Canada’s temporary Senate building is gearing up to become a hive of activity, thanks in part to Carleton architecture students.
Senators moving into the Government Conference Centre during renovations to the Centre Block on Parliament Hill will be sharing the space with a colony of honeybees. The initiative to install urban beehives on the roof is a partnership between Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), Fairmont Château Laurier, and Carleton.
Although the project is in its early stages, the intention is to use urban beehive designs from students at Carleton’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism.
In November 2016, Senator Terry Mercer, deputy chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, submitted letters to the Speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate, arguing for urban beehives to be built at the Parliament of Canada buildings.
“This urban beehive project is a fantastic example of how we can support and protect our ecosystem, and I am proud that it will be happening in the spot where the Senate of Canada is going to be deliberating,” Mercer said in an email. “I think this project will indeed promote other bee-related initiatives in urban areas around the National Capital Region.”
In 2015, Mercer’s committee released a study titled “The Importance of Bee Health to Sustainable Food Production in Canada,” which discussed the decrease in bee colony populations in Canada and the role bees play in nurturing a healthy agriculture sector.
This will not be the first urban beehive collaboration for Fairmont Hotels. The company plans to share its experience with urban beehives, since it has implemented the hives on the roofs of several of its hotels, including the Château Frontenac in Quebec City and the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.
The Senate building bee project will join several other rural, suburban, and community beehives that can be found in the City of Ottawa.
According to a PSPC spokesperson, the beehives will not be installed for a few years due to renovations taking place at the Government Conference Centre.
Mercer said he hopes the urban beehives will help promote bee-positive education.
“Public beehives encourage responsible beekeeping practices through education and community outreach of the importance of bees in our food system,” Mercer said. “They raise awareness of bee habitats and their behaviour—they are not inherently violent, nor do they attack like is commonly believed. That’s why putting more urban beehives around the National Capital Region on government properties would be so important.”
Graphic by Manoj Thayalan
