The four million or more Canadians of Irish background wished the peace process would bring even better results, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr John Chretien, said yesterday at his meeting with the President, Mrs McAleese.
In reply, Mrs McAleese again praised the role of Gen John de Chastelain in Ireland and thanked the Canadians for making him available and for their steadfast friendship through difficult times.
Standing beside the President in Parliament House yesterday, Mr Chretien said: "We are very happy with developments and very happy that Mr de Chastelain and a couple of other Canadians are doing their best there to help the situation. We wish the peace process will bring the result everyone wants to get and even better developments in Ireland."
While the President was meeting Mr Chretien, the Quebecois leader of the majority Liberals in parliament, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, met his counterpart, Mr Lloyd Axworthy. Apart from the peace process, issues for discussion included the Ottawa Treaty on landmines - which Ireland was one of the first to ratify - and the forthcoming elections to the UN Security Council, which both Ireland and Canada are contesting on different panels.
The President's day started with a visit to the Peace Memorial where she placed a bouquet of white lilies and roses and met veterans of several peacekeeping campaigns. Because of Ireland's UN role, Mrs McAleese and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, were taken to this site - a large modern monument with three fighting men and reconstructions of bombed buildings where citizens have placed single flowers in crevices.
When President Nelson Mandela was in the federal capital last week he went to the human rights monument, and distinguished visitors from Canada's war-time allies are taken to the war memorial.
Then the President went to the parliament where she met the Speaker of the Senate, Mr Gildas L. Molgat, before being taken outside by Mr Pat O'Brien MP to view the statue of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a Young Irelander who moved away from militancy, was a founder of the Confederation of Canada and was assassinated in 1868.
After lunch with Mr Chretien, where she told him she was pleased to be in a city with the dubious distinction of being the second-coldest capital in the world and looked forward to his as-yet unscheduled visit to Dublin, Mrs McAleese planted a tree in the grounds of Government House and met the newly formed Canada Ireland Interparliamentary Friendship Group.
Last night she was guest of honour at a state dinner hosted by the Governor General, Mr Romeo LeBlanc.
Arriving at Ottawa Airport on Sunday evening, Mrs McAleese and her party went in a motorcade through tree-lined parkways bordered by lakes with the Irish and Canadian flags flying along the route.
At Rideau Hall, Government House, she and Dr McAleese were transferred at the gate, where a small crowd had gathered, to a horse-drawn open landau with an escort of red-jacketed Mounties for the ceremonial drive through the gardens. Among the magnificently coloured autumn trees, they passed a large totem pole carved by west coast Indians.
Inspecting a guard of honour, she stopped to speak to Maj Karl McQuillan from Belfast and then stood on the dais for the playing of the two national anthems. A 21-gun salute was sounded.
Welcoming her to Canada, Mr LeBlanc said Ireland had helped to build his country and he rejoiced in the excellent relations between the two nations. The President, opening her remarks in French, thanked her hosts for their invitation and welcome.
At a reception that evening for the Irish community in the Rideau Club, she and Dr McAleese spoke at length to dozens of guests who told her of their Irish background. In her speech she said how it was a curious world in that she was able to identify so many connections.