Ottawa St. Patrick's Day parade cancelled again this year

Ottawa's St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday March 16, 2019

There will be no St. Patrick's Day parade in Ottawa for the fifth straight year.

The Ottawa Irish Society tells CTV News Ottawa the parade has been cancelled this year, after organizers did not receive a parade permit.

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"We could not receive our parade permit due to a number of events happening throughout the city that would use up police resources," Tracey Dixon, Irish Festival co-chair, said in an email.

"We are hoping to try again next year."

The city of Ottawa says it received the event permit application from the organizers of the St. Patrick's Day parade "late."

“The City of Ottawa is committed to working with event organizers to support special events across Ottawa. The application for a St. Patrick’s Day Parade was received late and did not meet the minimum application deadlines," Kim Ayotte, general manager of Emergency and Protective Services, told CTV News Ottawa in a statement.

"As outlined in the Special Events on Public and Private Property (By-law No. 2013-232) section 5 (1)(C)(ii), permit applications are required to be received no less than 90 days in advance of a proposed special event over 500 people on the roadway. This is required to allow for the coordination of service delivery.

"Municipal services make every effort to accommodate late event requests if operationally feasible. However, there are several concurrent, pre-planned activities impacting resource availability during the requested timeframe. Regrettably, the late application could not be accommodated."

The St. Patrick's Day parade was scheduled for March 16, running from City Hall to Lansdowne along Laurier Avenue and Bank Street.

The Irish Society is hosting the Irish Festival from March 7 to 17.

The parade hasn't happened in Ottawa since 2019. The parade was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while last year's parade was cancelled due to a lack of volunteers and funding.