Rideau Canal opens for the season with new canal-side exhibits
It’s official — the Rideau Canal is open to boaters and paddlers for the 2019 season, but Parks Canada is warning users to “exercise caution” in areas with higher-and-average flows over the Victoria Day weekend.
As of 9 a.m. Friday, lock stations along the 200 km waterway, stretching from Lake Ontario at Kingston to the Ottawa River — on which boating is restricted due to flooding — were ready to receive visitors by water and land, the park service said.
Water flows on the canal in the Victoria Basin, at Smiths Falls and in the area between Clowes and Nicholsons lock stations will be higher than normal over the weekend due to above-normal spring precipitation, Parks Canada said, urging all boaters — but particularly paddlers — to watch out.
While visiting the canal by boat, bike or foot, check out seven new exhibits of sculptures and plaques along the 7.8 km promenade through Ottawa.
New this month — and telling stories including the centrality of water to the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation and how the Canal was built for military purposes but ended up being used for commerce — the exhibits are at the Ottawa Locks, Shaw Centre, Pretoria Bridge, Lansdowne Park, Dows Lake, the Central Experimental Farm and Hartwells Lockstation.
Construction of the canal began in 1827 and it’s both the best-preserved example and the oldest continuously operating slackwater canal on the continent.
