In March 2020, the final group of Encounters with Canada students posed on the main stairway at 1805 Gaspé Avenue during "Medicine and Health" week. The next week, the pandemic shut down travel and gatherings. The weekly flow of teenagers into Manor Park stopped, and as the Manor Park Chronicle put it, the neighbourhood "likely seemed suddenly quieter than many Canadian neighbourhoods."
The building on Gaspé was built for guests. For close to forty years it housed young people from across Canada for a week at a time. It now serves the people who live around it. This November and December, while the NCC's Rockcliffe Park closes for the snow, the old Terry Fox Centre holds most of the neighbourhood's indoor season.
A dormitory for the country, now a hub for the street
The Council for Canadian Unity bought a former school building on Gaspé Avenue and retrofitted it with dormitories, volunteer quarters and a cafeteria-auditorium. It was renamed the Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre in 1982, and the first Encounters with Canada group arrived that fall. The program brought groups of about 100 teenagers to Ottawa for week-long conferences built around themes. Historica Canada took it over in 2006. After the program stopped in March 2020, Historica Canada announced its permanent closure in January 2021. By then, more than 113,000 Canadian teens had passed through.
Historica Canada then put the building up for sale. An anonymous buyer purchased it and chose the Manor Park Community Council as the lead community programmer. Before renovation began, the Canadian Museum of History worked with Historica Canada and the MPCC to take selected objects from the building. One was a work by Ottawa artist Nicole Bélanger, whose art hung throughout the halls. The MPCC kept other Bélanger pieces for the new space.
The community grand opening was announced for September 19, 2023. That fall, a three-storey mural went up on the building. It was created by Ottawa muralist Emilie Darlington with a group of local youth artists. MPCC Chair Mark Smith described the renovated Studio and Arts Space to the Chronicle as "more than just rooms; they are a hub for wellness, creativity, events and rentals for our community members."
Councillor Rawlson King's office published a 2026 parks and recreation position paper. It describes the building as the Manor Park Community Hub, owned by Manor Park Development and run in partnership with the MPCC. The paper lists these features:
- A fully accessible three-storey building with a new elevator
- The Manor Park Child Care Centre
- The Ottawa Street Markets Farm Store
- Baccanalle Caribbean catering
- Community programming, event rental space and free parking
- A location next to the RCMP Musical Ride stables
So the cafeteria-auditorium that once fed visiting students now sits in a building with a farm store and a caterer, three floors above a daycare.
Why the season shifts to Gaspé in November
Rockcliffe Park carries the neighbourhood's outdoor calendar for most of the year. The NCC says the park and the Rockeries open in early May and close at the first snowfall. Free parking on Acacia Avenue for Rockeries visitors runs from May to November 1, weather permitting, and the park's washrooms close in mid-October.
The Rockcliffe Pavilion has been fenced off for most of the year anyway. The NCC still lists the pavilion and its washrooms as closed for rehabilitation. On the project schedule, public reopening sits under summer 2026. A new food and beverage service is slated for fit-up over winter 2026–2027.
With the park due to close at the first snowfall and the pavilion still under construction, Gaspé Avenue has the neighbourhood's busiest public calendar from now through mid-December. The MPCC events page lists these dates.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Thursdays, Nov 5 to Dec 3, 6:10 to 7:50 p.m. | Adult beginner and novice pickleball session | Offsite, at Manor Park Public School |
| Friday, Nov 13, 6 to 9 p.m. | Holiday paint night with Caro Galand | The Studio |
| Nov 21 and 22 | WaterWorks+ Art Show | Main Event Space |
| Wednesday, Nov 25, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Sound Bath workshop | The Studio |
| Friday, Dec 4 | Holiday Night Market and Children's Holiday Market | 1805 Gaspé |
| Saturday, Dec 12 | Little Holiday Wonders clay magnet workshop | See the MPCC calendar |
The pickleball session meets at the school rather than on Gaspé. Tuesday and Thursday drop-in options are also posted on the MPCC homepage for anyone who would rather not commit to the full session. In the clay workshop, participants sculpt small holiday magnets from polymer clay, such as trees, snowmen and mittens, to keep or give as gifts.
The market that grew up with the building
The Holiday Night Market has the deepest roots on this calendar. Councillor King's November 2023 newsletter called that year's market the second annual edition, presented by the MPCC and Ottawa Street Markets. That would put the first market in 2022, the year before the hub's formal grand opening. It returned on December 6, 2024, and December 5, 2025. It is back on Friday, December 4, 2026.
The 2026 listing promises vendors, light food and drinks. The Children's Holiday Market runs in the same space, and kids can shop for gifts for their families with help from volunteer "elves." Ottawa Street Markets co-presented the market from the start and now also runs a farm store inside the building. The market has, in effect, a year-round tenant behind it.
The unfinished piece runs toward the river
The hub's winter role should eventually extend outdoors. In October 2023, the City approved $15,000 toward a multi-purpose ski trailhead at 1805 Gaspé and included it in the 2024 budget. The Chronicle's report listed the proposed pieces: seasonal access gates, a deck with seating and a fire pit, exterior lighting, an equipment shed and signage.
The trailhead would connect to Ski Heritage East. Ski Heritage East describes itself as a "community funded, professionally groomed trail from Tweddle Rd (Trim Road) to the NCC River House." The Chronicle puts the network at about 40 kilometres along the Ottawa River. Near Manor Park, it follows the upper and lower river paths past the Mile Circle, the RCMP pasture and the Rockcliffe airstrip.
The connection is not finished. The councillor's August 2026 position paper still describes the $15,000 as a contribution "toward the creation of" the trailhead connection and says discussions between the MPCC and Ski Heritage East "are underway."
Until then, the trail runs on its own clock. Last winter, Ski Heritage East reported grooming from P5 in the west to Tweddle Road by its December 13, 2025 update. By March 14, 2026, only part of the trail could be groomed, in what the group called likely the season's last pass. As of March 2025, the group had met a $10,000 fundraising goal for a used Skandic 900 Ace grooming machine. Its total cost after modifications was $12,000, compared with about $24,000 new.
The western end of the trail is the NCC River House. The NCC lists the River House as open year-round, daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., while its posted 2026 café and bistro hours run only through October 31.
Back on the neighbourhood side, the MPCC runs two free outdoor rinks at 100 Thornwood Road. One is a boarded, night-lit hockey rink and the other is a pleasure-skating surface. Both are maintained by MPCC staff with volunteer help, and both depend on the weather. The council is already recruiting rink volunteers for shifts starting in January 2027.
Across Acacia, Rockcliffe's own indoor nights
Rockcliffe Park keeps a winter calendar of its own through the Rockcliffe Park Residents Association. Its Speakers Programme has journalist Andrew Cohen on U.S. politics on Wednesday, November 18, at 8 p.m. Pollster Nik Nanos speaks on Canada's current mood on Wednesday, December 2, at 8 p.m. The association also holds a Christmas Tree Lighting and Carol Sing outside the Community Hall every December.
Two Wednesday evenings in Rockcliffe and two Friday nights on Gaspé carry the area into December. On Friday, December 4, the building that once held the country's teenagers is full of Manor Park families shopping at the holiday market.
If you're weighing a move within Manor Park or Rockcliffe Park this winter, or are simply curious what your home would bring, The Zak Green Team is glad to talk it through over coffee and prepare a personalized market valuation whenever you're ready.
