Capital to the North

In December, I headed north to Ottawa, my first trip to Canada's capital city. I'm surprised that it took me so long -- I love Canada, and have been to a number of cities, but somehow I'd missed Ottawa.


Actually, our destination was several hours north, and there was already a bit of snow on the ground there. The community had been worried about the timing of the gathering, as they often have more than a foot of snow by early December. But all was good.


I got in early that morning, so had a few hours to wander the downtown before meeting my carpool north. 

 The locks on the Rideau Canal. Sadly, the weather wasn't yet cold enough so the waters hadn't frozen. I had one day on my own to explore after the community meeting, but it looked like I wouldn't get to ice skate along the river way. Bummer.

 But the architecture is wonderful. This is parliament, and a detail (above) from the wall along the street. 

 Then I walked across the Ottawa River. On the Ottawa side, which is in Ontario, all tourist signs were in English and French, English first on the left. Halfway across the bridge, I must have crossed into Québec and the twin city of Gatineau, because the signs switched to French first on the left.

 My destination was the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Look familiar? Yes, I felt right at home, as the building is designed by Douglas Cardinal, who did our building too.

 I didn't have much time, so it really was a quick run-through. I was hoping to return after the meeting, so this was just an orientation, I thought. Above, some of the totems in the First Nations Hall. Below, the cast (or was it the model?) for the sculpture The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, which is in front of the Canadian Embassy here in D.C. 

 In a hall dedicated to First Nations people is this uniform of Sheldon Souray. He is Métis, and has played for several teams in the NHL.

 Another view of the museum. It's quite lovely.

The community meeting was up in Kitigan Zibi, and was the first official convening for this grant cohort. We have a couple of years of work to do.... I hadn't been in community for a while, so this was a real treat. As always, great companions, wonderful mission, incredible experience.

 The education center in the community, where we held our meeting. I think I heard that Mr. Cardinal designed this building too.

 With my colleague Jennifer. Nice to know that I'll get to see her and her museum colleagues once a year for the next few years!

 Afterwards, one of the community consultant/participants had a meeting at the museum to review collections from his community, and he invited a few of us to join him. That did alter my plans, but how to turn down a generous offer like that? So a few other shots from the totem hall, because I knew Kati would love the beaver.

And a different beaver. It was suggested that before I left Ottawa, I have a local delicacy, and beaver tails won the discussion. After all, next meeting is north of Montreal, so the poutine really should wait until then.

And then, just last month a contingent from the project and communities came to visit and do a collections review. My schedule is rather challenging just now, but my colleagues took good care of them and I did manage to catch up with them over dinner. What fun!