Facts About OttawaHere are some facts about Ottawa, Ontario, Canada that you may find helpful. Population of Ottawa Trying to confirm the exact numbers has proven to be a little difficult. There are different numbers everywhere depending on the source and depending on whether or not the numbers reflect the amalgamated City of Ottawa or just inside the Greenbelt or the entire National Capital Region (Ottawa & Gatineau). Coincidentally, while doing our search in the middle of December 2009, the City of Ottawa announced that the population of Ottawa is 900,000! They even updated all the signs around the boundaries of Ottawa. I thought we were over a million by now but, I will go by the numbers that the City of Ottawa is providing! They seem to be a pretty reliable source. Since the Census in 2001, Ottawa has grown by approximately 12 per cent! There are no signs of our growth stopping either. We are a bit biased but we know thousands of reasons why people would want to live in Ottawa (hence the reason for this website)! Ottawa is the fourth largest city in Canada. Toronto, Montreal & Calgary are higher. In the province of Ontario, we are the second largest. Statistics on Ottawa We personally feel that one of the best places to find statistics on Ottawa (or any other city in Canada), is on the Statistics Canada website. You can find a tonne of useful information and characteristics like population, marital status, age, dwelling, family, income, language etc. Here is the link to the: most recent (2006) community profile on the Statistics Canada website. A very brief History of Ottawa Seeing as history is not our strongest subject, we will only briefly discuss Ottawa’s history! Ottawa was formerly called “Bytown” after Colonel John By who was an engineer who oversaw the construction of the Rideau Canal. In 1855, Bytown was incorporated and became Ottawa. Three years later, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa to be the capital of Canada in 1857. The construction of the Parliament Buildings began in 1860 and were completed in 1866. Confederation was one year later in 1867 so the members of parliament were put to work right away. Ottawa's history isn't without devastation. There were two big fires. The first was the Great Fire of 1900 which destroyed hundreds of buildings and lumber mills. The second fire was in 1916 when a fire broke out on Parliament Hill in the Centre Block. The only part left standing was the Library of Parliament. Ottawa may not be a very old city in comparison to other cities around the world, but it still has a lot of history. Whether your are visiting or you live here, you will learn so many facts about Ottawa and so much about the history of Ottawa by visiting the numerous museums we have in our great city.
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