Hundreds converged on Parliament Hill Saturday to celebrate the end of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

The dictator announced his resignation Friday, elating thousands of demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square and sending ripples of joy through the Egyptian community worldwide.

"My whole family was chanting for him to step down," said Ottawa resident Hoda Osman. "It's like a miracle."

But while the tone at Saturday's gathering was a celebratory one, the crowd did have a moment of silence to remember the more than 300 hundred lives lost in Egypt's 18-day revolution.

Their lives, though, were not lost in vain, said Fatma Maged.

"My people are now free, we're free, we can say what we want, we can write a democracy that is fitting for Egypt," she said. "And I have faith in the youth that they'll come up with something."

Members of the crowd amassed on Parliament Hill also said that Canada can play a role in Egypt's future by supporting the growth of the new democracy.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Karen Soloman