Marching toward 1M: 7 moments that marked Ottawa's growth into a big city

Ottawa has grown from a lumber townto a sleepy government hubto a metropolis of one million.

CBC spoke withsome of the people at the centre of significant milestones in our city's history about their memories of those moments.

1967:Ottawa hosts Canada's centennial party

Naturally, the apex of Canada's 100th birthday celebrations took place right here in Ottawa, and a local bakery was asked to make a cake fit for the Queen not to mention all the other invited guests.

Today, Ottawa's used to crowds descending on Parliament Hill for the big party, but in 1967, it was all new.

"It was the very first big gathering on Parliament Hill," said Grete Hale, 90, whose business was asked to provide the giant nine-metrecake.

The result was part fruitcake,part inedible structure to achieve the height,and entirely covered in royal icing. Hale says the Duke of Edinburgh even snuck a bit of the sweet topping as he walked by.

"You've never seen a more splendid birthday cake," Hale recalled.

Click on the video below to hear Grete Hale and her sister Gay Cook describe how Canada's birthday cake nearly didn't fit onto Parliament Hill.

One Million: A cake fit for a Queen (and 40,000 others)

5 years ago

Duration 4:33

Grete Hale, now 90, was asked to bake a cake for Canada's Centennial in 1967.

1979:Ottawa opens its arms to 4,000'boat people'

Stitched into the fabric of Ottawa's urban pride is the story of Project 4000, when then mayor Marion Dewar led the movement to bring 4,000 Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian refugees to Ottawa per capita, more than any other Canadian city.

Vietnamese refugee Phap Lu spent three weeks floating in the ocean before landing in a refugee camp in Malaysia, where he wasoffered the chance to come to Ottawa.

"Where?" he asked.

Lu's first impressionwhen he arrived in 1979 wasof a very quiet city. Now, as the owner of a local taekwondo studio, he considers it his civic duty to inspire young peopleand "produce good citizens" for the city he loves.

One Million: Fleeing Vietnam for safer shores

5 years ago

Duration 2:03

Phap Lu left Vietnam in the late 1970s and arrived in Canada as part of the Project 4000 initiative.

1983: The Transitway opens

The Transitway revolutionized bus transitwhen it opened in 1983. It was the first rapid transit system in North America with streets set aside exclusively for buses. The idea was copied across the continent.

Nicole Valiquette started driving for OC Transpoin the 1980s. She says the Transitway marked the beginning of a new era for the city.

"It meant Ottawa was growing and it was becoming a very important city," she said.

The Transitway partially closed in 2015, when construction on the Confederation Line of the LRT began.

"Now that you don't have it, you appreciate it so much, and you miss it," Valiquette said.

One Million: Driving for Ottawa's evolving transit system

5 years ago

Duration 1:33

Nicole Valiquette started driving for OC Transpo in the 1980s and witnessed the big changes brought by the Transitway.

1992:The Senators return

When the modern-era Ottawa Senators kicked off their inaugural season in 1992, lifelong fan Jim Bonner was part of the sold-out crowd at the Civic Centre. He says getting an NHL franchise was a big moment for the city.

"It was surreal to think that all of a sudden we were going to be put on the sports map, and host the likes of the Wayne Gretzys and the Jaromr Jgrs and the Pavel Bures ...the true stars of NHL hockey," Bonner said.

The crowning glory? The Sens won that first game against the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3.

One Million: The NHL comes to town

5 years ago

Duration 2:22

Ottawa Senators super-fan Jim Bonner was at the team's first-ever regular season game, played at the Civic Centre on Oct. 8, 1992.

1997:SOS Montfort

On March 20 1997, high school student Mlanie Desmarais was among 2,000 students who protested the planned closure of Ottawa'sMontfortHospital by marching to the institution and forming a human chain around it.

Years after the fully bilingual hospital was saved, Desmarais started working there as an occupational therapist.

"I think saving the Montfort put Ottawa on the map. It brought a whole bunch of people a whole bunch of French Canadians together in fighting for our language," she said."I'm proud that I fought for something I believe in."

One Million: Saving the Montfort Hospital

5 years ago

Duration 1:32

Mlanie Desmarais marched and chanted in 1997 to save Ontario's only Francophone hospital.

1998: Nelson Mandela visits Ottawa

Nelson Mandela visited Ottawa three times after his release from prison.

In 1998, as president of the Republic of South Africa, he spoke to Parliament and unveiled a plaque at the Canadian Human Rights monument near City Hall.

That was the year 11-year-old Tsholofelo Dintwa, a South African immigrant,got to meet her hero. Now 31, Dintwa believes Mandela's visit to Ottawa made a difference to race relations in the city.

"It was a moment when people started to accept different races more," she said. "I think people started beginning to treat others differently with the understanding of what he was fighting for."

One Million: Meeting Nelson Mandela in Ottawa

5 years ago

Duration 1:22

Tsholofelo Dintwa, whose family moved to Canada from South Africa to escape apartheid, met Nelson Mandela when he visited Ottawa in 1998.

2015:Ottawa welcomes Syrian refugees

In December 2015 Ottawa embraced another huge humanitarian effort,this time to resettle thousands of Syrian familiesto the capital, just as it had withVietnamese and Somali communities decades earlier.

Mohammad Al-Sultan and his family were among the first to arrive. Since then, baby Fatima and twins Marwa and Safa have been born at the Montfort Hospital. As an Uber driver, he frequently marvels at what he sees around the capital.

"I'm so happy here. It's a beautiful city," Al-Sultan told CBC News. "At night it's so, so beautiful with the lights."

One Million: Ottawa's newest newcomers

5 years ago

Duration 0:43

Mohammad Al-Sultan and his family arrived in 2015 as Canada began welcoming Syrian refugees. Since then, baby Fatima and twins Marwa and Safa have been born.