Chaudière Falls is a subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa Holdings Inc. and is a 29-megawatt hydroelectric facility that feeds into the provincial grid and powers 20,000 homes with clean, renewable energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 115,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. Built entirely below ground, this facility was designed to have minimal-to-zero impacts on the visual, natural and aquatic environments. To ensure safe fish passage through the facility, they have incorporated leading technological solutions to protect migrating American eel, endangered under the Ontario Endangered Species Act (ESA). In addition, there are new spawning beds being built downstream to promote the recovery efforts associated with sturgeon (also endangered under the ESA). Chaudière Falls is home to Canada’s oldest hydroelectric station still in operation. It was responsible for lighting Ottawa’s streets with electricity and fuelled the industrial explosion of the mid-1800s by providing water power for the vast complex of lumber mills that once occupied the shoreline of the Ottawa River. The new site offers safe viewing platforms and greater public access in the form of a defined corridor on the roof of the new below-grade hydro facility. A new bridge across the intake canal is open for pedestrian and cyclist traffic. Using a restorative philosophy, they are maintaining elements of the city’s industrial past, including refurbishing the site’s oldest buildings that survived the Great Fire of 1900. As part of Digital Doors Open, enjoy a virtual tour of this site.

OC Transpo’s 360-degree tour gives you a first-person view of these O-Train Line 1 stations. Please note, footage featured in the online tour was filmed prior to the September 2019 O-Train Line 1 launch. As the easternmost point of the O-Train Line 1, Blair Station is one of the system’s busiest transit hubs. It offers easy transfers between light rail and buses, as well as access to local commercial and residential areas. Lyon Station is an underground station just a few steps away from Sparks Street. A special feature is the non-integrated art piece called With Words as their Actions, created by PLANT, in Toronto. It celebrates women as keepers of history – and in particular, the 32 women who, in 1898, founded the Ottawa chapter of the Women’s Canadian Historical Society (now the Historical Society of Ottawa). Using the tour is simple: you can use your mouse to travel through the interior and change levels by clicking the station level guide in the bottom left corner. To read more about station features, click on the red and white O button seen throughout the station.

Public Services and Procurement Canada is delighted to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the work taking place at the Parliament Building (Centre Block) as part of this year’s Doors Open Ottawa. Centre Block is a familiar sight to many Canadians. And construction is well underway to restore and modernize it. Doors Open participants will discover Centre Block like never before!

Built in 2011, the design of the Ottawa Humane Society celebrates its strong community values and commitment to the animals. The Shirley Kearns Memorial Adoption Centre was built to provide easy viewing and visiting of animals available for adoption. In the adoption centre, cats, dogs and small animals are housed in separate areas with rooms and enclosures designed to meet the animals’ daily needs. The education centre – a large, open, naturally lit room – hosts a variety of workshops and camps to teach pet owners about responsible pet ownership and animal welfare. In a modern clinic facility, veterinarians provide regular and emergency medical treatment for animals in shelter care. The clinic includes a critical care unit for Ottawa’s neediest animals, an X-ray room and surgery theatre. Before animals are ready for adoption, they are housed in the holding area. Holding is set up with high-volume/high-changeover air handling systems and full sanitary and wash-down facilities to provide maximum sanitation and to prevent the spread of disease. Administration is adjacent to the adoption centre and holding area to allow ease of access for staff and volunteers to the animal areas. The interconnected design promotes a strong connection between staff of various departments, volunteers and the public. During Digital Doors Open, take a virtual tour of the site and learn more about the important work that they do.

The Senate of Canada Building is full of history, art, architecture and parliamentary treasures. It is the Senate’s temporary home in downtown Ottawa, while its permanent home (the Centre Block building with the Peace Tower) is closed for major rehabilitation work. Over the years, this building has hosted many important national events (the repatriation of the Canadian constitution) and has served many different functions (it opened in 1912 as a train station). Today, as the temporary home of the Senate, you can explore – through this virtual tour – where the Senate works.

The United States has had an official diplomatic presence in Canada since 1827. Built in 1969, the current building creates a bridge between places, peoples and ideas. Symbolizing a bridge, the building stands for partnership and alliance. As a work of architecture, the magnificence of the building is indicative of the significant relationship that the United States has with Canada.

The Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) is home to the art and artists of the Ottawa-Gatineau region, now housing a collection that numbers over 1,450 works — including paintings, sculpture, graphic arts, photographs and new media. In April 2018, OAG opened this modern purpose-built space. The gallery explores and reflects on diversity and social change through a spectrum of visual arts practices.

A tour of this site by one of the guide-interpreters is a unique way to learn about the building, its massive scale and commanding entrance hall. Architect Ernest Cormier’s art deco design enhances the natural beauty of the exquisite woods and marble interior. For Doors Open, only the Grand Entrance Hall and the Main Courtroom will be open.

Suntech is a commercial greenhouse that supplies Ottawa's grocery stores with tomatoes and cucumbers. They use hydroponics to reduce water consumption and give exact nutrients to the plants in conjunction with LED lights in certain crops. They also focus on providing the highest quality vegetables to local markets, meaning that their carbon footprint is reduced. Don’t miss the tasting tables!

The Carleton County Jail was built in 1862 and was run as a prison for 110 years, with room for approximately 150 prisoners. In 1972, the jail was shut down due to inhumane conditions. But it was repurposed and opened a year later as this hostel. After a night in a real cell block, you can visit Ottawa’s main sites.

The Cumberland Heritage Village Museum provides visitors with an immersive, seasonal experience that showcases rural life in the 1920s and 1930s in Eastern Ontario. Tour an operational sawmill and blacksmith shop, a one-room schoolhouse, a 1927 Imperial Gas garage, a 1904 church and family homes. This year, they are excited to welcome Ottawa Fire Services back to the museum.

Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (CDCC) is Carleton University’s arts, performance and learning centre, and is dedicated to providing a welcoming, professional and safe environment to foster programming that is multi-generational, diverse and inclusive. CDCC is the university’s first downtown Ottawa building and is managed by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The centre serves a variety of user groups from the university and community at large. It strives to ignite creative exploration and rich presentation opportunities, offering a unique event experience in a historical Ottawa venue for performances, workshops, lectures, meetings, curricular programming, lifelong learning courses and beyond. Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre is a beautiful 1912 heritage building located in Centretown - showcasing unique Romanesque Byzantine architectural styles. Reaching nearly 3,700 square metres (40,000 square feet), the building includes an 870-seat main performance hall that is visually and acoustically stunning, various multi-use event and activity spaces, classrooms and its own beautiful outdoor garden. For Digital Doors Open, watch the video below to learn more about this unique site.

The Ottawa Hospital is a world leader in cancer research. During Doors Open, discover fascinating cancer research with a behind-the-scenes tour of a lab, and an opportunity to explore the lab’s high-tech tools. For safety reasons, visitors must be 16 years or older. Forty-minute guided tours leave every hour from the Cancer Centre lobby. Space is limited. Registration is required.