Press Releases

Newest Ottawa public park named “Nimiq” to commemorate City’s technology sector and recognize contributions Telesat has made to the Ottawa community and the global satellite services industry

OTTAWA, CANADA, December 5, 2011 – The City of Ottawa officially opened its newest park today, Nimiq Park, in a formal ceremony at the Steve MacLean Elementary School near the park’s Riverside South location. City officials in attendance included Mayor Jim Watson along with Councillors Steve Desroches and Mark Taylor. Also on hand were Dr. Steve MacLean, a Canadian astronaut and current President of the Canadian Space Agency, and executives from Telesat, the global satellite operator based in Ottawa whose Nimiq satellites served as the inspiration for the park’s name.

Telesat’s Nimiq fleet is used by Bell TV to provide Canadians with direct-to-home television via satellite including a growing number of HDTV channels and other advanced video services. The newest addition to Telesat’s Nimiq fleet, Nimiq 6, is scheduled to be launched next year. “Nimiq”, an Inuit word for an object or a force that binds things together, has been used by Telesat since 1999 as the name for part of its fleet of satellites serving North America.

“Telesat is honored to be recognized in this way by the City of Ottawa and pleased to make financial contributions to the four public schools in the Riverside South community to help stimulate student interest in science and technology,” said Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. “A goal of today’s ceremony was to promote the importance of science and innovation to local students. Telesat is proud to support this mission which has helped bring talented and highly educated people to Telesat over the past 40 years and drive our success in Canada and globally. We are grateful to Ottawa and our many employees who reside in Ottawa for their support over our long history and look forward to continuing to grow and serve our community and Canada through satellite communications.”

About Telesat (www.telesat.com)
Telesat is a leading global fixed satellite services operator providing reliable and secure satellite-delivered communications solutions worldwide to broadcast, telecom, corporate and government customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices and facilities around the world, the company’s state-of-the-art fleet consists of 12 satellites plus the Canadian Ka-band payload on ViaSat-1 and two more satellites under construction. Telesat also manages the operations of additional satellites for third parties. Privately held, Telesat’s principal shareholders are Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL).

For further information:
Gerry Nagler, Telesat +1 908 698-4907 (gnagler@telesat.com)