Ottawa launching bid to turn ByWard Market into national historic site

The city of Ottawa wants to turn the ByWard Market into a national historic site. CTV’s Tyler Fleming reports.

The City of Ottawa wants to turn the ByWard Market into a national historic site in time for its 200^th birthday celebrations in 2027.

A report for the Built Heritage Committee recommends Council direct staff to nominate the historical ByWard Market as a national historic site under Parks Canada’s National Historic Site program.

The ByWard Market opened in 1827 and is Ottawa’s oldest commercial area and site of one of the city’s first public markets, the city says.

“The ByWard Market is part of Lowertown, Ottawa’s earliest settler neighbourhood and has been long recognized for its rich cultural heritage and role in shaping the identity of Ottawa,” staff said in the report for the Built Heritage Committee meeting on Dec. 9.

“The ByWard Market includes a collection of some remaining nineteenth and early twentieth-century buildings many of which have evolved and have been modified by different waves of different groups and communities immigrating to Canada and choosing Ottawa as their home.”

The area councillor says a designation as a national historic site won’t stop development or things from changing in the ByWard Market.

“It recognizes the history of the ByWard Market,” Coun. Stephanie Plante told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal.

“The ByWard Market is one of Canada’s first original markets. The designation is to recognize that this place has had a lot of things happen. It was part of the nucleus of what was then called Canada and the start of when we started colonizing Canada.”

The Parks Canada national historical site commemoration allows the designation of a person, place or event that has national historical significance. Staff say it may take up to two years to process the nomination, and a bronze plaque would be installed if the designation is approved.

The report says applications for national historic sites require consent of all landowners, and council would provide consent on behalf of the owners within the proposed boundary.

“As the designation is entirely commemorative, it should be acknowledged that there will be no additional heritage permit processes required,” staff said.

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“A positive outcome for the property/landowners if the designation is approved is the tourism and economic potential, being able to promote their property or business as being in a National Historic Site.”

The proposed boundaries for the proposed ByWard Market national historic site includes the existing ByWard Market Heritage Conservation District, with the addition of the north side of Rideau Street between Sussex Drive and Dalhousie Street, the south side of Guigues Avenue, east of Sussex Drive and west of Parent Avenue, and the south side of St. Patrick Street and north side of Murray Street.

The City of Ottawa is planning celebrations to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of Bytown’s founding in 2026, and the ByWard Market in 2027.

Plante told CTV News Ottawa she brought forward the idea to city staff after Rockcliffe Park was designated a national historic site.

“I want that story to be told and I’m not just talking about the commerce portion of it. The story about Elisabeth Bruyere, the story of the Irish settlers and the francophone settlers,” Plante said.

“There’s just such a big story to tell in the ByWard Market.”

Plante said she was “very clear” with staff that the city needs to “talk about the negatives” of the ByWard Market as part of a “very comprehensive picture of the last 198 years.”

Heritage Ottawa says the ByWard Market has local and national significance.

“It would raise its awareness. It would probably make potential developers or commercial interests take a little more interest in what is already there and the history of the area before making plans to make additions or changes to the market,” Katherine Spencer Ross, president of Heritage Ottawa, told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron.

Spencer Ross says national historic site designations have “no rules” that will change rules for business owners and building owners in the ByWard Market.

“It’s not going to deter, it shouldn’t deter anybody because it doesn’t really have any formal legislative impact,” Spencer Ross said.

The councillor insists revitalizing the ByWard Market is a top priority for the city.

“The federal heritage designation status can take up to two to seven years, so we have to start at some point if we want this thing to come into the ByWard Market,” she said. “In terms of actual staff time and my time, we submit an application and then we’re off to the races. It’s not like an ongoing process for weeks and weeks and months and months of us putting ourselves out there and having to do the work. We fill out an application, and then there’s a team of experts that will evaluate it.”

National Historic Sites in Canada

There are more than 1,000 national historic sites in Canada, including several in Ottawa.

National historic sites in Ottawa include the Rideau Canal, the Chateau Laurier, Laurier House, Notre Dame Basilica and the Rockcliffe Park Historic District.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Tyler Fleming

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