Institut canadien-français d'Ottawa
18-20 York Street
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
The Institut canadien-français d'Ottawa built this imposing stone structure for $20,000 in 1876. The institute was founded to encourage the development of literature, arts and science among local French Canadians. It paid the tuition of young men at the College of Bytown (now the University of Ottawa) and founded Ottawa's first French-language newspaper, le Progrès.
The institute was founded in 1852 by Joseph-Balsora Turgeon, a carriage maker turned politician. In fact, J.B. Turgeon was Bytown's first francophone mayor. He was also a champion of francophone rights and fought for students' rights to be educated in French. Also a supporter of the Temperance Movement, Turgeon proposed a motion in 1852 that six taverns were enough for Bytown – a town that already had 70!
