Ottawa – the capital of the nation that I have mixed feelings for. If Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City weren’t all fighting to be the capital, Queen Victoria wouldn’t have ordered it built in the first place. Geographically speaking, it’s neither here nor there, it’s not near the Atlantic Ocean nor is it along the St. Lawrence River and even the railroad takes a detour to get here.
Ottawa City Hall 
National Gallery of Canada 
National War Memorial 
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Milk comes in floppy plastic bags, it’s okay to run a red light as long as you’re turning right, and a $5 roll of wet wipes actually costs $5.65 with tax. I had to throw all the European logic I learned in the last couple of years out the window to accept Ontarian logic, or lack thereof. A natural-born Canadian needed to apply for a Social Insurance Number whereas any foreigner earning a legal income in Germany would be automatically assigned a Tax Identification Number without hassle. Nothing made sense to me.
Supreme Court 
Fairmont Hotel
The wine is too expensive and the cheese tastes inadequate. Only two pleasures of mine were carried over from Switzerland to Ontario: driving an estate car down the highway to explore a new place and working on my laptop in the park when the weather permitted. At least I don’t have to carry my passport around or risk deportation.
Memorial buildings 
National Archives
I feel no guilt in applying for government benefits as a low-income student here even though I never paid taxes. If I’m eligible I know it is my right. Many of my peers understand the experience of being on the wrong end of systemic racism, but none have been able to sympathise with the loneliness of having a Charter right violated for years on end.
Parliament Hill 
Parliament
As a non-resident Canadian, I was barred from voting until late 2018 when my fundamental right to vote was finally restored to bring the law back in line with the Charter after a landmark Supreme Court decision. I was 23 when I qualified to vote for the first time at the Canadian Permanent Mission in Geneva, five years after reaching voting age. I exercised my right to vote as a proud but cautious citizen, wary of having my right to vote taken away a second time in future. Now I live in the capital.
A vast land of single-family homes and manicured parks where a diverse experience is shopping in French in Gatineau. Do I want to live here forever?
