Find out if the Rideau Canal is open for skating (2021 season)

First day of the Rideau Canal skating season (2015). Photo by James Peltzer via the OttawaStart Flickr pool.

As of Thursday, February 25, 2021, the Rideau Canal is closed for the season.

“Following a temporary closure on February 22, 2021, along with three subsequent warmer days of weather, in addition to a snowstorm and warmer temperatures in the forecast for early next week, continued maintenance efforts would unfortunately not return the Skateway to safe conditions,” the NCC says in a statement on their website.

Managed by the NCC since the 1970–1971 season, the 7.8-kilometre Rideau Canal Skateway receives, on average, close to one million visits every year; 20,000 visits each day that it is open.