Parliament Hill – The seat of Canada’s government is also a popular attraction for tourists and locals

Parliament Building Centre Block, with the Peace Tower in the centre. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.

April 2025

Of all the historic buildings in Canada, none are more significant than the Parliament of Canada building in Ottawa, Ontario. The historic building includes offices, meeting rooms, the Parliamentary Library and most importantly, the chambers for the Senate and the House of Commons.

Sitting atop a hill, overlooking the Ottawa River, are the Victorian High Gothic-style Parliament Buildings. Consisting of the Centre Block Building, housing the House of Commons and Senate Chambers, meeting space and the 302 foot high Peace Tower. Flanking the Centre Block are the West Block and East Block buildings, featuring offices and meeting space.

House of Commons chamber in the Parliament building. Photo: Concierge.2C

Senate Chamber in the Parliament building. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.

The site of Parliament Hill, then called Barrack Hill, was chosen in 1858 by Queen Victoria, after Ottawa was designated as the capital of the Province of Canada. The current Parliament Building was completed in 1927, replacing an earlier building dating back to 1866, that was destroyed in fire that fortunately spared the Parliamentary Library, partly due to the staff managing to close the large, solid wood main doors before evacuating the building.

The East and West Block Buildings date back to 1866 and 1865 respectively, with the Parliamentary Library dating back to 1876.

A massive fire on 3 February 1916 destroyed the Centre Block portion of the Parliament Building. Spared from the destruction was the Parliamentary Library, helped by the fact that chief librarian Michael MacCormac closed the heavy iron doors separating the library from the rest of the building, seconds before fleeing the building, just ahead of the flames. These doors were not there by chance, but through the foresight of then-chief librarian Alpheus Todd, who insisted during the construction of the building in 1859, that the library be equipped with extensive fire precautions, including a long corridor and fireproof iron doors separating it from the main building.

In one of those interesting coincidences, the full-length portrait of Queen Victoria that now hangs in the foyer outside the Senate Chamber, was rescued from destruction during the 1916 fire, for the forth time in its existence, by A.H. Todd, the nephew of Alpheus Todd. Unfortunately, the painting was too bulky to be carried out through the Senate doors, so Todd cut the painting out of its frame and carried it out that way. It was also the elder Todd, who saved the same portrait decades earlier when a mob torched the Parliament of the United Province of Canada in Montréal.

The reconstruction of the Centre Block commenced in the fall of 1916, with the re-laying of the original corner stone by the Governor General, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathern, brother of the future King Edward VII. The first sitting in the new building took place on 26 January 1920.

A big feature of the rebuilt Centre Block, built of Nepean sandstone, was the addition of the Peace Tower, a 302 foot-tall bell and clock tower, replacing the original 180-foot Victoria Tower. The Peace Tower features around 370 gargoyles, grotesques and Friezes. The Canadian flag flies from a flagpole atop the Peace Tower.

At the base of the tower is the Memorial Chamber, a vaulted 24 foot by 24 foot room with stained glass windows and various other features illustrating Canada’s war record. Inside a glass display case is the Books of Remembrance, containing the names of all Canadian servicemen and servicewomen, including the Merchant Marine, who died in the service of Canada and the Crown in wars, ranging from the War of 1812, to the current day. Canada is currently on the 7th Book of Remembrance, with a second volume being readied for use. Traditionally, each book has been dedicated to a specific war/conflict, but since the 7th book, this practice has been discontinued.

Since 2002, the century-old Parliament buildings have been undergoing a $3 billion renovation-and-rehabilitation project, designed to bring the Parliament buildings to modern safety standards and ensure they stand for hundreds of more years to come. The West Block was completed in November 2018; the Wellington Building completed in 2016 and the Sir John A. Macdonald Building completed in 2015, with the entire restoration project scheduled to be completed around 2028.

Free public tours of the Parliament buildings are available year-round, although there are restrictions when the House of Commons is in session.

Parliamentary Library behind Centre Block. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.

Terrorist Attacks on Parliament Hill

Parliament Hill has been the site of two armed incursions and one bombing attempt. The first armed incursion was a hostage-taking aboard a hijacked Greyhound Line bus in April 1989, when Charles Yacoub initiated a six-hour standoff with police after driving the hijacked Montreal to New York City bus onto the law in front of Centre Block. The eleven passengers were eventually released, unharmed, and Yacoub was later convicted of forcible confinement and use of a weapon to commit an offence, but shockingly, was acquitted of the more serious charges of hostage taking, intimidation of Parliament and aggravated assault. He was sentenced to only six years in prison.

Centre Block was the scene of a bombing attempt on 18 May 1966, when Paul Joseph Chartier died after a bomb he smuggled into the building, exploded as he was exiting a washroom where he had gone to prepare it for his ultimate target, believed to the House of Commons chamber. Chartier was killed instantly.

Outside the Parliamentary Library in Centre Block, where an ISIS-inspired terrorist was shot to death by Parliamentary Security Forces. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.

However, the most shocking armed incursion occurred on 22 October 2014, when an ISIS-inspired terrorist, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, stormed into Centre Block, after fatally shooting Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a reservist and member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s), in Hamilton, Ontario, one of the ceremonial guards standing post at the National War Memorial, just east of the Parliament buildings.

Zehaf-Bibeau entered the unlocked main doors of Centre Block, and after shooting one of the two constables guarding the door in the foot, charged down the Hall of Honour corridor, toward the Library of Parliament. In the two committee rooms on either side of the corridor, members of the governing Conservative Party, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and members of the Official Opposition, were holding their respective caucus meetings.

Cornered in an alcove outside the Parliamentary Library by pursuing RCMP officers, Zehaf-Bibeau was shot to death by Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons Kevin Vickers, a former RCMP Chief Superintendent, and RCMP Constable Curtis Barrett.

In the aftermath, the unarmed House of Commons and Senate Security forces were merged into the Parliamentary Protective Service, an armed protection agency tasked with the physical security of the Parliamentary precinct.

Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons Kevin Vickers, after killing an ISIS-inspired terrorist, October 2015. Photo from news media.

Monuments and memorials on the grounds of Parliament Hill

Centennial flame on Parliament Hill. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.

The grounds around the Parliament Buildings feature an assortment of statues of notable people in Canadian history, along with various monuments, such as the Centennial Flame, the Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial and the Victoria Tower Bell, which was saved from the 1916 Parliamentary fire.