The Embassy of France in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

is the

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, located at 42 Sussex Drive in the

New Edinburgh New Edinburgh is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the northeast of the downtown core. It is bordered on the west by the Rideau River, to the north by the Ottawa River, to the south by Beec ...

neighbourhood of

History

The French diplomatic mission in Canada was founded in 1928 and was originally based in the Victoria Building with the first representative being Jean Knight. Knight began looking for a suitable location to house the mission and settled on the area bordering the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

near

Rockcliffe Park Rockcliffe Park ( French: ''Parc Rockcliffe'') is a neighbourhood in Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward, close to the centre of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1864, organized as a Police village in 1908, and an independent village from 1926, and u ...

. Unfortunately there were no buildings in the area for sale. In 1930, Knight proposed the purchase of the Blackburn property, located at 62 Sussex Drive. The property was a prized piece of land overlooking the

Rideau Falls The Rideau Falls () are two 11-metre (36 ft.) waterfalls located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where the Rideau River empties into the Ottawa River. The falls are divided by Green Island, with Ottawa's Old City Hall just to the south. To the w ...

that was not far from the residence of the Governor General and, at the time, connected to the city centre by a tram. After lengthy negotiations with the owner, the property was purchased from Arthur Blackburn on 31 December 1931. The legation was then based in the Blackburn mansion. Construction on the new mission building began on the property in 1936 with the first stone being laid by Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

. In January 1938, while construction was in process, France purchased the next door Lemay property, sensibly enlarging the property. At the same time, France acquired, for one symbolic dollar, a narrow strip of land along the Ottawa River, belonging to the Ontario provincial government. The Ottawa River thus became the limits of the property. Both the Blackburn and Lemay houses were demolished during construction. On 4 January 1939, the mission was opened in the presence of seven hundred people, including the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

Lord Tweedsmuir John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist Party (Scotland), Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the List of governo ...

and Prime Minister Mackenzie King. The French envoy René Ristelhueber, appointed in early 1940, acknowledged the

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

as did the Canadian government. In 1942, Canada switched and expelled the Vichy diplomats and the facilities were turned over to the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...

and Colonel Philippe Pierrené was recognized as the French envoy. The French upgraded the mission to a full embassy following World War II.

Building

Inaugurated in 1939, this diplomatic mission was designed by French architect Eugène Beaudouin in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style. Housing both the residence of the ambassador and embassy services, the building of grey granite is three stories and is organized around the Great Hall. The main room features furniture and decorations also in an Art Deco style, including Marcel Gromaire tapestries representing the four seasons: the Canadian winter, the Parisian spring, summer in

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo language, Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany. The Fortification, walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth ...

and fall in Quebec. A massive pink marble staircase provides access to the second story and leads to the gallery overlooking the Great Hall and reception rooms. The rooms display decorations that highlight the ties of friendship which exists between the France and Canada, like the bas-relief of the gallery that represents the

Canadian National Vimy Memorial The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a war memorial site in France dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the Military history of Canada during World War I, First World War. It also serves as the place o ...

in honour of Canadian soldiers during the First World War and the office walls ambassadors engraved by Charles-Émile Pinson on the subject of the discovery of Canada by the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. The materials that were used to build the embassy come from both Canada (wooden doors and door frames, and the grey granite from Quebec for exterior walls) and France (Saint-Quentin travertine for walls of the hall, and the pink marble from Burgundy for the staircase). The dining room is decorated with a 120 square metre mural named ''La France'', by painter Alfred Courmes. The decoration of the bronze doors of the living room was done by Robert Cami. The embassy is also decorated with sculptures by Leygue Louis and Jean Prouvé.

French Ambassador to Canada

Consulates

France has 5 consulates general in Canada, each one assisted by honorary consuls. The consulates are: * Consulate General in Moncton (New Brunswick) ** Honorary consul in Halifax (Nova Scotia) ** Honorary consul in Saint John (New Brunswick) ** Honorary consul in St. John's (Newfoundland and Labrador) * Consulate General in Montreal (Quebec) ** Honorary consul in Rouyn-Noranda (Abitibi-Témiscamingue) ** Honorary consul in Sherbrooke (Estrie) * Consulate General in Quebec City (Quebec) ** Honorary consul in Chicoutimi (Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean) ** Honorary consul in Chandler (Gaspésie) * Consulate General in Toronto (Ontario) ** Honorary consul in Sudbury (Northern Ontario), (Jean-Charles Cachon, 2002-) ** Honorary consul in Winnipeg (Manitoba), (Bruno Burnichon 2010-2018; Jean-Eric Ghia 2018-) * Consulate General in Vancouver (British Columbia) ** Honorary consul in Calgary (Alberta) ** Honorary consul in Edmonton (Alberta) ** Honorary consul in Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) ** Honorary consul in Victoria (British Columbia) ** Honorary consul in Whitehorse (Yukon)

French Nationals in Canada

There are an estimated 150,000 French expatriates in Canada, 60% of whom have settled in the Montreal area. As of August 31, 2022, the 110,002 registered French citizens were spread out among the 5 consular districts as follows: Montreal: 65,231 • Quebec City: 17,500 • Toronto: 14,715 • Vancouver: 11,438 • Moncton-Halifax: 1,118.

References

External links

Official siteArchitecture and HistoryVirtual Visit
{{Authority control

Canada–France relations

Sussex Drive