Ottawa - Rideau Canal

Colonel By's Rideau Canal starts east of the Houses of Parliament, in a gully taking it up from the Ottawa River to the Rideau valley through a system of 9 locks that bridge the difference in height between the two rivers. The War of 1812, with the young United States, had shown how easily the U.S. could threaten the St Lawrence. After the war the Duke of Wellington dispatched scouts to upper Canada to see if a solution could be found to the difficult situation.

Colonel John By was sent to Canada in 1826 to oversee the building of a canal that would circumvent the dangerous waters of the St Lawrence and provide an alternative route for navigation as far as Lake Ontario 200km (124mi) to the south-west. The canal was finished in 1832 but never achieved its anticipated strategic or economic importance.

The canal banks provide space for all kinds of activities. Winterlude/snowballing: in February the winter festival takes place. Then the canal becomes a gigantic fair on ice. At many places professional and amateur artists try their hand at ice-sculpture.