Op-ed
February 14, 2025
One day soon after Canada celebrates 60 years since the maple leaf was emblazoned on our flag this weekend, the millionth annual visit to the Rideau Canal Skateway will occur since it opened on Jan. 11. It might be a skating parent pushing a stroller. It could be visiting conference-goers on rented skates. Or maybe it will be a retired skater, choosing the walking path alongside the ice, just keen to be outside among the crowds.
Whoever it is, they will not just bear witness to an incredible and joy-filled season on the world’s largest skating rink but participate in a shared Canadian ritual that has come to define our winter capital, and in some ways, the country at large, since it first opened 55 years ago.
While others in different countries might shutter indoors on a mid-week crisp and sunny day with a high of minus 16 degree Celsius, 15000 visitors had other ideas one day last week when they laced up their skates. They are young and old, rich and poor, of all colours and creeds (although hard to distinguish beneath the well-bundled bodies). The main point of distinction is skating skill. There are the graceful ones, the twirlers, the speedsters, the unsteadies, the shufflers. But nobody is judging – they are too busy enjoying this uninterrupted corridor of ice and snow, devoid of slushy streets, impatient cars and urban haste.
This year, the experience seems particularly special. After not opening in 2023 and a short and interrupted season in 2024, it’s as if the facial expressions of this year’s visitors contain not only bliss, but relief and gratitude. For seasons like this one are more likely to be the exception than the rule as the planet warms and temperatures fluctuate. For this reason, the National Capital Commission team is doing three things. First, we have engaged researchers at Carleton University to understand how our management of the Skateway can be adjusted to take account of the climatic realities. Second, we are innovating with a formal walking path alongside the ice both to allow non-skaters to experience the wonder of the canal and to keep it open at times when the ice surface quality is poor. Third, we are starting to explore the feasibility of long-term options (admittedly complex and expensive) like pipe installation and other technologies.
We do this because we don’t want to lose this incredible asset that distinguishes Canada’s capital from every other capital in the world. There are no imitation Rideau Canal Skateway. It requires a winter city of a winter country where parents enroll their children from a young age in skating lessons en masse. It requires a population who believe a sunny, double digit below zero day is perfect, not daunting. It requires a culture of fellowship, collectivity, safety and belonging that sees north of 50000 people choosing to spend a Saturday simply sharing the experiencing of moving along the ice together, convinced that deep-fried flattened dough dipped in maple sugar is nothing short of a miraculous delicacy.
At a time that our identity is being questioned, our sovereignty challenged, our history belittled, I’d like to think the Rideau Canal Skateway stands as an important and enduring symbol of shared Canadian values. And in a world of increasing polarization, the simple act of congregating with one’s fellow citizens on a free, accessible, public space on a cold winter’s day becomes both a unique act of resistance to the idea that we have nothing from which to distinguish ourselves as well as a Canadian rite of joyful unity.
Tobi Nussbaum, CEO, National Capital Commission