Ottawa's Vanier Museopark Opens Exhibition on the Order of Jacques Cartier, 100 Years of Mystery and Influence

Ottawa's Vanier Museopark is presenting a new exhibition, 'The Order of Jacques Cartier: 100 Years of Mystery and Influence,' inaugurated on October 29, 2026, and open to the public from October 30 until spring 2028 — a long window that includes the whole winter.

A century-old society founded in Vanier

The story begins on October 22, 1926. On that date, Father François-Xavier Barrette, civil engineer Albert Ménard and Émile Lavoie laid the foundations of the Order at Saint-Charles Parish in Eastview, the community now known as Vanier. The Order became known across the country by its popular nickname, La Patente. That a group begun in a single parish in what is now an Ottawa neighbourhood became recognized by a nickname nationwide is part of what the exhibition's title calls its 'mystery and influence.'

Visiting information

The exhibition is on the second floor of Vanier Museopark, at 300 des Pères-Blancs Avenue. The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Note that the material released so far has not said whether the October 29 inauguration is open to the general public or by invitation, so visitors planning to go that day should check with the museum first; the objects, documents and themes on display have also not been listed, so visitors will find out on site.

For residents of Ottawa's east end, it is a chance to revisit local history close to home: how a Vanier story from a century ago grew out of one parish into a nationwide presence — with the answers held in this year-and-a-half-long exhibition.