Canada’s capital just took a major step toward becoming a true 24-hour city. Ottawa all-night dance events will now be able to operate under a new annual authorisation, after a motion passed by Ottawa City Council removed one of the biggest bureaucratic barriers venues and promoters had been facing for years. The news was first reported by Resident Advisor.
Annual licensing replaces the old per-event system for Ottawa’s night scene
Previously, any music event held between 3 AM and 9 AM required its own individual licence application – a slow, expensive process that punished promoters running regular late-night programming. Under the new by-law, venues will instead be able to apply for a single annual authorisation, provided they meet a set of safety, insurance and filing requirements. In practice, that means Ottawa’s grassroots operators no longer have to fight through city hall every time they want to run a late set.
“This removes barriers to experimentation, strengthens our creative ecosystem, benefits emerging local artists and creative workers and moves Ottawa closer to a 24-hour city model that can compete as an international destination,” said the city’s nightlife commissioner Mathieu Grondin in a statement following the vote.
The by-law was first recommended by Ottawa’s Nightlife Council, a body of 18 volunteer members founded in late 2024, and forms the latest chapter in the city’s Nightlife Economy Action Plan. It follows a growing global trend of local governments — from Berlin to London to Amsterdam — recognising nightlife as a serious cultural and economic engine rather than a nuisance to be regulated out of existence.
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