Constructing national identity in Canada's capital, 1900-2000: Confederation Square and the National War Memorial

Journal of Historical Geography

Volumn 30, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 618-642

  Gordon, David L A ^a   Osborne, Brian S ^a  

^a QUEEN S UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

Canada; Confederation Square; National identity; National War Memorial; Ottawa

Indexed keywords

IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION; NATIONAL IDENTITY; POLITICAL CONFLICT; SYMBOLISM; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

CANADA; NORTH AMERICA; ONTARIO; OTTAWA; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 18744394316     PISSN: 03057488     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0305-7488(03)00041-0     Document Type: Article

References (172)

1. The term 'imperialism' is used here as defined by D.W. Meinig in his magisterial work, The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History, New Haven and London, 1986, 1993, 1998.
2. The term 'nationalising-state' is used here to emphasize the role of the state in 'constructing' what it perceives to be 'national' values
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10. As early as 1893, Laurier had declared his intention 'to make the city of Ottawa the centre of the intellectual development of this country, and above all, the Washington of the north'. See Ottawa Evening Journal, The Washington of the North, June 19, 1893, 3.
11. For more on this idea of the national pantheon, see B.S. Osborne and G.B. Osborne, The cast[e]ing of heroic landscapes of power: Constructing Canada's pantheon on Parliament Hill, Material History Review 60 (2002) 35-47.
12. D.L.A. Gordon William Lyon Mackenzie King, town planning advocate Planning Perspectives 17 2002 97-122 discusses King's politics and planning policies in greater depth
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14. H.B. Neatby William Lyon Mackenzie King: 1924-1932 - The Lonely Heights 1963 not known Toronto 32-44, see also pages 176-195
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19. Similarly, Lefebvre has critically discussed the nature of 'representational space' in H. Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Oxford, 1971
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58. S. Levinson, Written in Stone: Public Monuments in Changing Societies, Durham, 1998
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60. For more on state use of public spaces see J.A. Leith, Space and Revolution: Projects for Monuments, Squares, and Public Buildings in France, 1789-1799, Montreal and Kingston, 1991
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62. For more on this selective use of the female figure in monumentalism see M. Warner, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form, London, 1985.
63. W. Braunfels Urban Design in Western Europe: Regime Architecture, 900-1900 1988 371
64. F. Tamms quoted B. Hinz (Ed.) Art in the Third Reich 1979 not known New York 236
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66. How we remember this critical conflict has prompted much scholarship: P. Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory, Oxford, 1975
67. G.L. Mosse, Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars, Oxford, 1990
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72. Perhaps the best overview is A. King, Memorials of the Great War in Britain, Oxford, 1998
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74. C. Moriarty The material culture of great war remembrance, Journal of Contemporary History 34 (1999) 633-662.
75. For particular studies see H. Clout, Memoires de pierre: Les monuments aux morts de la premier guerre mondiale dans le Pas-de-Calais, Calais, 1992
76. A. Gaffney, Aftermath: Remembering the Great War in Wales, Cardiff, 1998
77. M. Heffernan, For ever England: The Western front and the politics of remembrance in Britain, Ecumene 2 (1995) 293-324
78. K.S. Inglis, The homecoming: The war memorial movement in Cambridge, England, Journal Contemporary History 27 (1992) 583-605
79. K.S. Inglis Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape, Melbourne, 1998
80. N. Johnson, Cast in stone: Monuments, geography, and nationalism, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 13 (1995) 51-65
81. M.S.D. Morris, Gardens 'for ever England': Landscape, identity, and the First World War British Cemeteries on the Western front, Ecumen 4 (1997) 410-434
82. J. Sherman, The Construction of Memory in Interwar France, Chicago, 1999
83. R. Shipley, To Make Our Place: A History of Canadian War Memorials, Toronto, 1987
84. For discussions of Ottawa's development as capital see D.B. Knight, Choosing Canada's Capital: Conflict Resolution in a Parliamentary System, Ottawa, 1991
85. C. Young, The Glory of Ottawa: Canada's First Parliament Buildings, Montreal, 1995
86. W. DeGrace, Canada's capital 1900-1950: Five town planning visions, Environments 17 (1985)
87. W. Eggleston, The Queen's Choice: A Story of Canada's Capital, Ottawa, 1961
88. J. Smith and Associates, Competing Identities: The Evolution of Parliament Hill and Its Urban Context, Ottawa, 1999
89. J. Taylor, The Face of National Capital, Ottawa, 1988
90. J. Taylor, City form and capital culture: Remaking Ottawa, Planning Perspectives 4 (1989) 79-105.
91. C. Young The Glory of Ottawa: Canada's First Parliament Buildings 1995 not known Montreal
92. F.G. Todd, Preliminary report to the Ottawa Improvement Commission, Ottawa, 1903, 1, see also page 6
93. D. Gordon F.G. Todd, The origins of the park system in Canada's capital Journal of Planning History, 1 1 (2002) 29-57.
94. For more on the 'Château style' see H. Kalman, A History of Canadian Architecture, Vol. 2, 1994, Toronto, 718-722.
95. H.S. Holt (chmn.), Report of the Federal Plan Commission on a General Plan for the Cities of Ottawa and Hull, Ottawa, 1915
96. Bennett trained in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and was Daniel Burnham's associate on the influential plans for San Francisco, 1904 and Chicago, 1908. For more see J. Draper, Edward Bennett: Architect and City Planner, 1874-1954, Chicago, 1982.
97. Holt, H.S.(chmn.), Report of the Federal Plan Commission on a General Plan for the Cities of Ottawa and Hull, Ottawa, 1915, Drawings 5, 6 and 7
98. D.L.A. Gordon, A City Beautiful plan, Planning Perspectives 17 (2002) 285-287.
99. See Gordon, A City Beautiful Plan, 290-294, for other reasons why the 1915 plan was not implemented.
100. Originally trained as a railway engineer, Cauchon became a planning activist and founding member of the Town Planning Institute of Canada. For more on Cauchon, see S. Coutts, Science and Sentiment: The Planning Career of Noulan Cauchon, 1982, Unpublished MA Thesis, Carleton University.
101. G.B. Ford, The city scientific, Proceedings of the Fifth National Conference in City Planning, 1915, 31-39
102. T. Adams, Editorial: Town planning is a science, Journal of the Town Planning Institute of Canada 1 (1921) 1-3.
103. Ottawa Citizen, Propose Soaring, Unique Colossal Cenotaph in City, 10 January 1925, 1.
104. National Archives of Canada, MG30, C-105, Vol. 8, Ontario Committee on War Memorials, April 1919.
105. T. Adams et al., Proposed Memorial Hall for the City of Ottawa, pamphlet published 27 March 1919. NC papers, 1919, Proposed Memorial Hall.
106. J. Pierce Constructing memory: The Vimy Memorial Canadian Military History 1 1992 1-3
107. 'General Conditions for the Guidance of Architects, Artists and Sculptors in Preparing Competitive Designs for the proposed National Commemorative War Monument for the Dominion of Canada in Ottawa, Canada' Department of Public Works, Ottawa, 12 February, 1925. Copy in National Library.
108. WLMK in a letter to Charles Murphy, 25 January 1925, NAC, RG19, Vol. 549, File 139, No. 2. King was adamant that the memorial world be located on Connaught Square, in front of the Post Office.
109. Hansard, 6 April 1927, 1975-1980 and 27 April 1927, 2039-2041. See H. Guthrie speech, 1976; King personally recruited Thomas Ahern. Letter from Ahern to King, 3 January 1927; WLMK, Reel 3257, 119579-80.
110. Ottawa Citizen, 2 July 1927. For more on the Jubilee celebrations see R. Cupido, Appropriating the past: Pageants, politics, and the diamond jubilee of confederation, Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 8 (1998) 155-186.
111. For more on the day's events see Osborne and Osborne, The cast[e]ing of heroic landscapes.
112. WLMK speech to House of Commons, 24 April 1928, Hansard, 2315
113. King speech, 24 April 1928, Hansard, 2313-2319.
114. WLMK diary, 24 April 1928.
115. See Ottawa Citizen, Federal Governments' Confederation Park Scheme, 29 October 1927, 1. Drawing by N. Cauchon, OTPC. Cauchon suggested similar schemes in an article in the Citizen on 15 January 1912, 10.
116. After negotiation by Ahearn and a meeting with the Prime Minister, the City's agreement was sealed by an exchange of letters from King to Mayor J.P. Balharrie, October 22, 1927, WLMK papers V. 168, Reel C-2296, 119, 828-833 and from the Ottawa Board of Control to T. Ahearn, dated October 25, 1927, MG26 V. 165, Reel C-2299, 119, 597.
117. J.H. Taylor, City form and capital culture: Remaking Ottawa, Planning Perspectives 4 (1989) 79-105.
118. J.H. Taylor, Ottawa: An Illustrated History, 1986, Toronto (Chapters 4 and 5).
119. Sproatt to WLMK, 6 June 1929, WLMK reel 3277, 143941-2. Sproatt was a member of the 1925 jury for the National War Memorial design competition.
120. King to Bennett, 9 August 1930, RBB correspondence, 312384-6. King speech to House of Commons, 2 June 1931, Hansard, 2225-2227.
121. Mayor Allen to Bennett, 2 April 1931; Bennett to Allen, 2 April 1931; Allen to Bennett, 8 May 1931; RBB, 312421-6.
122. A new City Hall was built in splendid isolation from the historic core of the city, on Green Island, near the mouth of the Rideau River, in 1958.
123. The authors are currently working on a paper, 'Wars make nations, nations make war memorials: A political-iconographic analysis of the Canadian National War Memorial.'
124. 'War Memorial Is Impressive Sight: Canada's tribute to Heroic Dead Erected in Hyde Park, London', London Evening Citizen, quoted in: Ottawa Citizen, 29 October, 1932.
125. See Hansard 22 February 1934, 864-867.
126. A. Lortie, Jacques Gréber (1882-1962) et L' Urbanisme le temps et l'espace de la ville, 1997, Unpublished Phd thesis, Université Paris XII
127. J.C. Delorme, Jacques Gréber: Urbaniste français, Metropolis 3 (1978) 49-54.
128. A. Lortie Jacques Gréber urbaniste, Les Gréber: Une dynastie des artistes, Musée départemental de l'Oise, catalogue de l'exposition, 1993, 325-375
129. A. Lortie, Jacques Gréber Architecte Urbaniste 1882-1962: Les allers retours France Amerique une energie cynetique au service de l'art urban?, 1988, Unpublished Masters Thesis, Institut d'urbanisme de Paris
130. Urban History Review 29 (2001), special issue on J. Gréber.
131. J. Gréber, L'Architecture aux Etats unis: Prevue de la force d'expansion du genie Français, heureuse association de qualites admirablemenmt complementaires, Paris 1920.
132. For the book's European influence see J. Cohen, Scenes of the World to Come: European Architecture and the American Challenge 1893-1960, Paris 1995
133. and I. Gournay, Revisiting Jacques Gréber's L'Architecture aux Etats-Unis, Urban History Review 29 (2001) 6-19.
134. For his Philadelphia projects see D. Brownlee, Building the City Beautiful, Philadelphia, 1989
135. For the 1939 World's Fair, see D. Udovicki-Selb, The elusive faces of modernity: Jacques Gréber, planner of the 1937 Paris world fair, urban History Review 29 (2001) 20-35.
136. Gréber collection, NAC, 1937 plans for Confederation Square.
137. Jacques Gréber oral history, 1961 CBC kinescope 11854, 04:00.
138. WLMK diary, 12 August, 1937, King later admitted the congestion was too severe.
139. J. Gardam National War Memorial 1982 not known Ottawa 8
140. See 'Order of Ceremony: Unveiling of the National War Memorial at Ottawa' Ottawa Public Library vertical files - Ottawa War Memorial.
141. WLMK diary, 27 February, 1939.
142. W.L.M. King, The Secret of Heroism: A Memoir of Henry Albert Harper, New York, 1906.
143. WLMK Papers, Reel 3659, C20177-180.
144. J. Gardam National War Memorial 1982 not known Ottawa 46
145. King, quoted in: J.W. Pickersgill (Ed.) The Mackenzie King Record, Toronto, 1970, 656.
146. Cable from the Canadian Minister of Public Works to Gréber, 22 August 1945, cited in: Gréber Plan for the National Capital, 1; The original telegram is on display in the lobby of the National Capital Commission planning offices, Ottawa.
147. J.A. Hume Ottawa-Hull Area Planned As Great National Memorial Ottawa Citizen 30 1945 13
148. Further, Canada's new role as a middle-power in the post-World War II political arena necessitated the accommodation of the Embassies and consulates being located in Ottawa.
149. J. Gréber, Statement to the Parliamentary Press Gallery, 31 March 1948, WLMK papers, File 0-25-2 (A7).
150. J. Gréber, 'War Memorial' memo to E.P. Murphy, Deputy Minister of Public Works, 20 November 1946. WLMK files 2110, Ref. 10112, see also Gréber 1950, 261-264.
151. Transcript of a Radio Talk by Mr Eduoard Fiset, CKCH, 28 November 1947. NCC Library. See also J. Gréber, Plan for the National Capital, 261-264.
152. Gréber 1946 memo to Murphy, Deputy Minister of Public Works, 20 November 1946; Teletype message from Washington, DC, 30 March 1948, signed by Mackenzie King, WLMK papers V. 463, File 0-25; King forward to Gréber 1950, Plan for the National Capital.
153. See D. Gordon, Weaving a modern plan for Canada's capital: Jacques Gréber and the 1950 plan for the national capital region, Urban History Review 29 (2001) 43-61
154. See D. Gordon. William Lyon Mackenzie King: Town planning advocate, Planning Perspectives 17 (2002) 97-122. King's FDC 1948 appointments were his very last act as prime minister, signed after the Cabinet had already stood up to leave his final meeting. WLMK Diary, 12 November 1948.
155. WLMK diary, 25 May 1948.
156. Mackenzie King Bridge official name of span, Ottawa Citizen, 7 July 1951, 1; King died on 22 July 1951.
157. NCC, Annual Report, 1969-70, 1 Appendix;
158. J. Shock, A Half Century of Capital Planning: A Case Study of the Implementation of the '1950 Plan for the National Capital' 2000, Master's report, Queen's University, School of Urban and Regional Planning (Chapter 5).
159. F. Swanson, War Memorial for Ottawa, Ottawa Citizen 26 July 1957, 8. The Nepean Point site was not an accident; the government was advised by architect Eduoard Fiset, Gréber's associate and former pupil.
160. J. Gardam National War Memorial 1982 not known Ottawa 8
161. Parkin Associates, Confederation Square Development, Vol. 2, Ottawa, December 1962.
162. NCC, A Century of Landscape Architecture, Ottawa, 2000.
163. NCC, A Capital for Future Generations, Ottawa, 1998, 22.
164. For more on these recent symbolic additions, see Osborne, Osborne, The cast[e]ing of heroic landscapes.
165. D. Johnson, J. Wright, 'Confederation Square, Ottawa, Ontario' Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada Agenda Papers, 1984-17, 213-257.
166. N. Griffiths In search of Confederation Square... and cosmological identity in: D. Mertins (Ed.) Metropolitan Mutations: The Architecture of Emerging Public Places 1989 179
167. D. Mertins (Eds), Metropolitan Mutations: The Architecture of Emerging Public Spaces, Toronto, 1989
168. T. Boddy, Mutants, Site Planners and Modern Squares, Canadian Architect (September 1988) 28-34
169. E. von Baeyer, Garden of Dreams: Kingsmere and Mackenzie King, Toronto, 1990
170. R. Smythe, King of Kingsmere, Ottawa, 1981, National Capital Commission.
171. Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, 2000 Honour Award to the NCC, Ottawa, 2000.
172. J. Gardam, National War Memorial, Ottawa, 2001, 24-45. It was not thought to be sufficiently inclusive, however. A powerful memorial to the wartime service of the nations Aboriginal peoples was erected in Ottawa on Elgin Street on Aboriginal Day 2001.