Monday marked a major milestone in the construction of Ottawa’s new central library.
City officials as well as Algonquin elders celebrated the setting of the foundation for Ādisōke, the new Ottawa Public Library – Library and Archives Canada joint facility.
“This is a significant milestone," Mayor Jim Watson said. "It's a very exciting project for the city of Ottawa."
“Libraries have become these iconic buildings. They aren’t just the old-fashioned libraries, but places to gather, places to meet, to think and to act.”
The building at Albert Street and Bronson Avenue will be called Ādisōke, an indigenous word for storytelling.
Grand Chief Savanna McGregor of the Algonquin Anishinābeg Nation as well as Councillor Dan Kohoko, Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation attended the event and called the project “a strong partnership for the future.”
“Ottawa is at the heart of the Algonquin Nations and this is an example of the beauty that is of the heart- adisoke- to share stories and working together and creating a new vison together," McGregor said. "It is an example that can set precedents across this country.”
Officials placed tokens of significance into a concrete slab that will become part of the site’s foundation. Tokens included a shovel, a city of Ottawa proclamation, a library archival photograph, a coin, and an Algonquin carving of a bear.
“This is symbolic that we are leaving some gifts for future generations to discover, maybe a thousand years from now," watson said. =
Construction continues at the site, with excavating, drilling, and work on the foundation walls of the parking garage.
According to Tracy Condie, a senior superintendent with PCL construction, the project is on time, despite a setback last month when crane operators as well as carpenters went on strike.
“The crane strike impacted us in that, the drill rigs that you see, the mobile crane, the excavator, they are all part of the operating engineers, so that had some impact for a few weeks.”
Cowdie says, “We are a little ahead of schedule when it comes to the concrete work, so overall it should be mitigated.”
“We are hoping that by Christmas we will be at grade level which you would approach off Albert Street.”
The budget for the new central library ballooned to $334 million due to rising inflation and soaring construction costs during the pandemic. But Matt Luloff, councillor and chair of the Library board, says the budget is now fixed and says the city won’t be on the hook for any more extra costs.
“It is a fixed cost, so that was part of the contract negotiation. So if it ends up costing more, that cost is born by the proponents and if it ends up costing less, that is a savings to them," he said. "Sso whether inflation continues , that is all built in. the project team did a great job to ensure that was built in, so the cost is the cost and it is not going anywhere.”
The library is set to open in 2026.
Correction
The budget for the new Ottawa Central Library is $334 million. An earlier version of this story had an incorrect figure.
The man who claims to be one of the people seen 'surfing' on the roof of a moving subway train in Toronto is speaking exclusively to CTV News about his stunts and the looming threat of a police arrest.
The FBI's unprecedented search of former president Donald Trump's Florida residence ricocheted around government, politics and a polarized country Tuesday along with questions as to why the Justice Department – notably cautious under Attorney General Merrick Garland – decided to take such a drastic step.
An Ontario nurse is facing charges in connection with the alleged assault of a two-year-old boy with “significant medical limitations” in Niagara Region.
Exposure to synthetic ‘forever chemicals’ often polluting the environment has been linked to the most common type of liver cancer, according to a recent study.
A new study found that people with regular menstruation cycles and those who typically do not menstruate either experienced a heavier flow or breakthrough bleeding after being vaccinated against COVID-19.
Expressing concerns over the RCMP's yearslong use of spyware in major investigations, privacy and civil liberties experts say the previously undisclosed tools are 'extremely intrusive' and they are calling for stronger oversight and regulation of spyware Canada-wide.
The detention and alleged beating by Quebec police of a Senegalese diplomat last week came as a bailiff was attempting to seize property at her residence to pay for a judgment against her.
The reopening of a Newfoundland highway that had been closed for days because of raging wildfires provided hope Tuesday that much-needed supplies would finally arrive in stranded communities along the island's south coast.
The Progressive Conservative government has said that recipients of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) will start receiving their five per cent increases in September.
An Ontario woman says she was scammed out of $11,000 after months spent working with a Texas psychic she met on TikTok following the death of her stepfather.
An Ontario nurse is facing charges in connection with the alleged assault of a two-year-old boy with “significant medical limitations” in Niagara Region.
The amount of money Quebec has spent on private health-care workers has quadrupled in the last five years as it continues to deal with a worker shortage made worse by the pandemic.
Queen Mary Road in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood is about to get four kilometres of reserved bus and taxi lanes which the city says will save commuters six minutes and 40 seconds of precious travel time.
Northern Initiative for Social Action (NISA) is a non-profit organization run by and for people who have experienced mental health challenges and illness.
The Hollinger Golf Club in Timmins is celebrating its 100th anniversary. It was on Aug. 9, 1922, when the club took over the nine-hole course from the Hollinger Mine, who built it in 1919 as a way to attract people to the city.
“I thought I was going to die,” recalls Clara Sorrenti. “As soon as I saw the rifle I screamed.” On August 5, the popular transgender activist and streamer on the website Twitch was awakened by heavily armed officers from the London Police Service at her downtown residence.
St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener has added a touchscreen self-check-in kiosk into its emergency department. in hopes of streamlining patients through the triage system.
It's been to Niagara Falls, the Kentucky Derby, tossed off a balcony and guest starred on Howard Stern. It's even been to Innisfail. But Tuesday around 6 p.m., the Cup had a truly Calgarian experience when it floated down the Bow River.
Animal rescue groups that find Calgary foster placements and forever homes for dogs from international countries say a new federal ban importing dogs from a list of countries as a control measure against rabies unfairly hurts groups trying to help dogs.
If Edmonton does go ahead with a new gondola over the North Saskatchewan River, a local businessman has a grand idea for what to surround it with on the southern edge of the valley.
A prominent American ballerina and her husband have withdrawn a claim that Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz paid for sex with an underage dancer several years ago, saying they have since learned she was 18 at the time.
Patients and doctors alike are feeling the effects of a turbulent healthcare system, where clinic closures have B.C.'s physicians weighing their options as their orphaned patients plead to be seen by a shrinking number of general practitioners.
Several police officers were allegedly assaulted Tuesday in the Downtown Eastside, amid heightened tensions in the neighbourhood as crews were dismantling a tent city.
The body of a 71-year-old Regina man who went missing while swimming at Pelican Pointe on Last Mountain Lake, Sask. has been recovered, according to RCMP.
