The cultural history of what is now Ontario stretches back more than 10,000 years. Many Nations and many peoples have called this place home. MyOntario – A vision over time marks this long history by opening a conversation among Ontarians about our experiences, identities, values and aspirations.
We are asking people from across the province to share their stories – the places, memories, photos, artifacts, artworks and traditions that inspire you, that motivate you and help define who you are. Be the province's storytellers, record keepers, historians and visionaries!
Let's build a deeper understanding, showcase our diversity and create a lasting record that reflects the breadth, depth and complexity of our great province as we look to the future.
MyOntario is ...
We are bringing MyOntario – A vision over time to communities across the province to find out what Ontario means to you!
In 2017, our MyOntario roadshow and interactive kiosks are coming to community events, museums and more. It’s a unique chance to join a provincewide conversation about our expe
Brian Hamilton
Full of passionate, talented and cooperative people!
- Brian Hamilton, Bay and Algoma Buskers Festival, Thunder Bay, July 30, 2017
Dr. Patrick Julig (Professor of Anthropology, School of Community and Northern Studies, Laurentian University, Sudbury)
Reflections on ancient quarry sites of northern Ontario
In the 1980s-90s, I excavated at Cummins and Sheguiandah National Historic Site quarry/workshops in northern Ontario – in addition to many neat places elsewhere around the world.
We archaeologists are inspired in our quests, seeking rare an
Tracy Lawson
My name is Tracy Lawson and I am a direct descendant of Enerals Griffin. I learned all about my amazing lineage through my father, Dave Lawson, who is pictured here in front of Griffin House.
He learned of his heritage and family history late in life; it was featured in the attached video when the
Jeanette Elliott, Collections Co-ordinator, Fanshawe Pioneer Village
This Farm Service Corps uniform is part of the permanent collection at Fanshawe Pioneer Village, and serves to remind us that men were not the only participants in World War One. While women were restricted from participating in direct combatant roles, they organized and outfitted themselves for hom
Miptoon (Anthony Chegahno)
Anthony Chegahno, whose Anishinaabe name is Miptoon, is an elder, a resident of Neyaashiiningmiing and a former band councillor for the Chippewas of Nawash unceded First Nation.
Museums of Mississauga
This photograph shows volunteer Margaret Archer dressed in her great grandmothers dress in front of the newly opened Lewis Bradley Museum in 1967.
The Bradley Museum opened to the public in 1967 as part of the Canada’s Centennial Celebrations. The home was built by the Bradley family who settled i
Diane
“I am proud to be Canadian. The small villages and towns are very friendly but I also loved Toronto. I loved the streetcar and the subway – it is easy to get anywhere.”
Diane was born in Orangeville, Ontario and lived there for much of her life.
She had a twin sister and is one of six children.
MyOntario is ...
We are bringing MyOntario – A vision over time to communities across the province to find out what Ontario means to you!
In 2017, our MyOntario roadshow and interactive kiosks are coming to community events, museums and more. It’s a unique chance to join a provincewide conversation about our expe
Amanda Rhodenizer
Amanda Rhodenizer is an artist and former Doris McCarthy Artist-in-Residence program resident.
The Doris McCarthy Artist-in-Residence program at Fool’s Paradise is coordinated by the Ontario Heritage Trust and is supported by the RBC Foundation.
The artist gratefully acknowledges the financial s
Michael Bliss, 1941-2017 (historian, award-winning author and Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto)
You can go home again
I first saw the Camp Ahmek waterfront on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park in 1951. I saw it again last summer – 65 years later – and it was almost completely unchanged.
On the walls of Ahmek's great dining hall still hang plaques commemorating the highlights of each summer's ca
Liz and Pete Finlay
Water - Great Lakes and little rivers, white pines and oak trees, Lake Huron.
- Liz and Pete Finlay, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, July 23, 2017
Carol Page
My Ontario is represented by Lake Ontario. It is awe-inspiring to view the Lake in all seasons. I wanted to capture the essence of the lake water by recreating its colours. My installation is called "Watermarks". I used textiles, paint samples, papers, silver threads, plexiglas and tape to portray t
Colton Konecny
Friends.
- Colton Konecny, Emancipation Day celebration at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, Dresden, August 5, 2017
Chloe Cooley and the 1793 Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada
On March 14, 1793 Chloe Cooley, an enslaved Black woman in Queenston, was bound, thrown in a boat and sold across the river to a new owner in the United States. Her screams and violent resistance were brought to the attention of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe by Peter Martin, a free Black an
Marshall Pynkoski (Co-Artistic Director of Opera Atelier)
Art in the face of adversity
Opera Atelier’s 30th anniversary in 2016 was a watershed season for the company. It marked our return to the Royal Opera House at Versailles and our arrival in France on November 13 – the day of the terrorist attacks. Opera Atelier’s production of Lully’s Armide reopen
Holly Martelle (principal at Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants Inc.)
Hopes for the future
My life as an archaeologist often consists of hour upon hour of painstaking analysis of small bits and pieces of everyday life. But last year, during an archaeological investigation in Toronto’s downtown, we made a remarkable discovery that not only got my archaeological heart
Todd Stewart (artist and former Doris McCarthy Artist-in-Residence program resident)
Highway 11, near Hearst
I feel the deepest connection with a place when I’m alone in it, surrounded by silence, the rest of the world far away. The stillness stops time and clears my mind. For me, a certain place stands out among many – Highway 11, the northern route across Ontario. I’ve driven al
Nathan Tidridge
Local residents in #Waterdown holding their spots for the annual #Flamborough Santa Claus Parade later that day. #MyOntario
The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum set of Colours (1901-06)
Once serving the practical purpose of a rallying point on a battlefield, today, Regimental Colours are exclusively ceremonial objects representing the history and spirit of a regiment.
Traditionally, Canadian infantry regiments hold two colours: The first is the reigning monarch’s Colour showing the royal cypher, and the second is the Regimental Colour, displaying the unit’s Battle Honours embroidered on scrolls. Battle Honours are an official acknowledgement of a regiment’s engagement in combat. They are awarded for both campaigns and individual battles.
The first Colours of The Royal Can
From an interview with Josephine Mandamin (“Water Walker,” grandmother and a 2015 recipient of a Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation)
Walking with the water
When we walk with the water, we pray for the water. The water that we carry, we pray for it, and we pray to it; we speak to it. Our minds and our hearts are with the water that we carry. The water is very precious. We have adopted it. We picked it up from where we walk from,
Alphonse Tourville
Raised and bred, Ontario, Cree Nation Attawapiskat, Survivor Residential School, travelled Canada, live in N.L. new home for 30 years, but nothing stops the yearning for many visits.
Sean Fraser
The Ravine
Straining against the colonial engineer’s grid, carved relentlessly through table land by an ancient creek, its buried waters find their way to the Don and on to the lake. On its banks are a kaleidoscope of wild flowers, blossoms, leaves and litter that turn with the seasons. The V-shap
R. Donald Maracle (Chief of the Mohawks of Bay of Quinte)
Christ Church, Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal of the Mohawk – Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
During the American Revolution, the Mohawks were forced to flee their homeland in upper New York State. In 1784, after spending several years in Lachine, Quebec, a group of Mohawks arrived on the shores of the Ba
Scarlett Janusas (President, Scarlett Janusas Archaeology Inc. )
Underwater archaeology
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than those you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain, American author
I’ve always had a passion ab
Thomas H.B. Symons (former Chair of the Board of Directors, Ontario Heritage Trust, and Founding President and Vanier Professor Emeritus of Trent University)
Homer Watson: Ontario's pioneer artist
Homer Watson’s paintings and drawings captured the spirit of pioneer Ontario much as, in a later generation, the work of the Group of Seven captured the spirit of the more northerly parts of Canada.
Born in the village of Doon in the Grand River Valley, Wat