In the spring of 2021, the Ottawa office opened a temporary exhibition showcasing Québec history.
The exhibition has been made possible thanks to assistance received from the Ordre national du Québec, the historical collection at Hydro-Québec, the Library of the National Assembly, Pointe-à-Callière – Montréal Archaeology and History Complex, and the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie. It offers an opportunity to explore six themes using artefacts, reproductions and historical information sheets.
The exhibition organized by the Ottawa office opens with a display focusing on an event that marked Québec’s history: the Great Peace of Montréal (1701). It features a reproduction of an excerpt from the manuscript copy of the peace treaty signed by the Governor of New France, Louis-Hector de Callière, and the chiefs of 39 Indigenous nations.
Another theme covers Québec’s representation in Ottawa over a period of more than a century, illustrated by a sign-in book created for the official opening of the Ottawa office in 1984.
Two Québec symbols are also featured, the Fleurdelisé and Hydro-Québec. The exhibition includes a picture of an employee raising the Québec flag over the central tower of the Parliament Building in Québec City, shortly after the symbolic design was approved on January 21, 1948. For Hydro-Québec, two artefacts illustrate the theme, including the badge worn on the uniforms of the utility’s employees until 1965.
The two last themes are the Ordre national du Québec and Québec’s international representation through a network of 33 offices in 18 different countries. Thanks to a loan from the Ordre national du Québec, the Ottawa office is able to present the medal awarded in 2013 to grand officer Robert Després (1924-2016), whose career established a bridge between public administration and the business world.
Six specially-produced historical information sheets provide more detailed information about the themes featured in the temporary exhibition organized by the Ottawa office:
