Chaudière Falls: The anchor of Ottawa's waterfront

Twenty years after an Ottawa architect created plans to develop Victoria Island and Chaudière Falls, dreams that the site could become Ottawa’s Granville Island are still just that: dreams.

“At this time, the NCC does not have firm plans for the site nor the money to develop them,” National Capital Commission spokesman Mario Tremblay said in an email.

Victoria and Chaudière Island, as well as Chaudière Falls, have long been prime real estate. Sitting in the Ottawa River between Gatineau and the Canadian War Museum, the site offers views of the heart of downtown.

The site was identified in the NCC’s long term plan as a future place for development. Ottawa architect Mark Brandt was one of the designers for a 1990 plan that saw walkways, cafés and restaurants, and an Aboriginal centre.

The design bears similarity to Vancouver’s Granville Island, which was developed in 1972 with federal money—and is now a cash crop and tourist hub for the city.

But since those 1990 plans were made, little has changed. The NCC and federal government own Victoria Island, but Chaudière Island is owned by paper company Domtar. The company ceased operations on the island in 2005.

To develop the site, the NCC would have to buy the island. NCC CEO Marie Lemay has said in the past that buying the island and stabilizing the buildings on it would be cost $100 million.

And that’s money the NCC just doesn’t have, says Tremblay.

But Mark Brandt hasn’t given up. The development of the islands is inevitable, he says.

Brandt’s firm is currently updating the original plan on their own, he said. While he says the original plan paid a lot of attention to sustainability, Brandt hopes the new plan can be even greener.

The plans are based in respect for the history and natural beauty of the site, he says.

“[Samuel de] Champlain wrote about the place in his journal,” Brandt says. “It’s an unbelievable spot for history.”

The islands and the falls are an important—and often forgotten—part of Ottawa’s past, according to local writer and historian Daniel Drolet.

The island is a sacred spot for the Alonquin and was a long-used trading route. When the British began using Canadian lumber to build ships, Drolet says, the site became a thoroughfare for log rafts and a major tourist attraction. The islands then became the heart of industrial Ottawa, home to many of the area’s pulp mills.

“That’s where all the industry was,” says Drolet.

Jantine Van Kregten, the director of communication at Ottawa Tourism, says the waterfalls would be a major boon to tourism in the region.

“It is a missed opportunity,” she says.

Access to nature and a rich history are two big selling points for the city, Van Kregten says. And Victoria Island and the Chaudière Falls have both.

Victoria Island is currently home to Aboriginal Experiences, an organization that hosts Aboriginal tours on the island. A few old mills are also on the island, one of which the NCC is currently restoring.

But for now, the falls themselves are out of reach. They’re only visible to passersby as they cross the Chaudières Bridge. That means the best onlookers can hope for is a split-second view.