Capital Pathway

The Rideau Canal Celtic Cross is a memorial in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, erected to commemorate the workers and their families that died building the Rideau Canal between 1826 and 1832. The granite Celtic cross has five engraved symbols: an Irish harp; a pick and shovel; a mosquito; a wheel barrow, and an explosion. It is erected close to Lock #1, in the Colonel By Valley, below Major's Hill Park and Château Laurier Hotel. The group of volunteers who erected the cross were drawn together in 2002 by the Ottawa and District Labour Council with the goal of erecting the memorial. The committee included representatives of the Workers Heritage Centre Museum and the Irish Society of the National Capital Region. The group had support from the Kingston Irish Folk Club, which has raised a number of monuments in the Kingston area. Upon the unveiling of the cross at the canal's first lock at the Ottawa River, the committee disbanded.

The Bytown Museum (French: Musée Bytown) is a museum in Ottawa located in the Colonel By Valley at the Ottawa Locks of the Rideau Canal at the Ottawa River, just below Parliament Hill. Housed in the Commissariat Building, Ottawa's oldest remaining stone building, the museum provides a comprehensive overview of the origins of Bytown and its development and growth into the present city of Ottawa. Founded in 1917 by the Women's Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa (WCHSO), the Bytown Museum was originally located in the former City Registry Office at 70 Nicholas across from the Carleton County Gaol. The museum moved to its current location in 1951 and has operated from the Commissariat since, with the exception of a brief period from 1982 to 1985, when Parks Canada, the building's landlord, conducted renovations.

The Library of Parliament (French: Bibliothèque du Parlement) is the main information repository and research resource for the Parliament of Canada. The main branch of the library sits at the rear of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The library survived the 1916 fire that destroyed Centre Block. The library has been augmented and renovated several times since its construction in 1876, the last between 2002 and 2006, though the form and decor remain essentially authentic. The building today serves as a Canadian icon, and appears on the obverse of the Canadian ten-dollar bill. The library is overseen by the Parliamentary Librarian of Canada and an associate or assistant librarian. The Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate is considered to be an officer of the library.

The Parliament of Canada (French: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the House of Commons is dominant, with the Senate rarely opposing its will. The Senate reviews legislation from a less partisan standpoint and may initiate certain bills. The monarch or his representative, normally the governor general, provides royal assent to make bills into law. The governor general, on behalf of the monarch, summons and appoints the 105 senators on the advice of the prime minister, while each of the 338 members of the House of Commons – called members of Parliament (MPs) – represents an electoral district, commonly referred to as a riding, and are elected by Canadian voters residing in the riding. The governor general also summons and calls together the House of Commons, and may prorogue or dissolve Parliament, in order to either end a parliamentary session or call a general election. The governor general also delivers the Throne Speech at the opening of each new Parliament (the monarch occasionally has done so, instead of the governor general, when visiting Canada). The current Parliament, summoned by Governor General Mary Simon in November 2021, is the 44th Parliament since Confederation in 1867. The official languages of the Parliament are English and French.

The Queen's Gates (French: Porte de la Reine) is the formal entrance to Parliament Hill, the location of the Canadian parliament buildings, in Ottawa, Ontario. Built in 1872 and set into the fence, known as the Wellington Wall, between piers designed in the Victorian High Gothic style that was fashionable in Canada at the time, the gates sit on the central axis of the hill's landscaping, in line with the Centennial Flame and Peace Tower beyond, and open onto Wellington Street. By the early 1990s, neither the piers nor the ironwork had been properly renovated since their construction; salt from the street, the freeze-thaw cycle, and pollution had damaged and disintegrated the grout and stone faces. Thus, in 1992, Public Works and Government Services Canada began a $5 million restoration project of the entire fence along Wellington, which included the Queen's Gates. The piers were fully repointed and stabilised, including their foundations, and the gates were restored and partly rebuilt by a blacksmith.

The Canadian Parliament Buildings are the parliament buildings housing the Parliament of Canada, located on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The Centre Block (French: Édifice du Centre) is the main building of the Canadian parliamentary complex on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing the House of Commons and Senate chambers, as well as the offices of a number of members of parliament, senators, and senior administration for both legislative houses. It is also the location of several ceremonial spaces, such as the Hall of Honour, the Memorial Chamber, and Confederation Hall. Built in the Gothic Revival style, the present Centre Block is the building's second iteration. The first was destroyed by fire in 1916; all that remains of the original building is the Library of Parliament, at the rear of the Centre Block. Though construction began immediately after the blaze, sculpting work on the interior continued through the 1970s. One of the most recognizable buildings in Canada, the Centre Block is depicted on the Canadian $10 bill (the Library of Parliament), $20 bill (the Peace Tower), and the $50 bill. On 12 December 2018, the Centre Block was closed for renovations that could last ten years or more.

The Peace Tower (French: Tour de la Paix) is a focal bell and clock tower sitting on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario. The present incarnation replaced the 55-metre (180 ft) Victoria Tower after the latter burned down in 1916, along with most of the Centre Block; only the Library of Parliament survived. It serves as a Canadian icon and had been featured prominently on the Canadian twenty-dollar bill directly adjacent the queen's visage, until the change to polymer.

The Victoria Tower was the prominent main bell tower of the original Centre Block parliament building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The 55-metre-high (180 ft) tower was the centre piece of Parliament Hill that was constructed from 1859 to 1866 by Thomas Fuller. It was destroyed during the great fire of the Centre Block on 3 February 1916. Its replacement, the Peace Tower, was built on the same location but the design (larger clock face, ornamental Victoria High Gothic vs. simpler Modern Gothic) and height were radically changed. The original tower bore some similarities to the tower at the Parliament Building (Quebec) (still standing).

Major's Hill Park is a park in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. The park stands above the Rideau Canal at the point where it enters the Ottawa River. The parliament buildings can be seen across the canal to the west, to the north of the park is the National Gallery of Canada, and to the east are the United States embassy and the Byward Market. To the south is the Chateau Laurier hotel, built on land that was once part of the park. The neighbourhood surrounding the park was once home to those who constructed the canal. In particular, the area that is now the park was the official residence of the Superintending Engineer of the Rideau Canal, Lieutenant-Colonel John By until he returned to England in 1832. The hill was known at the time as "Colonel's Hill". By was replaced in 1832 by Captain Daniel Bolton who took up residence in By's house. In 1838 Bolton was promoted to Major. By the time he left the Bytown in 1843, the hill had become known as Major's Hill. Commemorative plaques and a statue of Lieutenant-Colonel By, Major Bolton and their successors were erected in Major's Hill Park.The residence was destroyed by fire on October 5, 1848, though ruins survive to today. The use of the area as a residence means that the park has remained a green space since the early days of Ottawa. It is now managed by the National Capital Commission, which has placed historical information in the northwest corner of the park. Due to its central location, Major's Hill Park is frequented all year round. It is frequently used as a venue for events, and is central to Ottawa's civic Canada Day celebrations. A more recent addition to the calendar is the annual 'B In The Park', which precedes the Glengarry Highland Games. Pipe bands and highland dancers from all over the world perform. It is presented by the Sons of Scotland Pipe Band of Ottawa, which claims to be Canada's oldest continuous civilian pipe band.

Parliament Hill (French: Colline du Parlement), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their architectural elements of national symbolic importance, is the home of the Parliament of Canada. Parliament Hill attracts approximately three million visitors each year. Law enforcement on Parliament Hill and in the parliamentary precinct is the responsibility of the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS). Originally the site of a military base in the 18th and early 19th centuries, development of the area into a governmental precinct began in 1859, after Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the capital of the Province of Canada. Following several extensions to the parliament and departmental buildings and a fire in 1916 that destroyed the Centre Block, Parliament Hill took on its present form with the completion of the Peace Tower in 1927. Since 2002, an extensive $3 billion renovation and rehabilitation project has been underway throughout all the precinct's buildings; work is not expected to be complete until after 2028.

Anishinaabe Scout is a statue in Ottawa, Canada. It is located in Major's Hill Park, however it was originally part of a sculpture to Samuel De Champlain which resides across the road within Nepean Point park in Ottawa, Ontario. The Champlain sculpture was created by Hamilton MacCarthy and installed in 1915. In 1918, MacCarthy created a bronze sculpture of a kneeling “Indian,” originally envisioned to be seen kneeling in a canoe. Group funding of the sculpture however, ran out of money needed to fabricate the canoe and as a result only the "Indian Scout” was placed on the pedestal at the base of Champlain's monument. In the 1990s the Assembly of First Nations protested the subservient placement of the Indian Scout in relation to Samuel de Champlain, and successfully lobbied for it to be removed from the monument. The “Indian” sculpture was renamed Anishinabe Scout and now sits in Major's Hill Park, a short distance away from its original home.