A showcase of Canada’s geography: What are Rideau Falls in Ottawa?
The former Canada and the World Pavilion in Ottawa, soon to be home to the RCGS Centre for Geography and Exploration. Photo: James Morgan
A piece of prime Ottawa real estate has been saved from jeopardy. Alex Trebek, the well-known TV game show host and University of Ottawa alumnus (BA Philosophy, ’61) is also the Honorary President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), Canada’s equivalent of the National Geographic Society based in Washington, D.C. Trebek was recently in Ottawa and joined the RCGS executive in announcing that the organization will open a new Centre for Geography and Exploration at 50 Sussex Drive in Ottawa. That’s the scenic location where the Rideau River slips over Rideau Falls and into the Ottawa River.
The building was formerly the Canada and the World Pavilion, an exhibit center designed to showcase Canada’s involvement in world issues. It didn’t catch on with the public and visitor numbers were low. The National Capital Commission (NCC), shut it down in 2005 and it has sat empty since. The RCGS is now leasing the building from the NCC and plans to use it for exhibits on Canada’s geography and the exploration of its wilderness. The facility will also host educational programs, the RCGS offices, and the offices for Canadian Geographic magazine. The exhibit space will open in 2017 when Canada is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation. The rest of the plans for the building will be up and running by 2018.
Rideau Rainbow: The east channel of Rideau Falls with Green Island in the background. Photo: James Morgan
Game show host, U. of Ottawa alum, Peabody winner and honorary RCGS president. Who is Alex Trebek? Photo: Anders Krusberg, Peabody Awards, Creative Commons, some rights reserved
If Rideau Falls was a category on Jeopardy!, the answers and questions would be heavy on Canadian history and geography. It was a landmark for early indigenous people and explorers like Samuel de Champlain and Etienne Brule. The word rideau means “curtain” in French and early visitors thought the waterfall reminded them of a curtain. The surrounding park contains monuments to Canadian foreign aid workers, the air forces of the British Commonwealth, and to Canadians who fought on the republican side in the Spanish Civil War. The Rideau Falls area has looked rather quiet in the past few years because beyond the view and a few small monuments, there wasn’t much to make tourists want to spend time at a locked, empty building. The parking lot is frequently a popular Sunday morning staging area for radar-toting police officers seeking speeders on Sussex Drive. The RCGS plans will hopefully make Rideau Falls into more of a destination again.
There’s a lot of star power behind Alex Trebek’s involvement with the RCGS and other Canadian institutions. Last year, the University of Ottawa named its new alumni hall after him. Trebek’s broadcasting career started on the CBC in the early 1960’s hosting news, entertainment, and gameshows. As the cool, smooth-talking “Al” Trebek, he hosted teen dance show Music Hop, and the legendary high school quiz show Reach for the Top. Then, he made it big in the U.S., but has never ignored his roots. Canadians love it when own of their own still comes home.
