CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM: HERITAGE OTTAWA LAUNCHES NEW VIDEO

Monday, November 28, 2022

HERITAGE OTTAWA

As part of our work to protect the Central Experimental Farm from further encroachment, we created an important three-minute video to help raise awareness about the need for protective federal legislation.

CLICK HERE to view the video. And please share it to help us get the word out.

Brief Background

Established on the outskirts of the city in 1886, today the Central Experimental Farm is in the centre of Ottawa. It is significant for its agricultural research, which contributes to Canada’s sustainability in a world confronted by the threat of climate change. The Farm is also a unique cultural landscape in Canada’s National Capital. For these reasons, the Farm was declared a National Historic Site.

The Farm has made Canada one of the great powerhouses in world agriculture.  For the last 40 years, scientists have studied the impact of climate change on agriculture here. The Farm is also treasured for its scenic qualities, its arboretum and ornamental gardens, and its barns, greenhouses, that contribute to its special pastoral setting within a city.

The Farm is threatened by urban encroachment. If we lose these sites, they cannot be replaced, research is threatened, and heritage is lost. The Farm is adjacent to the Rideau Canal World Heritage Site, and UNESCO has expressed concern for inappropriate development in proximity to the Canal.

The Farm's National Historic Site designation provides no real protection without federal legislative. Legislative protection for the Farm is long overdue.  Heritage Ottawa and others are advocating for protection of the Central Experimental Farm, while mitigating risks to the function and heritage features of the Farm during the construction of the hospital.

The federal government has, in partnership with indigenous peoples, created an indigenous resource centre here, as the Farm is on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples.