Alright, so this week's homework from @Rambo, @Missy and @Lyxzen is to share some fun facts about the cities we each live in, and I always enjoy telling people all about Ottawa! I could go on at length about all the places and people that I love in this city, from the theatres to the libraries to the cafés, but in the interest of keeping this post a reasonable length and acknowledging that not everyone on SG has even heard of my city, I'll stick to a couple of key facts:
1) Ottawa is the Capital of Canada
This might be news for some and obvious for others, but being the seat of the Canadian government is a pretty big part of Ottawa's identity and history. One of the things that's really cool about it is that, because Canada is an officially bilingual country (English and French), Ottawa was actually chosen as capital because it's right on the border between English Canada and the majority Francophone province of Quebec. In the above photo, the foreground is actually Gatineau, the fourth largest city in Quebec, while the other side of the river is Ottawa itself, in the province of Ontario. Many residents of Ottawa speak both English and French.
2) Ottawa has the Largest Skating Rink in the World
One of Ottawa's biggest landmarks is the Rideau Canal, which starts downtown at the Ottawa River and runs 202 kilometers to the city of Kingston, where it empties into Lake Ontario. During the winter, it freezes over and the City converts part of it into a public skating rink, the largest by total surface area in the world (suck it, Winnipeg!). But while today it's enjoyed by locals and tourists from around the word, it was actually built by the military in the early 19th century as an alternative route between Kingston and Montreal in case of American invasion, which was still a major fear after the War of 1812.
3) Ottawa may also be the Shawarma Capital of Canada
Local media often like to claim this title for Ottawa. Other cities - notably Windsor and Montreal - may dispute it, but O-town is at the very least a strong contender. The city has a large Lebanese population, many of whom came here during the Lebanese Civil War, and one of the most visible signs of their presence is the metric spit-load of shawarma restaurants. The restaurants on Rideau Street especially make a killing off the University of Ottawa students looking for some nice, filling food to stave off the following morning's hangover after a night out on the Byward Market.
4) Ottawa is on Unceded Algonquin Territory
So, this fact isn't really fun, but I feel like an honest accounting of my city would be incomplete without mentioning it. For those who don't know, most (but by no means all) of Canada was opened for settlement by signing treaties with the First Nations. However, for a whole bunch of shady historical reasons, the Algonquins of the Ottawa River Valley were never offered a treaty. The government is in ongoing negotiations with the Algonquin nation to sign a modern treaty which would serve to partly compensate them for their stolen land, although the terms of the proposed agreement have in turn been the subject of some controversy among the Algonquins.
So yeah, that's my city. There's plenty to love about it, but also many ways it could be made better, and I try to do both as much as I can.
