First Posting …….. to Ottawa!
Antonia Weetman
Born in Britain and married to a Canadian FSDP, moving to Ottawa was the first taste of being posted abroad for Antonia Weetman. In telling her experiences, she hopes it is useful to other newcomers here.
It was not an easy start. We arrived with a three-month old baby, knowing virtually no-one. During my husband’’s French training, I searched the telephone directory and the internet and slowly found where to go.
Before we came to Ottawa, I had a concept of a ‘‘capital city’’. I had spent time in London, Paris and Madrid. They were over-populated and frenetic, at the heart of money and culture. Ottawa seemed so quiet in comparison, especially once the snow settled in for five long months of winter. Government workers vacated the centre of town by at least seven o’’clock and after that the place was deserted.
On my first visit downtown, I was surprised to find that the National Gallery of Canada was shut on Monday and Tuesdays out of season. When I returned there, I found it to be a tranquil place, quite different from the continuous bustle of the Louvre or the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.
The reason for this quietness lies in Queen Victoria’s choice for Canada’s capital city. She was asked to consider Montreal, Quebec, Toronto and Kingston as candidates for the position with Confederation in 1867. Due to the respective French and English leanings of each, she decided to give government a town of its own. She chose Ottawa because it was on the border between Ontario and Quebec and its selection would offend no-one.
Gradually I have realised that these features, which alarmed me at first, have considerable benefits to us as residents. The low population and the concentration of arts in Ottawa make us privileged lodgers. Ottawa does not merit such services in terms of its size but because it is the seat of government and the place of ceremonial visits.
With time, I have discovered excellent community and leisure programmes, libraries, parks and well-funded Early Years Centres for children. The city is clean and safe and the public transport system works. We have access to the National Arts Centre and the Gatineau Hills. The National Gallery, designed as a ‘‘Cathedral of Light’’ in 1988, offers us much of Canada’’s history through its art. In particular, the dramatic Inuit sculptures and the Group of Seven paintings, which describe the natural landscape of Canada vividly.
The winter here is brutal but in the summer the place comes alive with festivals –– festivals of tulips, jazz, blues, chamber music, even buskers –– and people can be seen on the streets, making the most of the warm freedom from snowsuits. Even in the midst of winter, the city held an Ice Festival of sculptures. It was quite freezing at that time but the fact that it took place, shows a strong degree of spirit in its inhabitants.
I have now been installed almost a year. I can see the geese once more practising formations to evacuate before the frost and a fear of winter rises up in me. However, I have seen the city in all its seasons. We have enjoyed a real summer, something I barely knew in Britain. With that comes an equal opposite, a new strength of winter. I can understand Ottawa’’s nature-dependent rhythm and we have settled into its pattern.
It is still not the most exciting city in the world but it is currently our home, and for that we can thank Queen Victoria for a diplomatic choice.
Antonia Weetman is happy to be a contact for other newcomers to Ottawa with the Foreign Service this fall.