Belleville is located in the Canadian province of Ontario and has 48,000 inhabitants. The city was named for Ms. Arabella (Bella) Gore who visited the town, called “Meyers Mill” at that time, with her husband, the provincial governor Francis Gore.

In 1967, Canadian forces replaced the French army stationed in Lahr. There developed a trusting cooperative relationship between the Canadians and the residents of Lahr. As Lahr became the headquarters of the Canadian forces in Europe, there were routine transport flights between Lahr and Trenton, which was only a few kilometers away from Belleville. In 1972, the sister-city relationship with Lahr followed the request from Belleville for an official city partnership.

In 1975, the first students flew to Belleville in a military plane that had extra space. From this developed the tradition of “friendship flights”. About 4,000 Lahr citizens have visited Belleville in the meantime. After the Canadian forces left Lahr at the beginning of the 90‘s, this flight option was no longer available. To this day, the close relationships between the people of both sister cities have kept the tradition of friendship flights alive.

Thanks to constant and unlimited support from the residents and the mayors of Belleville and Lahr as well as the commitment of the city councils and sister-city committees, both cities have succeeded in keeping the relationships alive.

The Canada House was also founded in Lahr in 1994. It is a meeting point for Canadians living in Lahr. At the same time, Canada House has been opened up to the interested public.