By Daniel Velarde
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes says the city will not consider naming the Rideau Canal pedestrian bridge after Nelson Mandela and his name will be removed from the list of 35 nominations.
“International names don’t meet the criteria because they’re outside of the city’s mandate,” she says.
One local group suggested Mandela earlier this spring in honour of the South African president. Mandela visited Ottawa in 1990.
The bridge – which links Somerset Street West to the University of Ottawa and Sandy Hill – has been open since September. The $5-million project sparked heated debate since it was proposed more than 15 years. Among other things, critics worried about the expense and the bridge’s impact on the waterway’s scenery.
Ottawa’s Irish community suggested the name Corktown in honour of immigrant Irish workers who arrived in 1827 to construct the Rideau Canal. About 1,000 Irishmen died of malaria and dynamite blasts; their remains are sprinkled from Centretown to Kingston.
Corktown was a crowded Irish shantytown, clawed into the banks of the waterway that housed thousands of poor canal workers before it was demolished in the 1840s.
“Today, we have a thriving city as a result of Irish toils,” says Steve Dezort, the Bytown Museum’s program manager. He has been campaigning since the fall to promote the name Corktown.
“We undertook this effort to attach some added significance to this bridge, and to commemorate the people who formed the core of what became Ottawa,” he says.
Holmes says the city wants to celebrate local names and place an emphasis on Ottawa’s history. But she says it is important to consult residents and local organizations before reaching a decision.
In late March, a poll conducted by a local newspaper, found that 65 per cent of respondents wanted a name with local significance, such as Corktown, while only 11 per cent would have chosen the name Nelson Mandela Bridge.
“If there’s a lot more interest in one name, then I imagine that’s the one we’ll choose,” says Holmes.
Mike Heenan, a local poet and writer, says he does not think city council should set up time-consuming democratic committees to name local landmarks. He says the city should have gone ahead and named the bridge without all the fuss and added expenses.
“The bridge alone cost millions,” he says. “And God knows how much they’re spending now on naming committees, public commissions, secretariat, ads, and the rest of it.”
Holmes says the city intends to submit a shortened list of names to the public by the end of April. “This being a democracy, we’ll follow the democratic process,” she says.
Heenan created an online petition that has brought more than 500 signatures in favour of Corktown.
“We had a general assumption in the Irish community that it wouldn’t be named anything but Corktown, since it sits right on the edge of what used to be Corktown,” he says.
Dezort says since the city has initiated a formal application process, “our efforts are more geared to demonstrating that there’s a lot of support for Corktown.”
Holmes expects the bridge to encourage walking or cycling. She says the city’s commemorative naming committee will approve the name deemed most preferred in May.
Heenan says the name Corktown would finally honour Ottawa’s honest, ordinary men and women instead of its big leaders: “I don’t know if you can pass a fire hydrant these days that isn’t the Andrew Haydon hydrant.”