Changing of the Guard

In 2023, the Changing of the Guard ceremony was replaced with Canada on the March (a music-only version of the Changing of the Guard ceremony), which will run daily (weather permitting) at 10 a.m. between June 28 and August 25, 2023!

Bring your camera to capture colourful photos of soldiers in scarlet uniforms and bearskin hats, as they carry out precise drills to the music of a military band on Parliament Hill.

Daily from late June to late August, the impressive—and free—Changing of the Guard ceremony draws crowds to downtown Ottawa. If you arrive on the lawn of Parliament Hill by 9:45 a.m., you can hear an audio presentation in English and French that explains the symbolism, history and proceedings of the ceremony. Then listen—in the distance, you’ll hear soldiers and their band parading from the Cartier Square Drill Hall and along Elgin Street.  

With military precision, they’ll arrive on the Hill at precisely 10:00 a.m. Then, the Band of the Ceremonial Guard will provide music while the Guards are inspected and the Old Guard becomes the New Guard. The ceremony, modelled on one in London, England, dates back to 1959.  

The Ceremonial Guard may cancel the ceremony due to inclement weather or precluding special events.