Timeless Canada

Gatineau, until recently known as Hull, is based just across the river from Ottawa in the province of Quebec, and, as a result, many federal bureaucracies have their headquarters here. For years, Gatineau has been a more relaxed and fun-loving counterpart to the capital, an attitude that reveals itself even in its officialdom – City Hall, for instance, boasts a meditation center. More »

Founded in 1900, the Art Gallery of Ontario holds one of Canada’s most extensive collections of fine art and modern sculpture. This modern structure houses European works by Rembrandt, Gainsborough, van Gogh and Picasso, a superb collection of Canadian art, including the Group of Seven work, Inuit art, and the world’s largest public collection of works by British sculptor Henry Moore. The gallery is designed by architect Frank Gehry, to accommodate an unprecedented gift of 2,000 works from a private collection. More »

Through the day and into the small hours of the morning, Queen Street West buzzes. Students and trendsetters reinvigorated this old warehouse area in the 1980s, but nowadays the street is more varied, with chic designer stores, downbeat bars, and stylish cafés mixed in with more mainstream offerings from the big chain stores. The chief merrymaking is concentrated between University and Spadina, a good place for budget restaurants and bars. More »

In the early Victorian era, the British Empire needed good communications for all its colonies. In 1829, the British House of Commons founded their colonial postal service and five years later established a post office in a far-flung outpost of the newly created town of Toronto. More »

In the 1960S, the Royal Alexandra Theatre was about to be flattened by modernizing bulldozers when a flamboyant Toronto retail entrepreneur by the name of “Honest Ed” Mirvish, the king of the bargain store, came to the rescue. More »

The Toronto Dominion Centre consists of five jet-black skyscrapers, a huge modern tribute to the moneymaking skills of the Toronto Dominion Bank. The southern tower displays a strong collection of Inuit Art on two levels of its foyer. The exhibits were assembled as a centennial project in the 1960s. They bought over 100 pieces in a variety of materials, including caribou antler and walrus ivory, but the kernel of the collection is the stone carving. Soapstone sculptures on display, mostly 30–60cm (1–2 ft) high, show mythological beasts and spirits as well as scenes from everyday life. Some of the finest were carved by Johnny Inukpuk (b.1911), whose Mother Feeding Child (1962) and Tattooed Woman (1958) have a raw, elemental force.

Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts is one of Canada’s largest performing arts venues, with over 3,200 seats in the single large theater. It was known as the O’Keefe Centre until 1996 when Hummingbird Inc. donated several million dollars to have the place refurbished. Now with a cavernous modern interior, it is home to both the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada. More »

The Hockey Hall of Fame isa lavish tribute to Canada’s national sport, ice hockey. Hockey, both ice and grass, originated in Canada; from its simple winter beginnings on frozen lakes and ponds, the game now ignites Canadian passions like no other. The Hall of Fame’s ultramodern exhibition area is inventive and resourceful, with different sections devoted to particular aspects of the game. There are displays on everything from the jerseys of the great players, including Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, to a replica of the Montréal Canadiens’ locker room in the old Forum. More »

Opened in 1989, the Rogers Centre was the first sports stadium in the world to have a fully rectractable roof. In good weather, the stadium is open to the elements, but in poor conditions the roof moves into position, protecting players and crowd alike. More »

No less than 553 m (1,815 ft) high, the CN Tower is the tallest building in the world. In the 1970s, the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) decided to build a new transmission mast in partnership with Canadian National (CN), the railroad conglomerate. The CN Tower was not originally designed as the world’s tallest spire, but it so overwhelmed the city’s visitors that it soon became one of Canada’s prime tourist attractions. The tower houses the largest revolving restaurant in the world, which rotates fully every 72 minutes. More »

Toronto’s Harbourfront has had a varied history. Lake Ontario once lapped against Front Street, but the Victorians reclaimed 3 km (1.5 miles) of land to accommodate their railroad yards and warehouses. Ontario’s exports and imports were funneled through this industrial strip until the 1960s, when trade declined. In the 1980s the harbourfront had a new lease on life, when planners orchestrated the redevelopment of what has now become 10 sq km (4 sq miles) of reclaimed land. It now boasts grassy parks, walkways, smart apartments, many of the city’s best hotels, and a cluster of tourist sights in and around the Harbourfront Centre. More »

Completed in 1964, Toronto’s City Hall was designed by the award-winning Finnish architect Viljo Revell. At the official opening, the Prime Minister Lester Pearson announced, “It is an edifice as modern as tomorrow,” but for many cityfolk tomorrow had come too soon and there were howls of protests from several quarters. More »

Formed in 1920, the Group of Seven revolutionized Canadian art. Mostly commercial artists working in an Ontario art firm, this small band of painters was inspired by a colleague, Tom Thomson. An avid outdoorsman, Thomson started Tom Thomson, (1877–1917) making trips in 1912 into the wilderness of northern Ontario to produce dozens of brightly colored, impressionistic sketches. More »

The Hudson`s Bay Company was incorporated by King Charles II of England on May 2, 1670. His decision was prompted by the successful voyage of the British ship Nonsuch, which returned from the recently discovered Hudson’s Bay crammed with precious beaver furs. The king granted the new company wide powers, including a monopoly of trading rights to a huge block of territory bordering the Bay, then known as Rupert’s Land. The Company was ordered to develop links with the native Americans of Rupert’s Land, and trade took off swiftly. Here fashion played a part: the ladies and gentlemen of 18th-century Europe were gripped by a passion for the beaver hat, and the demand for beaver pelts became almost insatiable. More »

The sheer size of Ontario is daunting. It is Canada’s secondlargest province, covering over one million square miles and stretching all the way from the Great Lakes on the United States border to the frozen shores of Hudson Bay. Northern Ontario is relatively inaccessible, but this wild and stunningly beautiful region of turbulent rivers, deep forests, and Arctic tundra can be reached by air, and by the occasional scenic road and railroad. More »

THIS WHOLE region, from the lively resort of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts in the south to north of Sainte Jovite, is nature’s own amusement park, full of beautiful lakes, rivers, hiking and cycling trails, and ski runs visited all through the year. The mountains are part of the ancient Laurentian Shield and are a billion years old. More »

THIS TYPICALLY Canadian treat is set in a 50-ha (120-acre) maple forest on top of Rigaud Mountain near Rang Saint-Georges, Rigaud. It is entirely devoted to the many delights of Quebec’s most famous commodity, the maple tree and its produce. More »

THE PRETTIEST WAY to approach this village north of Montreal is on the small ferry that chugs across the Lake of Two Mountains from Hudson. Framed by mountains and orchards, from the water the small Neo-Romanesque 1878 church is visible through the trees. More »

JUST NORTHWEST of the outer fringe of Montreal’s suburbs, this historic little town on the Mille-Iles River was founded in 1673, but a fire in 1922 engulfed many of its original buildings. However, some graceful 19th-century homes remain, on rue Saint-François-Xavier and rue Sainte-Marie, many of them converted into restaurants and bistros. More »

TWO CATHOLIC PRIESTS are responsible for turning the industrial town of Joliette on the Assomption River into a cultural center. In the 1920s, Father Wilfrid Corbeil founded the Musée d’Art de Joliette, whose permanent collection ranges from medieval religious art to modern works. More »