RIDEAU CANAL WORKERS

Celtic Cross near Wellington Street at the Rideau Canal locks, Ottawa

The memorial to the canal workers and their families who died was unveiled in June 2004 with the participation of then Mayor Bob Chiarelli and Martin Burke, then Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada. The cross is on the east bank of the canal’s first lock at the Ottawa River. One gets down to it from Wellington Street, passing the Bytown Museum and then crossing from west to east on the lock gate. The inscription “In memory of the 1,000 workers & their families who died building this canal 1826-1832” is engraved on three sides in four languages: English, French, Irish and Algonquin. It was erected by the Ottawa and District Labour Council and the Irish Society NCR.

More than 1000 canal builders, also known as navvies, coming mainly from Ireland and Lower Canada, died in the construction of the Rideau Canal ( 1826-1832). The Irish in particular suffered terribly as most were newly-arrived immigrants and unprepared for the elements. The labourers were exhausted by long hours of work and weakened by hunger. At times they were not paid by contractors for work done. They and their families suffered horrendous living conditions and were susceptible to a malaria-like disease known at the time as swamp fever, carried by the mosquitoes in late summer and early fall. Many of the pick-and-shovel labourers lost their lives in accidents caused by the explosives used to blast rock. Others were swept away by fast-flowing water or mudslides while clearing the banks of the large trees which bordered the route. Most of these men were quickly buried in unmarked graves. Note the engravings on the Celtic cross of tools, the mosquito and the waters.

The canal is 200 km long, linking the Ottawa River at Ottawa with Lake Ontario at Kingston. It was built in the wake of the War of 1812 to bypass the American border along the St. Lawrence River. At the time it was considered the greatest engineering project in North America, with 47 locks ascending to Newboro and then descending in 54 locks to Kingston and Lake Ontario. In early days it was a means of freighting goods and trade and passengers. Today it is solely a recreational route. The Rideau Canal has been a source of wealth and pleasure for many, but it would never have been built without the navvies.

The Canal Workers Commemorative Group based in Ottawa plan to publish poems, a history and a film documentary to further honour these martyrs of labour. They are seeking to make the Rideau Canal a World Heritage site. As well, in Kingston there is a memorial drinking fountain on Ontario Street, opposite City Hall. At Newboro, at the entrance to the old Presbyterian cemetery, there is an old plaque reading “A number of sappers and miners lie buried in this cemetery, victims of the building of the canal”.

Photo credits: Workers’ Heritage Centre Museum, Ottawa