It is much like lighting a votive candle — choose a ribbon and as you tie it on, hold in your heart an intention, a person or a situation; as the ribbons cover the net, our prayers become contemplative art.

The Cathedral is open from 9 am to 3 pm, Monday to Thursday, and 9 am to noon on Friday, and all are most welcome to come in and spend time in the sacred space.

The post A prayer net for our times appeared first on Perspective.

Less than a generation after Canadians celebrated the centennial of Confederation, members of Christ Church Cathedral approached their 150th anniversary. They sought a meaningful way to commemorate the building of Christ’s Church, Bytown in 1832, the first Anglican church to be built in the future capital some 35 years before Confederation.

The answer soon became apparent. The west window dating from 1872 was beginning to show its age. Its large surface was filled with clear glass laid out in diamond-panes, with a thin band of gold and blue outlining the tracery. After 110 years of weathering, the lead holding glass panes in place and the larger wooden frame were greatly in need of renewing.

It was decided to commission a new west window. Its design would be a visual summary of the history of the parish within the region. A great fundraising campaign was carried out, and a design commissioned from Christopher Wallis of London, Ontario. Other startling proposals including stark modern abstract designs were also considered, but Wallis was entrusted with the commission based on memorial windows he designed for Trinity Church, Cornwall and Saint Bartholomew’s, Ottawa. We see him here assembling the cartoon for this composition, to form the basis for selecting and cutting stained glass for the new west window. This commission was a big deal, and Christopher Wallis did not disappoint.

As traditional stained-glass iconography goes, Christopher Wallis was attempting nothing less than a summary of the history of the parish and its place in the City of Ottawa within the larger setting of the Ottawa Valley and global Anglicanism. To take on such a commission must have made him feel like Michelangelo when he set out to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  It would take Naomi Jackson Groves, niece of Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson, 60 pages to explain all of the details that Wallis incorporated in his composition. In a future issue of Perspective we will summarize some of the major details, but for now we must confine ourselves to just a few parts of the larger composition of Wallis’s masterpiece.

The larger composition shows a Celtic cross. The cross, of course, is emblematic of Christianity, symbolizing our Saviour’s sacrifice to redeem mankind. The Celtic cross recognizes the huge Anglo-Irish population that constituted much of the Anglican population of the larger Ottawa region in the nineteenth century. In the first census of Canada (1871) that asked people what they considered their ethnic origin (as opposed to their country of birth) to be, in the five counties around Ottawa 42,000 more people claimed to be of Irish origin than did in the cities of Montreal and Toronto combined. At the centre circle of the cross is Christ, the agnus dei, from whom the parish took its name. At the apex of the window Christ the King is shown sitting on a rainbow, while a satellite is shown orbiting the heavens.

The cross arms of the cross represent the Ottawa River, the major east/west route of transportation for both Indigenous inhabitants and early French explorers. The upright of the cross shows the Gatineau River flowing from the north, and the Rideau River flowing from the south, while the tall silhouettes of pine trees across the window signify the huge economic impact of the timber industry in the larger Ottawa Valley over the course of six generations.

If you would like to help the Archives preserve the records of the Diocese and its parishes, why not become a Friend of the Archives?  Your $20 membership brings you three issues of the lively, informative Newsletter, and you will receive a tax receipt for further donations above that amount.  

The post Cathedral Deanery — Wallis sketching Christ Church Cathedral West Window Cartoon appeared first on Perspective.

“It’s important for you to know, and for those who are listening online across our country, that our cathedral in the nation’s capital has one of the strongest youth ministries in the Anglican Church of Canada between its two choirs. Upwards of 40 and sometimes 50 kids weekly gather to sing together, to sing scripture, to grow in their stature as the children of God.” It’s a wonderful ministry, he added.

The choirs have plans to travel to the U.K. next year and to sing at Westminster Abbey in London in 2027.

The post Cathedral Girls Choir celebrates its 25th anniversary appeared first on Perspective.

The Rev. Dr. Christopher Brittain, Dean of Divinity at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College and recently appointed diocesan Canon Theologian, offered the homily. He quoted from Archbishop Shane Parker’s charge opening the 2024 Synod. “We must always remember that God is already at work in the world, and our task is to participate in God’s work by listening in a new way to the Holy Spirit.” He noted that those who heard those words last year were not expecting the change that began when Archbishop Parker was elected to lead the Anglican Church of Canada.

“As you gather as a Synod to discern together what the Holy Spirit is calling you to do as a church in this geographical region of God’s creation during a period of change and transition, I will offer you three points that I think Scripture is suggesting to us tonight.”

First, be prepared to be redirected.

Second, accept that this is going to be disruptive, so we better talk about this honestly together.

And thirdly, stay rooted during this time in God.

Elaborating on the third point, he said: “This is how we are to live in this period of time here in this diocese. Like James at the Council of Jerusalem, by keeping ourselves in the words we’ve heard sung so beautifully from Psalm 1, like trees planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season. This is an image of resilience, of hope, of faith, of being able to withstand drought, withstand uncertainty, withstand frustration, due to remaining in intimate connection with God. Trust in God’s goodness, through prayer, through attention to the movement of the Spirit.”

He added, “I pray that during this Synod, we all might be sufficiently open to the Spirit that Christ can do many deeds of power in our midst or in what follows from the decisions that we make together.”

The service included the installations of the Rev. Canon Dr. Jon Martin to the Cathedral Canonry of St. James; the Rev. Dr. Christopher Brittain to the Cathedral Canonry of Saint Anselm of Canterbury and as Canon Theologian; and the Rev. Dr. Sarah Kathleen Johnson as an Honorary Canon. The Rev. Dr. Caz Ducros was commissioned as Regional Dean of West Quebec. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Brauer was commissioned as Regional Dean of the Southwest in absentia.

The post Synod 2025 begins with evening Eucharist at the Cathedral appeared first on Perspective.

Singers from many different choirs across the city gathered at Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa on June 14 for a workshop with renowned composer and director Andrew Balfour. Together,  they filled the Cathedral with music that beautifully mingles choral works with Indigenous perspectives and language.

Balfour directed the composite choir through two of his original compositions and two of his arrangements of 16^th century music by Thomas Tallis and Orlando Gibbons.

The workshop coincided with the tenth anniversary of the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, and Balfour spoke about his experience of being one of thousands of children who suffered the systemic abuse of being taken away from their Indigenous families in the 60s Scoop. “I was taken away from my medicine, my language, my blood mother, my brothers and sisters and connections,” he said.

“However, I landed in a wonderful, loving family. My father was an Anglican priest at All Saints Anglican Church in Winnipeg,” he recounted as he introduced himself. His adoptive family was also a very musical family, which is how Balfour was exposed to a very broad range of music as a child, including choral music as a choir boy.

There were early indicators of his passions and talents. As a child, he would play at being a conductor. Hearing the opening of Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion was when he was eight or nine was “mind-blowing,” he shared. “I learned the codes,” he added, “how to make music, when I was six or seven years old.” That opened the door to his career as a singer, composer, conductor and sound designer that has taken him to across Canada and the world.

Along the way, there was also a difficult journey to reconnect with his Cree identity.

Balfour found a way to unite the two worlds musically. In a description of his album Nagamo, he explained that “by taking the choral music of the Elizabethan masters and other later choral music, I have reshaped the thoughts behind the texts, by changing the Latin to Ojibway or Cree perspectives. These are not direct translations of the sacred texts, rather a more Indigenous perspective of spirituality, but keeping the beauty of the polyphony intact.”

Ispiciwin (Journey) combines Cree text with the 16^th century music of Orlando Gibbons’ ‘Drop, Drop Slow Tears.’

Four Directions brings Ojibway text together with 16^th century music from Thomas Tallis “Te lucis ante terminum” (To thee before the close of the day), a hymn written to be sung at Compline, the last service of the day. Four Directions calls for the singers to add bird song into the piece at times, evoking the peacefulness of evening.

Qilak is Balfour’s original composition inspired by a trip he made to Baffin Island and is a collaboration with Iqaluit folksinger and songwriter Madeleine Allakariallak with English and Inuktitut text. Balfour told the singers at the Cathedral that when he arrived on Baffin Island, far north of the tree line, he was struck by the immensity of the land and the sky, which inspired this work.

Ambe is also Balfour’s original composition based on and inspired by an original song in Ojibway gifted to Balfour and the University of Manitoba Concert Choir by traditional drummer and singer Cory Campbell. The notes with the score say that Campbell describes the song as “a call to the people to the ceremonial way of life or the red road.” Balfour explains that “the steady beat throughout represents the heartbeat of Mother Earth and the lyrical first soprano melody that emerges from this rhythmic texture at measure seven conveys the powerful totem of the eagle which represents the teaching of love, wisdom and strength.”

Andrew McAnerney, associate music director for Christ Church Cathedral, said he was really grateful to Balfour for coming to Ottawa. “As was apparent to everybody, he’s a very accomplished musician. He’s a great director and artist,” he said, noting that he is in high demand and working on many projects.

McAnerney was delighted that the workshop drew singers from 15 to 20 different choirs. “That was tremendous work to get those 70 plus people together and singing those works… There was a range of difficulty. The Ispiciwin piece was relatively straightforward, whereas the Ambe piece with all its sorts of rhythms and syncopation was quite a challenge, especially because he didn’t take it slowly at all. He went full speed from the start.” Most of the singers participated in a pre-workshop rehearsal with McAnerney and were helped by having the music to study in advance, he said.

McAnerney said that singing the songs in the three different Indigenous languages “opened a window for us.” Balfour generously helped to bridge the gaps and open “a connection to a different world of music making. That was really special to have him there to explain it.”

The morning workshop also included a conversation with the Cathedral’s Dean Beth Bretzlaff asking Balfour some questions. He spoke about his love of Bach’s music and that first time hearing St. Matthew’s Passion and his memories of first travelling to England as a choir boy and singing in a cathedral that was 1,000 years old.

When she brought up the tenth anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, Balfour shared his admiration for the commission’s chair, Murray Sinclair, who passed away last year. He recalled listening to testimony at the TRC hearings in 2012 from 12 grandmothers, who were in their seventies and eighties at the time. “I suddenly saw them as young, vulnerable children. How is it possible, that just down the street, the master of the universe, John A. MacDonald, and all of those racist people made decisions to send those children away?”

He said that he sees hope in education and the fact that young people in Canada are learning about that history now, and in the work of Indigenous artists as a force for change and healing.

He added that the word reconciliation is misleading because there never was a time of peace and good relations to return to, but he echoed Sinclair’s words that “Reconciliation is an ongoing journey, not a destination.”

There were many compliments from the singers who attended. Susan Johnston, whose children are part of the Cathedral choirs, told Perspective that she came out of curiosity and an appreciation for seeing an act of reconciliation through music.

Loutchka Prophete, a parishioner at Christ Church Cathedral, said: ‘Singing together brings us together.” She compared it to Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing pottery using gold to join the broken pieces. “We must find the link, common ground, and these activities give us that common ground.”

The next day, Christ Church Cathedral’s Sunday Choral Eucharist marked the National Indigenous Day of Prayer as well as Trinity Sunday. Balfour was a guest director, and the Cathedral choir sang Ispiciwin and Ambe. That service was lives-treamed and can still be viewed on the Cathedral’s YouTube channel.

The post Composer Andrew Balfour brings diverse people and musical traditions together appeared first on Perspective.

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to include changes to events on June 14. A Saturday afternoon event marking the 10^th anniversary of the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been cancelled. The 10:30 am worship service on June 15, focusing on the National Indigenous Day of Prayer, will take place as planned at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa.

Prominent Cree composer Andrew Balfour will help the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa mark National Indigenous History Month and the National Indigenous Day of Prayer on June 14 and 15 by bringing his music to a workshop for singers, a public event, and a special service at Christ Church Cathedral.

Andrew McAnerney, associate director of music at Christ Church Cathedral, shared his excitement about the Juno-nominated composer’s collaborative visit. “He’s a great talent,” he said. “And he’s a really interesting voice, not only about Anglican church music, which he knows well because he was a chorister, but also because of his identity and his background and … his own journey that he shares as a discovery of music and culture.”

Balfour was taken away from his Cree mother as a part of the Sixties Scoop. He was adopted as an infant by a Winnipeg family with Scottish roots and a love of music. His mother was a violinist and his father was an Anglican priest, who encouraged his interest in choral music.

As a young man, however, he struggled with questions about his identity, and later with poverty, alcohol, and a brief incarceration. Along the way, however, he reconnected with his Indigenous heritage and then found his path as a musician bringing Indigenous and classical choral music together in innovative ways. He is now known as a composer, conductor, singer and sound designer with a large body of choral, instrumental, electro-acoustic and orchestral works.

Balfour has been commissioned by the Winnipeg, Regina and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Caprice, Groundswell, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, the Winnipeg Singers, the Kingston Chamber Choir, Roomful of Teeth, Tafelmusik and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. He is the founder and artistic director of the innovative vocal group Dead of Winter (formerly Camerata Nova), now in its 25th year of offering a concert series in Winnipeg. With Dead of Winter, he writes that he specializes in creating “concept concerts,” many with Indigenous subject matter (​Wa Wa Tey Wak ​[Northern Lights], ​Medieval Inuit​, Fallen​)​. These works “explore a theme through an eclectic array of music, including new works, arrangements and inter-genre and interdisciplinary collaborations.”

In March, Balfour was slated to debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City, conducting selections from his work Tapwe: Songs of Truth with the Amabile Choirs, but due to an error in the paperwork for his stay in the U.S. and rigorous border security, he was denied entry into the U.S. and had to return to Canada.

“That whole concert at Carnegie was all about truth and love and compassion. So, I guess it’s kind of ironic that I get turfed,” he said in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press.

He will be warmly welcomed at Christ Church Cathedral.

McAnerney outlined the plans for three events on Saturday, June 14 and Sunday, June 15.

On the morning of Saturday, June 14, there will be a music workshop for singers. McAnerney explained that participants don’t have to be choir members, and there is no fee. Anyone who wants to participate just needs to rregister on the Cathedral website https://www.ottawacathedral.ca/

The morning workshop will also include a moderated conversation with Balfour about his music, about his art, and about being a Cree composer brought up in the Anglican choral tradition, McAnerney said. “Andrew was a boy chorister himself. That’s not a comfortable story. It’s a story that’s going to talk about that intersection of Indigenous identity and the Anglican Church because he lived that. He was adopted from his family by an Anglican priest, so we’re going to have a conversation with him about that.”

Turning back to the music itself, McAnerney explained: “We’re going to be singing four pieces, which Andrew has created. Two of those are his own composition. One is called Ambe, and that’s based on a text about welcome for all things walking on two legs. There’s Qilak, which is in Inuktitut, and it’s a piece that’s inspired by travels on Baffin Island. It’s a piece about the views, about the skies, about the snow.”

The other two pieces are fusions with choral music from the 16th and 17th centuries. Ispiciwin [Journey] sets Cree words to music by English composer Orlando Gibbons. Four Directions is an Ojibway text set to music by English composer Thomas Tallis. “There are bird songs. There are ideas of the natural world combined with this ancient English piece of polyphony,” he said.

McAnerney noted that he will offer a rehearsal for participants on June 10 at the Cathedral between 7 and 8.30. “If people want to come and learn the music before the workshop, they can do that with me. And that will be lots of fun. We’ll also have resources on the event page for the text and for learning in advance,” he said. “We recommend if people want to participate, that they do that work in advance because they’ll get more from the workshop and more from Andrew if they’ve taken some time to be familiar with the music and pieces.”

On Sunday, June 15, there will be a special worship service at 10:30 am focused on the National Indigenous Day of Prayer. Balfour will lead the music, including William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices as well as his own compositions Ispicwin and Ambe, with the Cathedral choirs.

McAnerney added that Balfour is well-acquainted with Ottawa, having brought one of his choirs to the city last year to perform from his Juno nominated album, Nagamo. “I’ve been a big fan of his work and his art,” McAnerney added, mentioning that a professional choir he directs in Montréal is commissioning a new work from Balfour that he hopes the choir will be able to perform at the Cathedral next year.“

The post Cree composer Andrew Balfour brings his innovative music to Christ Church Cathedral in June appeared first on Perspective.

The post Welcoming the new year at Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa appeared first on Perspective.

Thanking Bishop Shane Parker for the warm welcome to the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, she observed “that on the day the secular world is picking up and recovering from the party of the night before, the church’s first act of the New Year is rather counter-cultural. Not huddled in fear or darkness but gathered at the brightest time of the day for a communal feast as Christians have done from time immemorial. Here we are, the body of Christ, ready to offer this year to the Lord, to pray for the church and the world, and to take Jesus into ourselves. And then strengthened by one another and His body, fully prepared to face the world and live and proclaim the gospel.”

Germond said that her time as Acting Primate, since Archbishop Linda Nicholls retired in September, has given her reasons to feel optimistic about the future of the church. “As I catch glimpses of our church in every corner, I see such generosity of spiritual leadership and of time, talent and worldly goods,” she said. “My great hope is that our parishes, dioceses, provinces and national church will continue to be vital places of worship and service where everyone knows they are a “someone” and that they belong. And a place where through good teaching and formation all are invited to deepen their life in Christ.”

Looking ahead to the meeting of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada later in the year, she noted that the chosen theme of the gathering, “‘They will soar on wings like eagles’ (Isaiah 40:31) has a strong focus on hope, strength and renewal. At this synod we will be electing our 15th Primate, who will lead us prayerfully with strength and courage and a healthy dose of realism into a new and exciting, but unknown future.”

Mentioning global issues such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an intensified war in the Middle East, the climate crisis, and widespread poverty and hunger, both at home and abroad, Germond acknowledged that political, social and economic crises only seem to be deepening and that the church is not immune to these challenges. “We all know the tough decisions that lie ahead, and in some ways, it feels as though the very foundations of our world are being shaken. ‘Where shall we go, or to whom shall we turn?’ she asked.

“Look up, I say. Do not be afraid. Your Redeemer has come, and today, eight days after the Feast of the Incarnation, we mark the day He was named Jesus—Emmanuel, God with us,” she said. “The One who stood with us in our COVID fear, to whom we have prayed in every moment of darkness and despair, stands with us still, offering everything the world cannot give. The One whose ‘name is above every name’ has come as one of us in great humility into the very depths of our bondage and despair to bring us hope. This Jesus, named today, is the One who is totally and utterly trustworthy.”

And she offered this inspiration for stepping into a new year of unknowns and challenges: “Let’s do it by singing a new song to the Lord, remembering that we are never alone in any struggles we might face and that together we embody the love and humility that Christ exemplified.

“Paul’s letter incorporates what is believed to be one of the earliest Christian hymns. I wonder why Paul, who was never ever at a loss for words, let a hymn speak for him?” she asked. “Perhaps it was, as one writer said, ‘because the very act of singing is itself a way of supplanting fear with audacity.’ The act of singing together has always been a powerful act of faith and solidarity. It transcends mere words, offering a communal expression of confidence in God….

“Our habit and practice of singing together as the church is one of the oldest ways of reaching down, down, down into the depths of who we are to draw from the wellspring of life and abundance there is in Jesus,” the Archbishop said. “As we begin a new year, let us embrace His love as an active, communal force—a love that sustains, transforms and unites. And let us go out into the world singing and rejoicing to make the holy and precious name of Jesus and His love be known.”

The full text of Archbishop Anne Germond’s homily is available on the Anglican Church of Canada website and the full service can be viewed here.

The post Archbishop offers inspiration for facing the challenges of the new year appeared first on Perspective.

Gwen Lévesque, chair of the board of the Cathedral Hill Foundation (CHF), which was established in 2010 to represent the Cathedral and the Diocese in this project, told Crosstalk that the objective “was to provide a secure revenue stream for the church’s many important social ministries and to ensure that there is ongoing revenue to maintain its important heritage buildings without compromising its ministries.” She added that members of the foundation “have been resolute in their determination” to realize that goal, and “and also to ensure that in doing so these buildings which bracket Ascension House and the Cathedral would be a good fit for the neighbourhood. There is a great deal of satisfaction in accomplishing these results.”

David Morgan, who has been a member of the cathedral parish for 43 years and has been a CHF board member from its beginnings, described the challenges that first sparked this dream. A second cathedral hall built in 1950 “was 30 or 40 feet high inside with a stage at one end and a mezzanine balcony at the other end which we no longer really used. You had to heat all that before you got the heat down to where people were actually standing. The roof leaked. It was inappropriate in terms of architecture,” and he added they needed more space for the girls’ choir, which was just being established. “There were all kinds of reasons why we felt the need to remove that hall,” he said.

The cost of building a new hall, however, was beyond the Cathedral’s capacity. “We thought we would try and offer it up as a development parcel and get a hall that way… but it very soon became apparent that it was too small a parcel to be successfully developed and to give us back all the wonderful things that we wanted,” he said.

The Cathedral turned to the Diocese, which also owned parts of the block, but the situation was complicated by the fact that the Cathedral and Diocese each owned bits and pieces, like a patchwork quilt on the 40,000 square foot area. Rather miraculously, Morgan said, it turned out that when you added all the bits up about half was owned by each party. “So, we had a very quick and short meeting with the Diocese where it was agreed that we could go into a joint venture on this, and everything would be split 50-50.”

Initially, representatives from both the Diocese and the Cathedral formed a joint development group, working out the details according to the Canons, Bylaws and Regulations (CBRs) and holding bidding processes with the proviso that payments would come from the development, and the parties involved had to be willing to wait for that. “We selected Gowlings. They had a very good commercial real estate partnership, and Windmill Developments, who basically knocked it out of the park above all the other proposals in terms of being willing to work with the church and understanding the church’s motivations to be doing this,” Morgan said.

The group did discuss the possibilities of including affordable housing as a part of the development, but in the end,  Morgan said they decided that it was more beneficial to get the maximum return from properties in this prominent location in the city and then use those revenues to benefit community ministries in the diocese.

Windmill was contracted to develop the property in two phases. The first phase was a residential condominium tower to be built on the west side of the cathedral next to Ascension House, with a commercial building to be built later. At that point, the joint venture group was formalized as the non-profit Cathedral Hill Foundation, and it was chaired first by David Caulfield, then David Morgan, and by Barbara Gagne, who led the board until she stepped down in 2020 and was succeeded by Lévesque. The ownership of the land was transferred to the CHF, so that the developer was only dealing with one entity representing both the Cathedral and the Diocese.

Bishop Shane served as the dean and rector of the Cathedral from the beginning of the development and was instrumental throughout, supporting volunteers on the joint venture committee and being the face of the development project to outside parties. He recalls making a representation to the City of Ottawa, persuading planning authorities to rezone the land so the project could proceed. “I had to explain that, while we were responsible for a municipal “heritage asset” called Christ Church Cathedral, we were in a self-defeating circle where spending money to keep the building in good repair meant no money for all the good things we offer to the city, which meant diminishing givings. We needed to develop our property to pay for our property. Fortunately, we prevailed.”

A large-scale construction project inevitably comes with disruptions of various kinds, but Morgan says that overall members of the cathedral parish were supportive. “It helped to meet often with them in special vestry meetings and other sessions when the developer would explain the plans….We kept up a pretty steady and consistent communication,” he said. The loss of parking spots was the biggest inconvenience, for which there was $30,000 annual compensation during the construction. The first phase included 25 underground parking spots when it was finished, also split between the Cathedral and Diocese.

The 21-storey, 140-unit condominium tower was completed in 2015. It is a 99-year ground lease, with option for another 100 years. As a part of that phase of the development, the Cathedral’s present-day Great Hall was built along with a kitchen, and revamped archives space. The area that links Lauder Hall and the Great Hall to the cathedral itself was renewed and updated. Masonry was repaired. Ascension House was also renovated and the parking spots purchased. The total cost was more than $2.5 million. The lease payment was made as a lump sum, with the costs for the Great Hall, replacements/repairs/parking spaces being paid from this revenue, and the balance invested in the Consolidated Trust Fund (CTF), Lévesque explained. Disbursements from the CTF dividends are allocated 50/50 to the Cathedral and Diocese.

After some delays and an extension of the original time frame, Windmill let the CHF know they could not do the second phase. Fortunately, the Reichmann Senior Housing Development Corporation saw it as a prime location and opportunity to build a retirement accommodation complex. Lévesque said they have been very good, professional partners. As occupancy begins, annual rent will be paid, with an escalation based on CPI changes on a 10-year review cycle, Lévesque said. Disbursements will be 50/50 between the Cathedral and Diocese. Underground parking will include: 10 spaces for the Cathedral’s exclusive use 24/7; 15 spaces from Monday to Friday from 6 pm to 6am and Saturday-Sunday 24 Hours, with five additional spaces for special events with notice given.

As is expected with construction and development, a few adjustments had to be made along the way. Most notably, the plan to make another level of underground parking had to be changed. Due to fractures in the bedrock, Reichmann said including another layer of parking would have cost them $3 million. “So, we split the difference and received $1.5 million from them in addition to the lease rent. That’s the sort of adaptability you have to have as you go along,” Lévesque explained. No project goes exactly according to plan.

Despite such hiccups and the fact that the pandemic slowed everything down, The Vista on Sparks officially opened on Oct. 21, offering 152 units including independent living as well as assisted living options. The restaurant Cooke’s-on-the-Water occupies the top floor and offers residents and their guests an expansive view of the city and river. There is also a pub, patios and many other amenities. The move-in date for the first residents was Nov. 4. Marketing manager Julia Riddick told Crosstalk that they have had lots of interest from Anglicans in the city who would like to live near the Cathedral. They expect to reach 25% occupancy by early February and 50% by the end of May 2025, she said.

Morgan said the completion of the development and an influx of hundreds of new neighbours is a good opportunity to rejuvenate the cathedral community. “We’ve got all these new facilities which are useful and that we can rent out,” mentioning the annual Ottawa International Writers Festival as an example. It will also help reach out to the community more. “We can now go to the Vista on Sparks and say, you know, we’re having a music night on Thursday, please come and Dean Beth Bretzlaff, the current rector of Christ Church Cathedral, echoed that hopeful view: “The Cathedral Hill Foundation has not only created a revenue stream but also a neighbourhood, and our Cathedral is now focusing on building community. These are gifts that will keep on giving well into the future, honouring the faithful stewardship of those who worked so hard to bring a dream to reality.”

The post Opening of second Cathedral Hill tower marks successful completion of vision appeared first on Perspective.