The Garden of the Provinces and Territories () is a site along
Confederation Boulevard
Confederation Boulevard () is a "ceremonial and discovery route" in Canada's National Capital Region, running through Parliament Hill and encompassing downtown areas in Ottawa and Gatineau. Some of Canada's most important institutions and landmar ...
in
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada's capital city. It is bounded by the
Sparks Street
Sparks Street () is a pedestrian mall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was a main street in Ottawa that was converted into an outdoor pedestrian street in 1967, making it the earliest such street or mall in Canada.Wellington Street on the west and north, and Bay Street to the east between Christ Church Cathedral and the
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...
. It was officially opened on September 25, 1962, as a western gateway to the Parliament Buildings. The park was renamed from "Garden of the Provinces" on October 6, 2005 to recognize and include Canada's three territories.
Scott Brison
Scott A. Brison (born May 10, 1967) is a Canadian politician from Nova Scotia. Brison served as the Member of Parliament (Canada), Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Kings—Hants from June 1997 to July 2000, and from November 2000 to ...
, then the Minister of
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC; ),''Public Services and Procurement Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Public Works and Government Services (). formerly Public Works ...
, officially renamed the park.
In December 2015, the federal government requested that the
National Capital Commission
The National Capital Commission (NCC; , CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), including administering most lands and build ...
approve the garden as the site of the proposed
Memorial to the Victims of Communism
The Memorial to the Victims of Communism () is a series of statues in Prague commemorating the victims of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1989. It is located at the base of Petřín hill, Újezd street in the Malá Stran ...
rather than its previously approved site, a plot of land by the
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...
building.
Description
One quarter of the site is composed of formal terraces, with the flags of the provinces and territories in the order of their entry to
Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
. Bronze plaques include the floral emblems for each of the provinces and territories. A tall fountain symbolizes a tree. A structure of concave concrete slabs portrays the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
.
The Garden of the Provinces and Territories is a popular site when filled with tulips, and other flowers, during the annual Tulip Festival. This garden links to the main pedestrian/bicycle paths, including a pedestrian tunnel under Wellington Street. It is located on a common route between the
Portage Bridge
The Portage Bridge () crosses the Ottawa River just down-river from the Chaudière Bridge, joining the communities of Gatineau, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario. It links Laurier Street and Alexandre-Taché Boulevard in the Hull sector of Gatineau ...
to government headquarters in
Gatineau
Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...
, and
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...
and government central agencies headquartered downtown.
The site was once part of the
Nicholas Sparks
Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. He has published twenty-three novels, all ''New York Times'' bestsellers, and two works of nonfiction, with over 115 million copies sold ...
(1794-1862) estate, a combination of swamp and wild forest bought by the major
Bytown
Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod ...
landlord and philanthropist in 1826.
Design
The garden was first envisioned by Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...
and the French urbanist,
Jacques Gréber
Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber (10 September 1882 – 5 June 1962) was a French architect specializing in landscape architecture and urban design. He was a strong proponent of the Beaux-Arts style and a contributor to the City Beautiful movement ...
, at a meeting at the 1937
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne
The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mu ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. It was formally proposed in the 1950 Gréber Plan. The modernist garden was designed in 1960 by Don W. Graham, and was built in anticipation of Canada's upcoming
centennial
A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century.
Notable events
Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include:
* Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...
.Davidson, Tanya. The ‘Last Good Year’: Revisiting the Centennial Craze '. Spacing Ottawa. 2010-03-16. A 6 cent centennial stamp commemorates the garden with Queen Elizabeth in the foreground.
The creation of the garden is associated with a rising sense of provincial identity in the early sixties which manifested as the creation of informal flags. When the garden was under development not all provinces had formal flags, but they did have arms. Four of the provinces appealed in favour of their formal flag, but this plan was rejected. The original flags which were displayed showed the shield of each province on a coloured field, and included the
Yukon
Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
and the
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
despite their lack of provincial status. These flags were flown until sometime in the 1970s.
The renaming ceremony in October 2005 was also the reopening of the Garden after years of rehabilitation, such as restoring the signature tree-shaped metal fountain, upgrading the water supply, extensive stonework repairs, new access ramps, and updating the provincial and territorial Coat of Arms.