Ottawa- Community Overview

The City of Ottawa was originally a frontier hamlet called “The Landing”. Nicholas Sparks, after whom Sparks Street and Sparks Street Mall are named, was the original settler. The Royal Engineers, commanded by Colonel John By, came to “The Landing” in 1826 to construct the Rideau Canal and its series of locks as part of a navigable waterway from the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario. This would provide an alternate route for naval vessels to Lake Ontario in the event of a war with the United States. The Landing was renamed Bytown in honour of Colonel By. Bytown became a lumber centre with its own municipal government and in 1854 it became a city and was given a new name, Ottawa. This is an Anglicized version of “Outaouais” (pronounced “OO-too-way”), which is the name of a First Nation tribe of the upper Ottawa River.

Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as the capital of Canada. It was a meeting point between Canada's two basic cultures and possessed a setting of natural beauty. The Government of Canada has established the National Capital Commission to co-operate with the city and the surrounding municipal governments in developing joint projects that affect the capital’s life and its physical appearance, government building areas, railways relocation program and renewal of the urban core of Ottawa and Hull.

It was on January 1, 1969 that the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton was formed to develop a cohesive and comprehensive management plan in the face of the continued rapid urban growth throughout the national capital region.

Ottawa, the capital city of Canada was created on January 1, 2001 by amalgamating the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and eleven other local municipalities including, Ottawa, Cumberland, Gloucester, Goulbourn, Kanata, Nepean, Osgoode, Rideau, Rockcliffe Park, Vanier and West Carleton.

Ottawa is located 193 km northwest of Montreal and 399 km northeast of Toronto, on Highways #416 and 417 (Trans Canada Highway). The city is situated at the junction of the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers. 

The population of Ottawa numbers approximately 812,129.

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