By Karen Luz Sison
Born in October 1950 and raised at 103 Chapel Street in Lowertown East, Sylvie Mattar and her family were among the many Francophone families whose property was expropriated in 1970 during a failed urban-renewal scheme by the City of Ottawa.
Sylvie’s family had lived in Lowertown East for three generations, and it was devastating to have their house demolished to make way for new construction.
She said she was 19 years old and attending the University of Ottawa when her family got an expropriation notice, as did a number of other families in their community.
“We moved into the eastern part of the city . . . but it was a difficult time obviously because our whole life was [in Lowertown],” Sylvie said. “Everything was around—the school, the church, the social activities, friends . . . so it was very difficult, especially more so for my parents.”
Growing up in Lowertown, preserving Francophone culture, language and identity was extremely important to her family, especially her father Maurice Mattar. Maurice was a member of an Ottawa branch of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, a patriotic association dedicated to fighting to preserve Francophone culture, language and identity. He viewed this struggle as even more important in Ontario.
“My father was very involved, and so to him, keeping your French culture and French language was extremely important,” Sylvie remembers, “because obviously a great percentage of the population of the city was English-speaking, so for him, it was very important for us to speak good French and learn about our French-Canadian culture.”
During her childhood Sylvie attended L’Ecole élémentaire catholique Sainte-Anne, which was a stone’s throw away from her house, while her older brother, Guy, went to nearby l’Ecole Brébeuf (now demolished), with her family attending Ste-Anne Catholic Church (now known as St. Clement Parish) near Anglesea Square.
She has fond childhood memories of participating in many activities in the community, such as craft evenings held at York Street School (in English) and performances of plays for the parish at the Church Hall and the Patro d’Ottawa. Outdoor activities for Sylvie and her friends included skating at Anglesea Square and playing at the wading pool and swings in Macdonald Gardens Park. Sylvie also frequented Ste-Anne’s Hall, now demolished, which was a centre for much fun, from having community-run musical and theatrical performances to a bowling alley in the hall.
In 1967 she was a student of the last high-school graduating class at the Convent of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Rideau Street Convent, , which was situated on Rideau Street between Waller and Besserer.
The move away from their Chapel Street home was “heartbreaking,” according to Sylvie. She said the City of Ottawa bought their house, which led to the family’s move to Elmvale Acres.
“It was harder on my parents because they had been in the area for decades,” Sylvie said. “My mother didn’t really get used to being in the suburbs, although it was a close suburb. She missed walking downtown to Freimans and Caplan’s, and all those department stores, living close to her friends and going to Ste-Anne’s Church.”
Although they did attend Ste-Geneviève Church in Elmvale Acres, Sylvie’s parents Maurice and Blanche also continued to attend Ste-Anne’s Church despite their new residence in Elmvale Acres. “For them, it was a big transition, and I don’t think they really got over it,” Sylvie said.
Years later, after Sylvie began her own family, her parents moved back to the area to an apartment on Stewart Street near Charlotte, which “was very good for them,” she said.
Sylvie herself moved back to Lowertown East in 2004, living in the Watergate Apartments on Wurtemburg Street. She said the neighbourhood has drastically changed since her childhood.
“It’s not the same as it used to be,” she said, mentioning that there were many specialty shops and local businesses, such as grocers, barbers, butchers and pharmacies in the neighbourhood that no longer existed.
The strongly united Franco-Ontarian community seemed to have dwindled as well, according to Sylvie. She said she’s glad her father raised her to participate and value her Francophone heritage.
“It stayed on with me, and I’m very happy for that because it’s a richness. It’s a treasure for me, and I try to give that to my son too,” she said, “because speaking one language is one thing, but having the culture is something different. It’s a richness when you put it together.”
Karen Luz Sison was an LCA Canada Summer Jobs student in 2017.