An Inspiring Capital for All of Us: An Evening with the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson
Preregistration is required. SCROLL DOWN to register.
Heritage Ottawa is pleased to partner with the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the Global Centre for Pluralism for an evening with the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson who will present From Sussex Street to Sussex Drive: A refugee’s journey to Rideau Hall. After the presentation, she will be joined by NCC CEO Tobi Nussbaum and Heritage Ottawa President Katherine Spencer-Ross for a fireside chat on making a great capital city.
From Sussex Street to Sussex Drive: A refugee’s journey to Rideau Hall
When the Poy family arrived in Ottawa in August 1942, they were able to find lodgings at 277 Sussex which was then a duplex. Those early years were difficult but happy. Difficult because there was the adjustment to a new country, a new society and a very small white town full of white bread and white snow. However, people were kind, the Poy family was somewhat a novelty and people were sympathetic that Hong Kong fell to the Japanese.
“Taking the streetcar from outside our front door to Rockcliffe Park with a picnic basket and a rug, but looking forward to the hotdogs that were sold in the lovely stone building which was in the park, is an everlasting memory. We went to the park almost every weekend on Sundays, and in the winter we began tobogganing down the hills there. My public and high school years were happily spent at Kent and Elgin Street Public Schools and Lisgar Collegiate where my goals and ideals and education were set for life. Ottawa has a great deal of meaning for me because it was where I was formed as a young person and where early influences, like my English teacher Mr. Mann in high school and my public school teacher Ms. McRae at Elgin Street Public, helped to form me, my values and my ideals.
I guess I’ve seen the city grow astonishingly and I have many memories of it as it was during the war with temporary buildings on the lawns in front of the Supreme Court and the Canal really just being a muddy ditch alongside the railway that led to the great Union Station. I have seen Ottawa transformed but I still remember it as that small town I grew up in.”
The Honourable Adrienne Clarkson
BIO: The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson arrived in Canada from Hong Kong with her family in 1942 and made the astonishing journey from penniless child refugee to accomplished broadcaster, journalist, and distinguished public servant in a multi-faceted lifetime.
As Canada’s 26th Governor General from 1999-2005, Adrienne Clarkson is universally acknowledged to have transformed the office, leaving an indelible mark on Canada’s history. When she left Rideau Hall, she co-founded the Institute for Canadian Citizenship which helps new citizens to feel involved and included in Canadian life. The ICC offers a one-of-a-kind program, Canoo, an app that gives newcomers free VIP access to over 1,400 of Canada’s best cultural and outdoor experiences.
Bestselling author of the 2014 CBC Massey Lectures Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship, Adrienne Clarkson also wrote Room for All of Us: Surprising Stories of Loss and Transformation; her autobiography Heart Matters: A Memoir; and Extraordinary Canadians: Norman Bethune, a biography of Dr. Norman Bethune.
A Privy Councillor and a Companion of the Order of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson is the National Institute on Ageing’s Honorary Chair for its Advisory Board.
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 | 7:00 pm | Global Centre for Pluralism, 330 Sussex Drive
Preregistration is required for this event. Please SCROLL DOWN to register.
NOTE: Due to space limitations, all registrant names will be checked at the door.