Thanks for your patience during our recent outage at scalar.usc.edu. While Scalar content is loading normally now, saving is still slow, and Scalar's 'additional metadata' features have been disabled, which may interfere with features like timelines and maps that depend on metadata. This also means that saving a page or media item will remove its additional metadata. If this occurs, you can use the 'All versions' link at the bottom of the page to restore the earlier version. We are continuing to troubleshoot, and will provide further updates as needed. Note that this only affects Scalar projects at scalar.usc.edu, and not those hosted elsewhere.
ARTH3810 2019F Class Projects (Publication)Main MenuThe Tent Room at Rideau HallKyle Kreutner, Page 1 of 6The Webley Shacks: Unconventional Furniture Use in the Context of Ceaseless SurveillanceJose BawaganImperial Theater By Munawar MobinKeagan F - CSTM Sound HistoryIntroductionThe Mayfair TheatreSimran S.An Investigation of Hospital Interiors Effect on Patients144 Loretta Avenue North, Aidan MacNaullAidan MacNaull 144 Loretta Avenue NorthWest Block - Canada's New House of Commonsby Devon RudykRideau Street Chapel: The Effects of Relocation on the Experience of an Interiorby Ty FollisThe Church of St. Andrew's OttawaDavid Bastien-AllardMaking the Past Present: Union Station Restoration – A Political Facelift?by Vivian AstroffDelegation of the Ismali ImamatThe National Arts Centre: Reflecting on its Past and PresentSaint Paul University - A Shift in ValuesReem SiageFilm in Ottawa: The Mayfair theatreby Giovanna Maria SangCGM -An Investigation of Hospital Interiors Effect on PatientsThe Chateau LaurierBy Jessica El-GhazalReusable Space: The Senate of Canada Buildingby Syenne HolderNational Gallery of Canada - Seeing the Colonnade Through a Semiological Lens by Ricky TongRickyTHE OTTAWA STATIONEhidiamen Iyamabo, HomePageAVRC81ff8dad33b7fe77eee9a543209e890531c75438
A New Home for the Senate
12023-08-01T12:50:17-07:00Maegen Sargentf8c37f900ecb77afe0a6ed383bd0b77ea6c1266b3581615plain2023-09-24T07:15:03-07:00Maegen Sargentf8c37f900ecb77afe0a6ed383bd0b77ea6c1266bWith its grand interior resplendent in Indiana limestone, marble, wood and bronze, the newly restored Central Union Station is one of the most beautiful government buildings in Ottawa. It is now open to the general public after more than fifty years; the latest iteration a temporary home for the Senate of Canada. It was described by the architects who worked on the project as “a remarkable opportunity…to introduce a new program in a heritage building, to represent and raise the profile of the Senate's role in Parliament, and to convey Canadian identity through contemporary interpretations of national symbols and iconography” (Cogley 2019). Martin Davidson, principal of Diamond Schmitt Architects, enthused that it was a chance “to represent the Senate to a new generation of Canadians…through a narrative of elements and details evoking a shared history across broad geographical boundaries" (Cogley 2019).
However, a writer in Walrus Magazine sardonically commented that this was an attempt to give the Senate a “facelift” (Lewson 2019), characterizing the upper house of Parliament as “Canada’s most despised institution” (Lewson 2019). In fact, the topic of Senate reform has been a perennial one since shortly after Confederation (Joyal 1999). Periodic rumblings of discontent come from even the senators themselves, as when Independent Senator André Pratte quit in exasperation earlier this year (2019) and recently aired the issue in the Globe and Mail (Pratte 2019).
I will argue that the restoration program’s aspiration of conveying Canadian identity through “contemporary interpretations” in the Union Station interior is not evident. Instead we have an extensive narrative designed to educate the public about – and enhance the institution of – the Senate itself. The most apparent “national symbols” are images of the maple leaf in glass, wood, metal, and carpet patterns.
From the structure’s renaming as The Senate Building, to the handout pamphlets on a rack inside, to the public tours by Library of Parliament hosts, to the furnishings and artifacts – the spotlight shines almost solely on the Senate in its traditional, privileged role. There are only a few passing references to the building’s original reason for being, its meaning to Ottawa citizens, and its importance in Canada’s national history. Rather than depicting Canada as an evolving accomplishment, the Senate narrative perpetuates an understanding of Canadian identity and heritage as anchored in the past to a set of elite Western cultural values (Smith 2006, 11). As described by archaeologist and critical heritage studies scholar Laurajane Smith, it presents an “authorized heritage discourse," dependent on the interpretations of experts and on institutionalization by government cultural agencies (Smith, 11).
