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By Ariane Gauthier

LeBreton Flats was once one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Ottawa. It began as the home of many lumber mills as early settlers sought to use the strong current of the Chaudière Falls to move massive quantities of lumber from a densely forested area. With this industry came its horde of workers, who chose to establish their families near their workplaces. These were the principal elements that helped to shape the Flats.

Insurance plan of Ottawa, Ontario, June 1878 – Sheet 3. (e010695480)

Despite the lively atmosphere prompted by this active industry and the additional hustle and bustle of the railway yards, LeBreton was an impoverished area mostly populated by Francophones, the Irish and, later, Italians. Still, the Flats endured. Even after the Great Fire of Ottawa-Hull—a massive fire that erupted in Hull, Quebec, on April 26, 1900, and jumped the Ottawa River to decimate parts of Ottawa—reduced the area to ashes, the neighbourhood was quickly rebuilt and life picked up where it had left off.

Great Fire of Ottawa-Hull. (a009286)

Things changed, however, on April 18, 1962, when the National Capital Commission issued a letter to the residents of the Flats informing them of their abrupt expropriation. Residents and business owners had until May 1, 1964—this date was later revised to December 31, 1964—to vacate their homes, after which plans had been made to raze everything to the ground. On the bones of this old neighbourhood, a massive new building for the Department of National Defence would take shape, destined to serve as its headquarters.

However, these ambitious plans were then abandoned. In 1965, after the final building was knocked down, Ottawa residents waited to see what would become of the vacated LeBreton Flats. None could have guessed that any plans to remake the area would be tabled for some 40 years.

In my search to understand this part of Ottawa history, I often found myself wondering about the families who had to leave their homes: those who had inherited familial houses they had known their whole lives, the new immigrants who had so recently settled into the city, and the business owners who had once served as the life force of LeBreton Flats. How sad it was to think about their lost dreams, ambitions and memories!

Plowing through our vast archival collection in a bid to find personalized experiences of the expropriation, I came across the following sub-series from the National Capital Commission fonds (RG34/R1181):

Central registry files
Reference: R1181-18-X-E, RG34-C-1-b
http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=134479&lang=eng

The central registry files mostly pertain to the management of National Capital Commission properties through negotiations and transactions to acquire and expropriate property. Among other things, they include many files on residences and businesses expropriated from the Flats in 1962. Uniquely, many of these files include photos of houses, apartment complexes, stores, etc., which figure as the core motivator for this blog post, particularly photos of buildings and streets that no longer exist.

Man walking in front of apartment unit. The photograph is dated June 1962. (Photo taken by Ariane Gauthier – from R1181-18-X-E, box: 77.)

A self-service corner store. (Photo taken by Ariane Gauthier – from R1181-18-X-E, box: 77.)

Three photos of the same apartment unit: front view, rear view and side view of the property. (Photo taken by Ariane Gauthier – from R1181-18-X-E, box: 77.)

Front and rear views of the Ottawa Feather & Mattress company building. (Photo taken by Ariane Gauthier – from R1181-18-X-E, box: 77.)

This is just a sample of what can be found by going through these files. Much more can be learned by carefully examining the textual documents accompanying these photos, but this is work I will leave to city historians.

After the neighbourhood was levelled in 1965, replaced by grass fields and shrubs, the Flats sat empty for some 40 years until the Canadian War Museum opened its doors in 2005. The construction of condo buildings and parks followed five years later. In 2019, the development of the City of Ottawa’s O-Train Confederation line led to the opening of Pimisi Station, which serves the LeBreton Flats area. Ongoing projects are seeing the area filled once again with new residential buildings, a possible hockey arena and, of course, Ādisōke. This shows us that the expropriation of 1962 was not the coup de grâce for LeBreton Flats. Just like after the Great Fire of Ottawa-Hull, LeBreton Flats is rebuilding and will soon continue from where it left off.

Additional Resources

• William Topley: Exposure on Ottawa, Library and Archives Canada Podcast
• Ottawa’s Uppertown: A lost neighbourhood uncovered by Andrew Elliott, Library and Archives Canada Blog
• Ādisōke website, Ottawa Public Library–Library and Archives Canada joint facility

Ariane Gauthier is a Reference Archivist in the Access and Services Branch at Library and Archives Canada.