This leafy expanse in the heart of downtown was known until 1988 as Dominion Square, a reminder of Canada’s founding in 1867. A Catholic cemetery was here until 1870 and bodies still lie beneath the grass. Events of all kinds have taken place here over the years – fashion shows, political rallies and royal visits. The square still exudes the might of the British Empire, with statues of Boer-War booster Lord Strathcona, Queen Victoria and poet Robert Burns, plus Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s first francophone prime minister, who faces off a statue of John A Macdonald, the first anglophone prime minister, in Place du Canada across Blvd René-Lévesque. The city’s main tourist office lies on the square’s northwest side.