By Isla Quinn
In mid-October, someone opens a valve. The canal drains. That is how a winter begins.
What lies underneath
The canal itself is the older story. The Canadian Encyclopedia says it was a military alternative route between Montréal and Kingston, planned after the War of 1812, and that Lieutenant-Colonel John By was the engineer. Wikipedia says work began in the fall of 1826 and finished in the spring of 1832. The Encyclopedia puts construction at five summer working seasons.
Both give the length as 202 kilometres. Wikipedia counts 46 locks across 23 lockstations, plus two more at the entrance of the Tay Canal. The Encyclopedia says 46 are in use, from an original 49. The vessels rise 83 metres from the Ottawa River to the summit and drop 50 metres to Lake Ontario, and Wikipedia puts the artificial part of the route at about 19 kilometres. For water control, the Encyclopedia says, about 50 dams were needed to manage water at the rapids.
It was a hard job. The Encyclopedia says as many as 2,000 men worked for the Royal Engineers and contractors, and that “many” of the Irish labourers died of malaria. It says the canal was never economically viable, though steamboats carried freight and passengers for a century. Bytown grew up at the junction of the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers. It was renamed Ottawa in 1855.
The canal became a National Historic Site in 1925, according to Wikipedia, and in 1926, according to the Encyclopedia. It joined the Canadian Heritage Rivers System in 2000 and became a World Heritage Site in 2007.
The ice
Now the winter part. The National Capital Commission, which manages the skateway, gives its length as 7.8 kilometres.
The October valve
An NCC blog explains what happens before skating. In mid-October, Parks Canada drains the canal by opening valves at the Ottawa Locks. Water is pumped back up in mid-November. Once the ice forms, crews flood the surface to build thickness. The blog says clear ice is stronger than white ice. At minus 10 degrees Celsius, it says, ice can grow 5 centimetres in hours, but reaching 20 centimetres takes much longer.
The opening standard is higher. In January 2024, CBC reported that the ice must be at least 30 centimetres thick before the canal can open safely, “and even thicker if the quality is poor.”
Machines, and a lot of snow
The NCC says the skateway gets 24/7 maintenance once it opens, with nightly snow removal and resurfacing when weather permits. For every centimetre of snowfall, its crews move 125,000 kilograms of snow off the ice. In response to warmer winters, the blog adds, crews now use lighter equipment, including a mini version of the Froster and small utility vehicles.
The seasons that did not happen
The skateway season depends on the ice. It usually runs from around the new year into March, and the NCC says it is weather permitting. The 2022–23 season had no skating days at all, which CBC called the first full-season closure in more than 50 years.
What it adds up to
A canal built for soldiers and supplies became, in winter, a long clean line that people skate along. The ice decides the calendar, not the program.
If you plan a winter visit, treat the dates as a hope, not a promise. Check the NCC’s own page for current ice conditions before you pack skates.
Roam first. Shop later.