Home1899 to 1999
A Century of Achievement
In 1999, the NCC celebrated 100 years since it and its predecessors began to plan the Capital region. During the last century, Canada’s Capital has changed gradually from wilderness outpost to modern metropolis. An important agency of that transformation has been the NCC (established in 1959) and its predecessors, the Federal District Commission (1927) and the Ottawa Improvement Commission (1899).
1800 to 1859
Ottawa, Gatineau and many smaller municipalities in today’s Capital region were founded in the early 19th century as lumbering and industrial centres. Ottawa and the former city of Hull were rough, ramshackle towns in the early days. That began to change in 1857, when Ottawa was named capital of the newly formed Province of Canada (from the union of Upper and Lower Canada, parts of today’s Ontario and Quebec) and in 1859, when the building of Canada’s Parliament Buildings began. In 1867, four British colonies in north-eastern North America united to form the Dominion of Canada, and Ottawa became the Capital of a new federation.
1899 to 1927
In 1899, Parliament created the Ottawa Improvement Commission (OIC).
Focus:
To “beautify” Ottawa
Achievements
- driveways along the Rideau Canal and in Rockcliffe Park
- Minto Bridges (part of a planned ceremonial drive, from Rideau Hall to Parliament Hill)
- several new urban parks
- Todd Plan (1903), first to conceive the Capital not as a city, but as a region defined by a system of parks
- Holt Report (1915), recommended the rationalization of downtown railway lines, development of parks and government offices according to a comprehensive scheme and the creation of a Capital park north of Hull
1927 to 1959
In 1927, the government established the first federal district (at 2,330 square kilometres, less than half the size of today’s Capital region) and transformed the OIC into the larger and more powerful Federal District Commission (FDC). From 1934 on, the FDC maintained and landscaped federal lands in the Capital.
Focus:
“To work for the general advantage of Canada”
Achievements
- Champlain Bridge
- National War Memorial and Confederation Square
- Gatineau Park (the beginning of land purchases)
- Gréber Plan (General Report on the Plan for the National Capital)
1959 to Present
The NCC
The National Capital Act of 1958 doubled the size of the National Capital Region to 4,715 square kilometres, bringing more of Quebec and Ontario together in the Capital, as well as new expanses of natural and rural land. It also established the National Capital Commission (1959) as the agency for realizing the terms of the Gréber Plan (1950), and later the Federal Land Use Plan (1988) and the Plan for Canada’s Capital (1999).
Focus:
“To create pride and unity through Canada’s Capital Region”
Achievements
1950s and 1960s
- removal of railway lines from the downtown
- building of infrastructure (roads, bridges and parkways)
- expansion of Gatineau Park
- creation of the protected Greenbelt in the Ontario part of the Capital region
- decentralization of government offices to campuses throughout the Capital region
- development of urban parks (tulip displays)
- first projects to restore heritage buildings and districts
1970s
- construction of office towers in Quebec
- reservation of former industrial land in Hull as a national museum site
- creation of the Rideau Canal Skateway
- beginning of a system of recreational pathways
1980s
- Federal Land Use Plan (1988)
- growing emphasis on public programming (Canada Day, Winterlude, Christmas Lights Across Canada)
- sites developed for national museums (e.g., National Gallery of Canada and Canadian Museum of Civilization)
- responsibility for official residences
1990s
- Plan for Canada’s Capital (1999)
- Confederation Boulevard (ceremonial boulevard and programming axis)
- The Peacekeeping Monument (1992)
- 125th Anniversary of Confederation (1992)
- restoration of the Chambers Building
2000s
- Canada and the World Pavilion grand opening (2001)
- the inauguration of the reconstructed Champlain Bridge (2002)
- NCC leads and coordinates the Juno Awards in Canada’s Capital Region (2003)
- completion of the remediation at the site of the new Canadian War Museum (2003)
- acquisition of the lands on which Scott Paper is located (2003)
- Gatineau Park Master Plan (2005)
- Core Area Sector Plan is approved (2005)
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