OVERVIEW

OverviewOttawa’s Chinatown is centred along Somerset Street West, just west of the city’s downtown core. The present-day district began taking shape in the 1960s and 1970s, as Chinese businesses and community life gradually shifted from Ottawa’s earlier Chinatown around Albert Street. Over the decades, Somerset Street developed into an established commercial and cultural district and an important part of the Chinese Canadian presence in the nation’s capital. The district was formally named Chinatown in 2005.

In recent years, the Ottawa Chinatown BIA has worked with businesses, community partners and the City of Ottawa to strengthen the neighbourhood and reinvest in its public spaces. Alongside business support and destination marketing, this work has included major cultural events such as the Chinatown Night Market and Lunar New Year celebrations, public art and murals, walking tours, streetscape improvements, and new public-space initiatives. Together, these efforts are intended to reinforce Chinatown as a distinctive, welcoming and active urban district.

Looking ahead, the Chinatown BIA is also working with the City of Ottawa toward an expansion of the district’s BIA boundaries.