National Capital Commission - Waterway Design Challenge 2026
Passage et lieu : Se renouer à Kichi Zībī
Niraj Dayanandan (McGill), Abigail Dawe-Roy (Université de Montréal), Pierre-Luc Gingras (Université de Montréal), Raquel
Stewart Higginson (University of Manitoba).
Picture of the team at the award ceremony April 29th 2026
The Waterway
Design Challenge 2026 challenged students to propose new waterfront
experiences and infrastructure between Alexandria Bridge and Portage
Bridge on Kichi Zībī’s northern shore (Ottawa River). This waterfront
hosts the Canadian history museum, the Kruger paper mill and Scott’s
Point.
Our proposal, “Passage
and Place / Passage et lieu” considers three guiding principles: Indigenous Leadership and Storytelling, ecological resilience and connection to water.
Indigenous Knowledge Keepers could not be consulted for this design challenge, however
Anishinaabe and other Algonquin bands have worked hard to restore and share all
forms of knowledge, culture, governance, language, and kinship in their
societies online. Three key initiatives guide our intervention;
First,Decolonizing the Asinabka sacred site led by Dr. William Commanda and Dr.
Romola V. Thumbadoo. Since 2002, they have documented events and consultations
within their community on a planning vision for Chaudière falls that roots Indigenous
beliefs, needs, and desires. While
our proposal does not claim or replicate this vision, it is guided by the
principles he championed: respect for Indigenous Knowledge, cultural
continuity, and the deep relationship between people and the river.
Second, our flora plan takes inspiration from The Greenbelt
Indigenous Botanical Survey led by Dr. Jessica Dolan, Tim Johnson, Larry
McDermott, and Indigenous knowledge keepers: Tehahenteh Frank Miller and Alyssa
General of Six Nations of the Grand River; and Brian Peltier of Wiikwemkoong
Unceded Anishinaabek Territory. Together they’ve created a digital cultural
atlas and printed field guide that is recovering and sharing Haudenosaunee and
Anishinaabek relationships with flora of Southern Ontario. This field guide of Indigenous
plants was used to build a plant palette capable of teaching anyone about
knowledge, culture and language of local Indigenous bands.
Third, the
sacredness of water for Anishinaabe and Algonquin Bands also guides the
placement of the gathering circle on our site near the waterfront. The
placement is sensitive to the Canadian History Museum, busy bridges, crowded
plazas, and predicted ossuaries. These ossuaries have been identified through the collaboration between NCC archeologis (like Ian Badgley), Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation.
Guided by this Knowledge, public planning visions and our site study, we propose Six key interventions : re-naturalizing Scots point, a gathering circle along Kichi Zibi, a portage route, a public botanical garden, reconfiguration of the Kruger pulp mill into a civic and institutional space and gradient hills.
For more information on the proposal, please see the boards below (French and English versions published)
