canal and
Rideau River) was known as the "Lowertown". At that time,
Lowertown was a crowded, boisterous
shanty town, frequently receiving the worst of disease epidemics, such as the
Cholera outbreak in 1832, and
typhus in 1847.
Ottawa became a centre for lumber milling and square-cut timber industry in Canada and, in fact, for North America as a whole. From there, it quickly expanded further up (or westward along) the Ottawa River, and logs were boomed by raftsmen great distances down the river to the mills. Bytown was renamed Ottawa in 1855.
Ottawa as the capital
On
December 31,
1857, Queen
Victoria was asked to choose a common capital for the then
province of Canada (modern Quebec and Ontario) and chose Ottawa. There are old folk tales about how she made the choice: that she did so by sticking her
hatpin on a map roughly halfway between Toronto and Montreal, or that she liked watercolours she'd seen of the area. While such stories have no historical basis, they do illustrate how arbitrary the choice of Ottawa seemed to Canadians at the time. While Ottawa is now a major metropolis and Canada's fourth largest city, at the time it was a sometimes unruly logging town in the hinterland, far away from the colony's main cities,
Quebec City and
Montreal in Canada East, and
Kingston and
Toronto in Canada West.
In fact, the Queen's advisers had her pick Ottawa for many important reasons: first, it was the only settlement of any significant size located right on the border of Canada East and Canada West (Quebec/Ontario border today), making it a compromise between the two colonies and their French and English populations; second, the War of 1812 had shown how vulnerable major Canadian cities were to American attack, since they were all located very close to the border while Ottawa was (then) surrounded by a dense forest far from the border; third, the government owned a large parcel of land on a spectacular spot overlooking the Ottawa River. Ottawa's position in the back country made it more defensible, while still allowing easy transportation via the Ottawa River to Canada East, and the
Rideau Canal to Canada West. Two other considerations were that Ottawa was at a point nearly exactly midway between Toronto and Quebec City (~500 km/310 mi) and that the small size of the town made it less likely that politically motivated mobs could go on a rampage and destroy government buildings, as had been the case in the previous Canadian capitals. The Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal network meant that Ottawa could be supplied by water from Kingston and Montreal without going along the potentially treacherous US-Canada border.
The original Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa was destroyed by fire on
February 3,
1916. The House of Commons and Senate were temporarily relocated to the recently constructed Victoria Memorial Museum, currently the
Canadian Museum of Nature, located about south of Parliament Hill on Metcalfe Street. A new Centre Block was completed in 1922, the centrepiece of which is a dominant
Gothic revival styled structure known as the
Peace Tower which has become a common emblem of the city.
On
September 5,
1945, only weeks after the end of
World War II, Ottawa was the site of the event that many people consider to be the official start of the
Cold War. A
Soviet cipher clerk,
Igor Gouzenko, defected from the Soviet embassy with over 100 secret documents. At first, the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) refused to take the documents, as the Soviets were still allies of Canada and Britain, and the newspapers were not interested in the story. After hiding out for a night in a neighbour's apartment, listening to his own home being searched, Gouzenko finally persuaded the RCMP to look at his evidence, which provided proof of a massive Soviet spy network operating in western countries, and, indirectly, led to the discovery that the Soviets were working on an atomic bomb to match that of the Americans.
In 2001, the old city of Ottawa (estimated 2005 population 350,000) was amalgamated with the
suburbs of
Nepean (135,000),
Kanata (85,000),
Gloucester (120,000),
Rockcliffe Park (2,100),
Vanier (17,000) and
Cumberland (55,000), and the rural townships of
West Carleton (18,000),
Osgoode (13,000),
Rideau (18,000) and
Goulbourn (24,000), along with the systems and infrastructure of the
Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, to become one municipality. Ottawa-Carleton used to be just
Carleton County before 1969 and consisted of what is now the City of Ottawa except for Cumberland.
Geography and climate
Ottawa is situated on the south bank of the
Ottawa River, and contains the mouths of the
Rideau River and
Rideau Canal. The oldest part of the city (including what remains of
Bytown) is known as
Lower Town, and occupies an area between the canal and the rivers. Across the canal to the west lies
Centretown (often just called "downtown"), which is the city's financial and commercial hub. Situated between Centretown and the Ottawa River, the slight elevation of
Parliament Hill is home to many of the capital's landmark government buildings, and the Legislative seat of Canada. As of June 29, 2007, the Rideau Canal, which stretches to Kingston, Fort Henry and four Martello towers in the Kingston area was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The City of Ottawa has a main
urban area but there are many other urban,
suburban and
rural areas within the city's limits. The main suburban area extends a considerable distance to the east, west and south of the centre, and includes the former cities of
Gloucester,
Nepean and
Vanier, the former village of
Rockcliffe Park and also the communities of
Blackburn Hamlet and
Orléans (pop. 100,000). The
Kanata suburban area consists of
Kanata (pop. 90,000) and the former village of
Stittsville (pop. 20,000).
Nepean is another major suburb which also includes
Barrhaven (pop. 70,000) and the former village of
Manotick (pop. 7,545). There are also the communities of
Riverside South (pop. 8,000) on the other side of the
Rideau River,
Morgan's Grant (pop. 8,000) and
Greely (pop. 4,152), southeast of
Riverside South. There are also a number of
rural communities (
villages and
hamlets) that lie beyond the greenbelt but are administratively part of the Ottawa municipality. Some of these communities are
Burritts Rapids (
hamlet, pop. 300);
Ashton (
hamlet, pop. 300);
Fallowfield (
hamlet, pop. 600);
Kars (small
village, pop. 1,539);
Fitzroy Harbour (small
village, pop. 1,549);
Munster (large
village, pop. 1,390);
Carp (large
village, pop. 1,400);
North Gower (large
village, pop. 1,700);
Metcalfe (large
village, pop. 1,810);
Constance Bay (large
village, pop. 2,327) and
Osgoode (large
village, pop. 2,571) and
Richmond (very large
village, pop. 3,301). There are also a number of
towns in the
national capital region but outside the
city of Ottawa, one of these
urban communities is
Almonte, Ontario (
town, pop. 4,649).
Across the Ottawa River, which forms the border between Ontario and
Quebec, lies the city of
Gatineau. Although formally and administratively separate cities in two separate provinces, Ottawa and Gatineau (along with a number of nearby municipalities) collectively constitute the
National Capital Region, with a combined population exceeding one million residents, which is is considered a single metropolitan area. One federal crown corporation (the
National Capital Commission, or NCC) has significant land holdings in both cities - including sites of historical and touristic importance. The NCC, through its responsibility for planning and development of these lands, is an important contributor to both cities.
Around the main urban area is an extensive
greenbelt, administered by the National Capital Commission for conservation and leisure, and comprising mostly forest, farmland and marshland.
Ottawa itself is a single-tiered city, meaning it's in itself a
census division and has no county or regional municipality government above it. Ottawa is bounded on the east by the
United Counties of Prescott and Russell; by
Renfrew County and
Lanark County in the west; on the south by the
United Counties of Leeds and Grenville and the
United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry; and on the north by the
Regional County Municipality of Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais and the City of
Gatineau.
Ottawa is made up of eleven historic townships, ten of which are from historic
Carleton County and one from historic
Russell. They are
Cumberland,
Fitzroy,
Gloucester,
Goulbourn,
Huntley,
March,
Marlborough,
Nepean,
North Gower,
Osgoode and
Torbolton.
Climate
Ottawa has a
humid continental climate (
Koppen Dfb) with a range of temperatures from a record high of 37.8 °
C (100 °
F) in the summers of 1986 and 2001, to a record low of -38.9 °C (-38 °F) being recorded on December 29, 1933, the third coldest temperature recorded in a capital city (after
Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia and
Moscow,
Russia). This extreme range in temperature allows Ottawa to boast a variety of annual activities - more notable events such as the
Winterlude Festival on the
Rideau Canal in the winter and the National
Canada Day celebrations on
Parliament Hill in July - and the requirement of a wide range of clothing. Because of its relatively warm summers, Ottawa is only the seventh coldest capital in the world by annual average temperature, however by mean January temperature, Ottawa ranks third behind
Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia and
Astana,
Kazakhstan.
Snow and ice are dominant during the winter season. Ottawa receives about 235 centimetres (93
in) of snowfall annually. Its biggest snowfall was recorded on March 3-4, 1947 with 73
cm (2.5
feet) of snow. Average January temperature is -10.8 °C (13 °F), although days well above freezing and nights below -25 °C (-13 °F) both occur in the winter. The snow season is quite variable; in an average winter, a lasting snow cover is on the ground from mid-December until early April, although some years are snow-free until beyond Christmas, particularly in recent years. The year 2007 was notable for having no lasting snow cover until the third week of January. High
wind chills are common, with annual averages of 51, 14 and 1 days with wind chills below -20 °C (-4 °F), -30 °C (-22 °F) and -40 °C (-40 °F) respectively. The lowest recorded wind chill was of -47.8 °C (-54.0 °F) on
January 8,
1968.
Freezing rain is also relatively common, even relative to other parts of the country. One such large storm caused power outages and affected the local economy, and came to be known as the
1998 Ice Storm.
Summers are fairly warm and humid in Ottawa, although they're typically short in length. The average July maximum temperature is 26.5 °C (80 °F), with occasional incursions of cool northerly air which drop humidity levels, although temperatures of 30 °C (86 °F) or higher occur frequently. A maximum temperature of 39.5 °C (103 °F) was recorded in the summer of 2005 at certain locations. During periods of hot weather, high humidity is often an aggravating factor, especially close to the rivers. Ottawa annually averages 41, 12 and 2 days with humidex readings above 30 °C (86 °F), 35 °C (95 °F) and 40 °C (104 °F) respectively. The highest recorded humidex was 48 °C (118 °F) on
August 1,
2006.
Top 12 Ottawa snowiest winters>
| Year |
Snowfall Amounts |
| cm |
in |
| 1970-71 |
|
| 2007-08 |
|
| 1992-93 |
|
| 1946-47 |
|
| 1942-43 |
|
| 1971-72 |
|
| 1996-97 |
|
| 1993-94 |
|
| 1995-96 |
|
| 1959-60 |
|
| 2000-01 |
|
| 1954-55 |
|
| All amounts are snowfall only |
Spring and fall are variable, prone to extremes in temperature and unpredictable swings in conditions. Hot days above 30 °C (86 °F) have occurred as early as March (as in 2002) or as late as October, as well as snow well into May and early in October (although such events are extremely unusual and brief). Average annual precipitation averages around 943 millimetres (37 in.). The biggest one-day rainfall occurred on
September 9,
2004 when the remnants of
Hurricane Frances dumped nearly 136 mm (5½ inches) of rain in the city. There are about 2,060 hours of average sunshine annually (47% of possible).
Destructive summer weather events such as
tornadoes, major
flash floods, extreme
heat waves, severe
hail and remnant effects from
hurricanes are rare, but all have occurred. Some of the most notable tornadoes in the region occurred in 1978 (F2), 1994 (F3), 1999 (F1) and
2002 (F1). However, it's very unlikely that F4 or F5 tornadoes like in the U.S. Plain States will occur since it's located much farther away from the interaction of the airmass from both the
Gulf of Mexico and the
Rocky Mountains, which can produce strong to violent tornadoes further south.
On
February 24,
2006, an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale . On
January 1,
2000, an
earthquake measuring 5.2 on the
Richter Scale struck Ottawa. On average, a small tremor occurs in Ottawa every three years.
Transportation
Ottawa is served by
VIA Rail, a number of
airlines that fly into
Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, and inter-city bus companies such as
Greyhound through the
Ottawa Bus Central Station.
The capital city of Canada is also served by a network of freeways, the main one being provincial
Highway 417 (called
The Queensway), Ottawa-Carleton Regional Road 174 (Formerly Provincial Highway 17), and the newly constructed
Highway 416 (Veterans' Memorial Highway), connecting Ottawa to the rest of the
400-Series Highway network in Ontario. Highway 417 is also the Ottawa portion of the
Trans-Canada Highway. The city also has a few Scenic Parkways (Promenades), such as the
Ottawa River Parkway, and has a freeway connection to
Autoroute 5 and
Autoroute 50, in
Hull. For a complete listing of the parkways and roads in Ottawa, see the
List of Ottawa roads.
Ottawa's main mass transit service is
OC Transpo (provided by the City of Ottawa). The Ottawa rapid transit system includes the
transitway (a network of mostly grade-separated, extremely high-frequency, reserved
bus rapid transit lanes with full stations instead of stops) and a
light rail system called the
O-Train. A new
light rail system, including a tunnel under the downtown core, was considered for connecting the north-south and the east-west sections of the city, however the city had cancelled an expansion plan of the north-south line that would have linked
Barrhaven to downtown in 2009. A series of 4 new rapid transit proposals have now been tabled to City Concil, all of which include a tunnel under the downtown core. The most elaborate proposal includes the conversion of Bus Transitway between Baseline Station in the west, Blair Station in the east and MacDonald-Cartier International Airport in the south being converted to Light Rail, as well as the expansion of the Bus only Transitway out to Kanata in the west, Orleans in the east, Bowesville (Riverside South) and Barrhaven in the south. There are also discussions of having OC Transpo Light Rail and STO Transitway networks linking on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River. Both OC Transpo and the Quebec-based
Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) operate bus services between Ottawa and Gatineau. A transfer or bus pass of one is accepted on the other without having to pay a top-up fare on regular routes.
The
Rideau Canal, which starts in
Kingston, Ontario, winds its way through the city. The final flight of locks on the canal are between
Parliament Hill and the
Château Laurier. Also, during the winter season the canal is usually open and is a form of transportation downtown for about 7.8 kilometres (4.8
mi) for ice skaters (from a point near
Carleton University to the
Rideau Centre) and forms the
world's largest skating rink.
There is a large network of paved multi-use pathways that wind their way through much of the city, including along the Ottawa River, Rideau River, and Rideau Canal. These pathways are used for transportation, tourism, and recreation. Because most streets either have wide curb lanes or bicycle lanes, cycling is a popular mode of transportation in the region throughout the year.
Ottawa sits at the confluence of three major rivers: the
Ottawa River, the
Gatineau River and the
Rideau River. The Ottawa and Gatineau rivers were historically important in the logging and lumber industries, and the Rideau as part of the Rideau Canal system connecting the
Great Lakes and
Saint Lawrence River with the Ottawa River.
,
List of Ottawa parks, List of Ottawa roads
Landmarks and notable institutions
,
National Capital Region
Ottawa is home to a wealth of national museums, official residences, government buildings, memorials and heritage structures. Federal buildings in the National Capital Region are managed by the
Public Works Canada, while most of the federal lands in the Region are managed by the
National Capital Commission or NCC; its control of much undeveloped land gives the NCC a great deal of influence over the city's development.
In 2006, the National Capital Commission completed work on the long-discussed
Confederation Boulevard, a ceremonial route linking key attractions in National Capital Region, on both sides of the Ottawa River, in Ottawa as well as Gatineau, Quebec.
Below is a map of the National Capital Region showing the prominent buildings and structures. Click on the stars to read articles on the individual buildings.
Primary industries
Ottawa's primary employers are the Canadian federal government and the hi-tech industry. Ottawa has become known as "Silicon Valley North."
Sports
Ottawa is home to one major league sports team, the
Ottawa Senators of the
National Hockey League. The Senators' home rink is located at
Scotiabank Place. Recently, they were eliminated by the
Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0, in the 2008 Eastern Conference quarter finals. In 2007, they were the Eastern Conference champions, having defeated the
Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Final of the National Hockey League playoffs, but lost in five games to the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup finals.
Ottawa was also home to a AAA minor league
baseball team, the
Ottawa Lynx of the
International League, which was affiliated with the
Philadelphia Phillies. Until the team's sale (effective
November 16,
2006), the team was a farm team of the
Baltimore Orioles. Under the terms of the sale, the Lynx left Ottawa following the 2007 season. In April 2008, the team will begin play as the
Lehigh Valley IronPigs at newly-constructed
Coca-Cola Park in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 2008, there will be a new independent baseball team in Ottawa, called the Ottawa Rapidz, as part of the
Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball
Ottawa had a significant presence in the
Canadian Football League with the
Ottawa Rough Riders football team and an attempted revival with the
Ottawa Renegades (established 2002 - suspended operations 2006). Football was played at
Frank Clair Stadium. On
March 25,
2008, CFL commissionner
Mark Cohon awarded a conditional franchise to a group led by 67s owner
Jeff Hunt.
Ottawa also has a major junior ice hockey team, the
Ottawa 67's of the
Ontario Hockey League. Ottawa's two major universities,
Carleton University and the
University of Ottawa both have athletic associations; the team names are the
Carleton Ravens and the
Ottawa Gee-Gees respectively. Ottawa's top
soccer team is the
Ottawa Fury who play in the women's
W-League and the men's
USL Premier Development League.
Harness and
Horse racing can be found at Rideau Carleton Raceway off
Albion Road and
Auto racing can be found at the Capital City Speedway off
Highway 7. Ottawa also has a professional women's hockey team, the
Ottawa Capital Canucks(External Link). Ottawa will be hosting the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championship
(External Link). The
Rideau Canoe Club, located at Hog's Back Park on the
Rideau River, produces and supports many national- and international-level paddlers.
The city also supports many casual sporting activities, such as skating on the
Rideau Canal or
curling in winter, cycling and jogging along the
Ottawa River, Rideau Canal, and Rideau River in summer, playing
Ultimate all year round (especially through the
O.C.U.A.), skiing and hiking in the Greenbelt and the nearby Gatineau Park, and sailing on Lac Deschenes, part of the Ottawa River or golfing on many of the golf courses in the Ottawa area. During the coldest parts of winter there's
ice fishing on the Ottawa river. Ottawa has many
cricket clubs for people of all ages. Eastern Ontario's top
rugby players are members of the
Ottawa Harlequins which competes each summer in the
Rugby Canada Super League.
Sports teams
Media
Government
In addition to being the capital of Canada, Ottawa is politically diverse with regard to local politics. Most of the city traditionally supports the
Liberal Party, although only some parts of the city are consistent Liberal strongholds. Perhaps the safest areas for the Liberals are the ones dominated by
francophones, especially in
Vanier and central
Gloucester. Central Ottawa is usually more
left-leaning, and the
New Democratic Party can win ridings there as government unions and activist groups are fairly strong. Some of Ottawa's suburbs are swing areas, notably central
Nepean and, despite its Francophone population,
Orléans. The southern and western parts of the old city of Ottawa are generally moderate or slightly left of centre but periodically swing to the
Conservative Party. The farther one goes from the city centre - into suburban fringes like
Kanata and
Barrhaven and rural areas - the voters tend to be increasingly conservative, both fiscally and socially. This is especially true in the former Townships of
West Carleton,
Goulbourn,
Rideau and
Osgoode, which are more in line with the staunchly conservative areas in the surrounding
counties. However not all rural areas support the Conservative Party. Rural parts of the former township of
Cumberland, with a large number of Francophones, traditionally support the Liberal Party, though their support has recently weakened.
Ottawa became the legislative capital of the Northwest Territories when it reverted to 1870 constitutional status, after
Alberta, and
Saskatchewan were carved out in 1905. From 1905 to 1951 almost all of the council members were civil servants living in Ottawa. From 1951 to 1967 the territory alternated legislative sessions with various
Northwest Territories communities. Ottawa only held legislative sessions of the council.
Fort Smith, Northwest Territories became the administrative centre and officially housed the civil service from 1911 to 1967.
Demographics
In 2001 the population of the city of Ottawa was 774,072 (310,132 households, and 210,875 families of which 72.8% were
married couples living together, 11.1% were common-law couples, and 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present), while the greater area had 1,063,664 inhabitants
(External Link), an increase of 6.5 percent from the previous census in 1996. The population of the pre-amalgamated city was 337,031 at the 2001 census, and had fallen to 328,105 at the 2006 Census. The census of May 2006 estimates 1,148,800 people living in the greater Ottawa (Ottawa-
Gatineau) area. In 2001 females made up 51.23 percent of the population. Youths under 14 years of age number 19.30 percent of the total population, while those of retirement age (65 years and older) make up 10.81 percent resulting in an average age of 36.6 years of age.
Foreign born residents in Ottawa made up 18.46 percent of the population in which many come from
China,
Lebanon, northeast Africa,
Iran, and
Balkan Europe
(External Link). Members of visible minority groups (non-white/
European) constituted 14.14 percent, while those of
Aboriginal origin numbered 1.28 percent of the total population. The largest visible minority groups consisted of
Black Canadians: 3.32%,
Chinese Canadian: 2.59%,
Arab: 2.19%, and
Asian: 2.02%, as well as smaller mixed race, and other East Asian groups.
(External Link) Because Ottawa is the core of an urban area extending into French-speaking
Quebec, the city is very bilingual. Those who speak
English as a first language constitute 62.6 percent, those who speak both English and French, 0.85 percent, while those who speak
French as a first language number 14.9 percent. Other languages include
Arabic,
Chinese,
Italian,
Spanish,
German,
Persian and many others.
(External Link)
As expressed in 2001 census, the most popular religion is
Christianity as 79.34 percent of the population described themselves belonging to various Christian denominations, the most popular being
Roman Catholicism: 54.16%,
Protestantism: 21.85%,
Christian Orthodox: 1.68%, while the remaining 1.64% consists of independent Christian churches like
Jehovah's Witness,
LDS etc. Non-Christian religions are also very well established in Ottawa, the largest being
Islam: 3.97%,
Judaism: 1.09%, and
Buddhism: 0.95%. Those professing no religion number 13.29 percent.
Education
Ottawa has the highest per capita concentration of
engineers, scientists, and residents with
PhDs in Canada.
Algonquin College
Carleton University
Dominican University College
La Cité Collégiale
Saint Paul University
University of Ottawa
Items of interest
The National Research Council of Canada's shortwave time signal station, CHU, is located in Ottawa.
The Ottawa ankle rules were developed in, and named after the city.
List of attractions in Ottawa
List of Ottawa cinemas
Beaver Tails
Events
Canada Dance Festival
Remembrance Day
Carnival of Cultures
CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival
Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival
Ottawa Fringe Festival
Ottawa International Children's Festival
Ottawa International Hockey Festival
Winterlude is an annual winter carnival held each year in February. It is focused on the Rideau Canal.
Tulip Festival: each May Ottawa receives a gift of several hundred thousand tulips from the royal family of the Netherlands. The festival takes place in various locations throughout the city.
Canada Day is one of Ottawa's most important holidays and people from across the nation visit to celebrate the nation's birthday.
Ottawa SuperEX is an eleven-day exhibition with entertainment and amusements that takes place every August.
Ottawa International Jazz Festival
Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival, dubbed the largest blues festival in Canada.
Capital Pride is an annual summer festival celebrating the GLBT community in both Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. It is the only Festival in Ottawa that has a parade (although there are other parades).
The August Ontario civic holiday which is called Simcoe Day in Toronto and Peter Robinson Day in Peterborough is named Colonel By Day in Ottawa.
Westfest
Ottawa International Chicken & Rib Cook-Off
Ottawa International Busker FestivalFurther Information
Get more info on 'Ottawa Ontario'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://ottawa.totallyexplained.com">Ottawa Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
