Politicians including then-MP Paul Dewar and then-senator Jerry Grafstein fought to keep the portrait gallery in Ottawa. A prominent building across from Parliament Hill that was slated to become a national portrait gallery at the end of the Chrétien era may finally see a new, public purpose. The former U.S. Embassy at 100 Wellington St. has sat empty for eighteen years, since American diplomats moved to Sussex Drive. Back in January 2001, then-Heritage Minister Sheila Copps under Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that the building, which had served as the U.S. Embassy since the 1930s, would become the future home of a National Portrait Gallery. It will make public a list of potential uses, and ask people for their own ideas in an online survey that will close Sept. 9.

Source: CBC News August 09, 2016 20:00 UTC