The Parliamentary Cats are a collection of stray cats living in the precinct of Parliament Hill

Parliament Hill

Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...

 in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. A small colony on the grounds, called the Cat Sanctuary, is set aside for them. The care of the cats and maintenance of the sanctuary is carried out by volunteers, and the effort is funded purely by donation.

Caretakers

Cats were employed in the Parliament Building to control the rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

 population until 1955 when they were replaced by chemicals. Groundskeepers fed the cats at various locations on the grounds until the 1970s. In the late 1970s, Irène Desormeaux began feeding the cats at the location of the current colony. She was joined by René Chartrand in the mid-1980s

Chartrand took over when Desormeaux died in 1987. Chartrand received the Heroes for Animals Award from the Humane Society

Humane Society

A humane society may be a group that aims to stop human or animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons, although in many countries, it is now used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals...

 of Canada for his work in 2003. One of his contributions was the construction of shelters in the colony.

Brian Caines and Klaus Gerken established a volunteer team in 2003 to aid Chartrand, and later assumed total responsibility when Chartrand retired in 2009.

A list of volunteers may be found on this site.

The Colony

The colony is located west of the Centre Block and the statue of Alexander Mackenzie. The fence surrounding the colony is no obstacle to the cats and they are free to roam the grounds.

Chartrand built the first set of cold weather shelters in the mid-1980s, some of which are still extant. The current structures, resembling the houses of European settlers along the St. Lawrence, were built by Chartrand and a friend in 1997.

While formally intended for the cats, raccoons, groundhogs, pigeons and squirrels also partake in the cats' benefits.

In 2003, the estimated annual cost of the colony was C$

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

6000.

Cats

The cats are spayed or neutered and receive free inoculations and care from the local Alta Vista Animal Hospital. Purina also donates food.

In 2003, there were approximately 30 cats. However, once spaying and neutering occurred the population slowly dropped off until there were no more than a dozen cats present at any one time.

External links

• Government site
• The Cats of Parliament Hill, news site on Facebook
• The Cats of Parliament Hill Blog, news site prior to the Facebook site
• Maria Dorfinkley and the Cats of Parliament Hill