One hundred and thirty years ago, on the 7th of April 1896, the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa emerged from the eastern section of the Diocese of Ontario. And seventy years after that, in 1966 the western section of the Diocese of Montreal was transferred to the Diocese of Ottawa, effectively doubling its territory in size. Just a month ago, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe of Ottawa marked the first of these anniversaries by proclaiming April 7, 2026, Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Historical Day.

Anglicanism locally was much older. Anglicans around Cornwall were beginning to organize missions some 240 years ago. As David Farr remarked in “The Daughter Church:  The Genesis of the Diocese of Ottawa,” ecclesiastical authority in the Ottawa Valley for most of the first century had always been remote. First administered from Halifax, then Quebec and, after 1839, Toronto, this region lay on the fringe of established religious order in Canada. In 1862, the region was given its own ecclesiastical format when the fifteen counties in Ontario east of the Trent River and south of the Ottawa River were carved out of the Diocese of Toronto.

All of this history is reflected in the west window of Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa created in 1982 by Christopher Wallis of London, Ontario, as photographed by Brian Glenn.  Ostensibly created to mark the sesquicentennial of the first Christ Church being built in 1832, in this window Wallis was handed the challenge of graphically summarizing the place of this episcopal parish—and by extension the Diocese of Ottawa—in the history of Anglicanism in Canada, and more particularly in the general history of this region. Hence two-thirds of the way up the window we see the coats of arms of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, the Diocese of Quebec, the Diocese of Toronto, and the Diocese of Ontario based at Kingston.

The larger composition of this remarkable window is a cross, emblematic of Christianity.  The Celtic cross design recognizes the huge Anglo-Irish population that arrived in this region in the early nineteenth century.  In Canada’s first census (1871) that asked people what they considered their ethnic origin (as opposed to their country of birth) to be, in the five rural counties around Ottawa 42,000 more people claimed to be of Irish origin than did in Canada’s two largest cities of Montreal and Toronto combined.  Most of the early Anglican clergy serving the region in fact came from England, but it was only after Confederation that English-origin Anglicans began to predominate in the congregations spreading across the region.

At the centre circle of the cross is Christ the agnus dei from whom the parish of Christ’s Church, Bytown took its name. At the apex of the window Christ the King is shown sitting on a rainbow, while a satellite is depicted orbiting the heavens. Even as the window celebrated the region’s history, it was taking note of modern developments.

The cross arms of the larger cross featured wavy blue lines to represent the Ottawa River, a major east/west transportation route for both Indigenous inhabitants and early French explorers. The upright of the cross is comprised of the Gatineau River flowing from the north, and the Rideau flowing from the south, with the three rivers converging on the Lamb of God, to convey the idea of believers being “washed in the blood of the lamb.”

There is much subtlety to this design. Drawn to the range of colours across the larger window, we do not notice at first the silhouette of tall pine trees on either side of the windows.  They, of course, signify the huge impact of the timber industry across the Diocese over six generations from the 1780s to the early twentieth century. Tulips along the window’s base pay tribute to the Ottawa Tulip Festival, it in turn alluding to Canadian sacrifices in liberating the Netherlands during the Second World War. Also across the base of the window we see coats of arms of the Diocese of Ottawa, Christ Church Cathedral, the then City of Hull in 1982 and the City of Ottawa.

Four oval insets also allude to aspects of the long history that in time led to the establishment of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa. First, the oval on the upper left of the main window includes images of explorers Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain and Martin Frobisher. It was on the latter’s voyage west of Greenland in 1576 that a priest on the ship held the first Anglican service in what today is Canada.

The oval on the upper right shows a tall ship and a background of fur pelts and a codfish, indicating the economic basis of the fur trade and cod fisheries that supported settlements in the eastern provinces, eventually leading to Anglican settlers heading west to the Ottawa country.

A third oval on the lower left provides an image of people gathering at the 1832 Christ’s Church in Bytown—the first Anglican house of worship in Ottawa. We also see an image of Philemon Wright’s Hull settlement where the first Anglican worship services took place—in the first house of worship of the denomination built in what today is the National Capital Region.

The fourth oval on the lower right shows the Centre Block of Parliament, viewed from Gatineau. In front of it are the flags of France and Great Britain, reflecting the passage of time when Canada moved from being a colony of one to the other.  A small red roundel featuring Sir John A. Macdonald, if intended to mark his role in bringing about Confederation, more recently marks his notorious role in establishing residential schools for Indigenous children. [Much of that terrible history has come to light since the window was created in 1982. Archbishop Michael Peers’ 1993 apology on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada for its role in running schools was the beginning of Anglicans’ ongoing work toward truth and reconciliation with Indigenous people.]

The middle of the lower window shows a great stream of people, framed by an Indigenous person and an African-Canadian standing prominently in the foreground, and encompassing various people from the diocese and Ottawa’s history. They include: Joseph Montferrand, a legendary lumberjack; Philemon Wright, a prominent settler at Gatineau and pioneer of the regional timber industry; Lord Dalhousie who secured the site to build the Rideau Canal entrance locks and Lieutenant-Colonel John By who oversaw Rideau Canal construction, built bridges between Hull and Bytown, and laid out the original site for Bytown.

Others portrayed here include Nicholas Sparks (the image is really his son, Nicholas Sparks Junior) who donated the site of Christ’s Church in Bytown; the Rev. Adam Hood Burwell, the Rev. Samuel S. Strong and Dean John Strutt Lauder—the first three rectors who presided over the parish as it moved from being a pioneer worship community to cathedral; Bishop Guigues, the first Roman Catholic bishop of Ottawa; Mère Elisabeth Brûyère who opened the first community hospital; and Charles Hamilton—the first Anglican bishop of Ottawa.

The sole identifiable Anglican woman portrayed in this group was Roberta Tilton, who organized the Woman’s Auxiliary nationally, with members in churches across the Diocese of Ottawa sending funds and bales to support Indigenous communities across western and northern Canada from the nineteenth to the 21st centuries.

We celebrated our 130th anniversary just a couple of weeks after the first woman was installed as Archbishop of Canterbury and one month before Bishop-elect Kathryn Otley is to be seated as the 11th Bishop of Ottawa, the first woman to become bishop in this diocese.

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In honour of the occasion and the contributions Anglican parishes and Community Ministries make to the City of Ottawa, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe officially proclaimed April 7, 2026, Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Historical Day.

The mayor unfortunately had to cancel plans to visit Ascension House to present the framed proclamation as well as plans to meet Bishop-elect Kathryn Otley at his City Hall office to present the proclamation, but members of his staff presented it to her.

It reads:

WHEREAS, the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa marks its 130th anniversary on April 7, 2026, having been established in 1896, and

WHEREAS, the Diocese supports local churches, nurtures faith and, through its community ministries, serves the people in need throughout Ottawa and the surrounding region, and

WHEREAS, the Diocese contributes to the social, spiritual, and civic life of the City of Ottawa, strengthening communities and fostering inclusion, and

WHEREAS, the Diocese celebrates the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women in the Anglican Church of Canada and gives thanks for the election of its first female bishop, Kathryn Otley,

THEREFORE, I, Mark Sutcliffe, Mayor of the City of Ottawa, do hereby proclaim April 7, 2026 as the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Historical Day in Ottawa.

Staff gathered with the bishop-elect for a brief celebration and cake at Ascension House that afternoon.

Ascension House and Cathedral staff:

Front row (left to right): Carole Breton, director of Communications and Development; Executive Archdeacon Linda Hill; Bishop-elect Kathryn Otley (standing centre); Emily Dobson, Human Resources officer; Shaylene Tompkins, administrative assistant

Second row: Marcela Hurtado, development officer; Elizabeth Taylor, Archives newsletter editor; Ishita Ghose, case manager Refugee Ministry Office; Heidi Pizzuto, executive assistant to the bishop; Sandra Purdy, accountant; Meg Stewart, digital records archivist; Reem Abu-Afieh, case manager Refugee Ministry Office; Amy Elliott, administrative assistant, Property and Asset Management

Back row: Glenn Lockwood, Diocesan archivist; Nicholas Galambos, Cathedral director of operations; the Rev. Canon Doug Richards, rector at Christ Church Cathedral; James Calkin, Cathedral music director; Wanita Jerusalimeic, Cathedral office coordinator; Bill Gilbert, accountant; Joel Prentice, Property and Asset Management director; Dean Beth Bretzlaff; the Rev. Victoria Scott, director general of Community Ministries; Paul Lex director of Human Resources

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