Public gets sneak peek at Kìwekì Point

Published Sep 23, 2023 • Last updated 11 hours ago • 2 minute read

People got a chance to view the new bridge that is almost completed to connect Major’s Hill Park and Kìwekì Point, formerly known as Nepean Point. The remaining pieces of the pedestrian bridge will be put into place later this coming week, with the project aiming to be completed in the summer of 2024. The bridge will have the name Pìdàban Bridge, meaning “dawn”, and Kìwekì means “returning to one’s homeland”. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

Members of the public got a not-too-up-close sneak peek of Kìwekì Point on Saturday, the National Capital Commission’s $45-million redevelopment of the site formerly known as Nepean Point.

Tours of the project, which were part of Saturday’s Open NCC, a day-long event with presentations at various sites in the region, only allowed visitors as far as the Major’s Hill Park side of the unfinished pedestrian Pidàban Bridge — Algonquin for “dawn” — over St. Patrick Street, but visitors were nonetheless impressed with what promises to offer some of the most beautiful views of downtown Ottawa, Gatineau and the Ottawa River when it opens late next spring.

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“I was really impressed,” said Ottawa resident Ann Flindall, who cited the landscaping plans — oaks, maples and other trees that will reflect the changing colours in the area — as particularly inspiring. Even the pedestrian bridge itself, she said, is a significant improvement. “The road is very dangerous to cross. I used to run across it so many times with my family.”

The main feature of Kìwekì Point — Algonquin for “returning to one’s homeland” — will be the lookout (aptly named Outlook), which will be built atop a structure known as Whispering Point that will provide both shelter and audio stories.

According to NCC landscape architect Garry Meus, who led Saturday’s tour, the bridge will be heated during the winter, while the paths and walkways at Kìwekì Point will be maintained year-round.

“It’s a beautiful structure,” Ottawa resident Michele Lanoue noted. “I think it’s going to be really good. I’m looking forward to it opening in the spring.”

Some visitors commented on the site’s lack of public washrooms. For those, the public will instead need to cross the bridge into Major’s Hill Park, where facilities exist, or use the adjacent National Gallery of Canada, which is expected to improve access to the building from that side.

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According to NCC chief executive officer Tobi Nussbaum, who was at the park on Saturday, the decision not to build washrooms was made for budgetary reasons and space constraints and took into consideration the proximity of the park’s washrooms.

The Samuel de Champlain and Anishinabe Scout statues, meanwhile, will remain on the site.

And, although the Astrolabe Theatre concert venue that was a feature of Nepean Point before it shut down almost a decade ago will not be replaced, Nussbaum stressed that the site would have enough space to accommodate similar events.

“The fact that there isn’t an amphitheatre doesn’t mean that we can’t work with groups to program cultural events there,” he said on Saturday. “That’s not part of the NCC’s mandate, but we’d be happy to work with groups who want to do it. The lack of an amphitheatre isn’t necessarily a barrier to that. Think of things like concerts in the park or Shakespeare in the park.”