Christ Church Cathedral (Ottawa)

Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa
Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa
Denomination	Anglican Church of Canada
Churchmanship	Broad church
Website	christchurchcathedralottawa.ca
Administration
Diocese	Ottawa
Province	Ontario
Clergy
Bishop(s)	John Chapman
Vicar(s)	Catherine Ascah
Dean	Shane Parker
Laity
Director of music	Matthew Larkin

Christ Church Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The church is located at 414 Sparks Street in the northwest section of the city's downtown at the western end of Sparks Street on top of a promontory looking down to the Ottawa River.

From time immemorial, the Algonquin heartland has included the entire length of the Ottawa River, from its headwaters in north-central Quebec to its outlet near Montreal. The parish of Christ Church Bytown, now Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa, was established on unceded Algonquin territory that had been settled by European colonists. What follows is a summary of various highlights and milestones of the Cathedral's development in the post-settlement period.

Philemon Wright, a native of Woburn, Massachusetts, came to Canada in 1800. Making his way up the Ottawa River, and looking for a satisfactory place to settle, he finally came to the Chaudière Falls, and was pleased with the character of the land on the north side of the river, so he decided to settle there. In later years, the flourishing settlement of Wrightstown would become the village, then later the City of Hull, and finally the City of Gatineau. Following the War of 1812, the Township of March was set aside for retired military officers and men. It was situated further up river on the south side. In 1824, Nicholas Sparks crossed the river from then Hull and carved a home for himself out of the heavy timber on the high cliffs of the south shore. In doing so, he became the first citizen of what would later become Bytown, and much later, the City of Ottawa. Colonel John By and the Royal Engineers arrived two years later to build the Rideau Canal, connecting the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario.

In 1824, the Reverend Amos Ansley, a native Canadian and the son of a United Empire Loyalist, arrived in Hull from England. Sent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, his mission included the Township of March, and in later years, Bytown. Services were held in a schoolhouse in Hull, which proved to be very small and inconvenient. Through the generosity of Philemon Wright, a little stone church was built, and opened on the first of October 1826. From his headquarters in Hull, Reverend Ansley served the Church population of fourteen townships bordering on the Ottawa River. By 1827, he was serving eleven preaching stations in Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario), visiting most places by water in bark canoes.