Ottawa residents gathered for the annual Celtic Cross Ceremony on Monday to honour the estimated 1,000 men and women that lost their lives while building the Rideau Canal. Held at the Rideau Canal Celtic Cross monument, the event marked the 200th year since the start of the construction of the Rideau Canal. The project began in 1826, with workers, many of them Irish, relocating to Ottawa for the major work project. “This accomplishment made Ottawa, Bytown a city. Later on in 1857, it became designated the capital of Canada. As we say — the Irish — we dug the ditch that built this nation,” said Tom O’Neill, president of the Irish Society of the National Capital Region. Seven thousand people worked to build the Rideau Canal between 1826 and 1832. Colonel John By was the chief engineer that built the Rideau Canal in the early 1800s and the first Monday in August is recognized as Colonel By day in Ottawa. Paige Runolfso has never missed a Colonel By Day ceremony since the Rideau Canal Celtic Cross monument was first unveiled more than 20 years ago. “It’s our 200th birthday this year and Colonel By is the reason why we celebrate it because he was the one that started the canal and he gave a birth to Ottawa,” said Runolfso. Engraved on the monument are five symbols: an Irish harp, a pick and shovel, a mosquito, a wheelbarrow and an explosion. These symbols represent the tools, working conditions, sicknesses and diseases of the project. Ottawa councillors, officials and residents gathered Monday afternoon to share prayers, speeches and a moment of silence. In celebration of Ottawa’s bicentennial year, the Bytown Museum welcomed visitors to learn about the history of the city. “Learn about Colonel By, who he was, his accomplishments with building the Rideau Canal and also invite them into the museum to learn a little bit more about Ottawa’s history,” said Chloe Dennis, the exhibition and collections manager at the Bytown Museum. Daniel Belaire and his wife are from Ottawa and are marking the holiday by visiting the museum and learning something new about where they live. “Since it’s Ottawa’s 200th year anniversary, we thought we’d get a bit of a history and stuff like that,” said Belaire. “So many different things to learn as far as the history goes and artifacts, there’s all kinds of stuff.”
