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Capital: Ottawa
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In the years after W.W.II, Canada experienced a huge wave of European immigration, with a further influx of Asians, Arabs, Indians, Italians, Hispanics and Caribbeans arriving in the 1960s. The post-war era was a period of economic expansion and prosperity. In 1967 Canada celebrated its 100th anniversary with Expo, the World's Fair in Montreal, as one of the highlights. The social upheavals of the 1960s brought to the surface the festering resentments that French-speaking Quebec had with English-speaking Canada. In 1976 the Parti Quebecois (PQ), advocating separatism, won the provincial election in Quebec, though sentiments on the issue have since waxed and waned. In the 1980 sovereignty referendum, the separatists were defeated by 60% of the vote. In October 1995, the vote was extremely close, with Canada coming within a few thousand votes of breaking up. The problem is structural. The anglophone provinces of Canada want a strong central government as a protective bulwark against an excessive American influence on their distinct culture while the Francophone Quebec province needs a strong provincial government to guarantee the survival and development of their own equally distinctive culture. An asymmetric federation in which the anglophone provinces could delegate more powers in culturally sensitive areas to the federal government if they wish to than Quebec feels it can afford to, could satisfy the legitimate aspirations of both parties but, so far, this solution has been rejected by the other provinces who do not accept that Quebec would have more autonomy than they do. Other issues of concern in the early years of the new millennium include high taxes, preserving generous social programs and keeping our foreign policy independent from that of our powerful southern neighbour. |
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Quark's Arctic cruise started in Ottawa where we boarded a chartered flight to Kangerlussuaq on the west coast of Greenland with a fuelling stop in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut territory.
Naturally, I had to take a few pictures of Canada's capital where I was born. Here are the parliament buildings.
Not far from the Parliament Buildings, on the other side of the Rideau Canal locks, stands à major Ottawa landmark, the Chateau Laurier Hotel where the cruise participants spent a night, or rather, part of a night before leaving at four AM to catch our flight to Greenland.
I arrived early to look around before turning in. Fortunately, the weather was perfect.
Ottawa has changed a lot for the better since I left here almost fifty years ago but amazingly, the Chateau Laurier has not changed a bit during that time..
I visited the swimming pool with nostalgia remembering the carefree fun I had here in my teens.
I also have more stressful memories of staying at this hotel as member of the Quebec government team during federal - provincial conferences held across the street in the old Union Station Building.
This view looking north shows the Ottawa locks of the Rideau Canal in between the Parliament buildings on the left and the Chateau Laurier on the right.
The canal linking the Ottawa River to Lake Ontario at Kingston was built as a consequence of the 1812 war to insure safe passage for British troops and goods to Upper Canada by avoiding the segment of the St-Laurence River where Americans controlled the south shore.
The five year construction effort (1827 - 1832) headed by Colonel By led to the establishment of Bytown that became Ottawa in 1857.
The canal is now a leisure waterway lined with parks, beaches and resorts. Looking south, tour boats line up to take tourists across the city to Dow's Lake where I used to go sailing when I was in the Sea Cadets.
In winter this stretch becomes a popular public skating rink.
This building across the street from the Chateau Laurier used to be the Union Railway Station, so called because it served both the Canadian National and the Canadian Pacific Railways until the railway station was moved away from the city center.
Conveniently linked to the Chateau Laurier by a tunnel under the street, its huge hall now serves as venue for federal - provincial conferences.
Red streetcars with yellow trim used to run on Sparks street when I was a kid. Now it's a pedestrian mall use mostly by tourists because it is just one block south of Wellington that goes by the parliament buildings
Here is a view of the east end of Sparks street.
Sparks street leads to the War Memorial where politicians lay wreaths now and then in a bid for the votes of veterans and the patriotically inclined.
This map of the city center will help you position the pictures I have shown you if you feel like it.
After my quick tour of Ottawa's postcard sites, I had dinner with my artist sister Claire and turned in early to catch 40 winks before the 3:30 wake up call..
The herding of 75 passengers on busses, through customs and onto the plane was expertly carried out and we left Ottawa for Iqaluit at 7:00 as planned.
Four hours later, the barren glaciation marked tundra of northern Quebec was all we could see through the plane's portholes.
After one hour more, we had crossed the Hudson Strait and were approaching Iqaluit the capital of the Nunavut territory, created in august 1999 to allow a measure of self government to the 29 000 Inuit that inhabit the Canadian Arctic.
A first base was established here after W.W.II around a DEW early warning radar center. It was named Frobisher Bay after Sir Martin Frobisher who was the first to enter the bay in 1579.
The town took the Inuit name of Iqaluit (place of many fish) in 1987, a decade before becoming the capital of Nunavut (our homeland in Inuktitut language).
After a five hour flight from Ottawa we were not allowed off the plane while it took on fuel for the two hour flight to Kangerlussuaq. It was extremely frustrating to me not to have a closer look at the town. I would have expected the planners of this cruise to understand that, having come so far and paid so much, the cruise passengers would like to see more of such a unique place as this. A half hour bus tour would have been sufficient as there is not much to see in this small capital of 6000 inhabitants.
