OFFICIAL OTTAWA: an unofficial portrait
Like all cities, Ottawa (the capital of Canada) has a public image. You think of its natural beauty, the neo-gothic architecture of the Parliament Buildings, people skating on the Rideau Canal in the winter, or maybe the shenanigans of Question Period in the House of Commons.
These all exist. But there’s another way to look at this city: As a seat of federal power.
Official Ottawa looks behind (or perhaps beside) the myths and clichés created, managed and perpetuated by the powers-that-be. These images strip the capital down to its bones by simply showing the architecture, functionaries and tableaux that represent aspects of the federal presence here. These are the people, places and things folks in Ottawa walk by every day and barely notice. They are also aspects of this city that people across Canada rarely get a chance to consider, the big media outlets preferring instead the obvious, the sentimental and the sensational.
But if you look closely power always reveals itself. And power, in all its forms, affects us all.