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.
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
Share your trillium sightings
Trilliums, Ontario's official flower since 1937, bloom in mid-May. In addition to the white (grandiflorum) variety, trillium varieties also include red (erectum) and yellow (lutem). This photo of a red trillium was taken at the Fleetwood Creek Natural Area.
Did yo
Stephen Otto
I feel a sense of belonging when I walk down the Main Street of almost any Ontario town or small city where many of the buildings date from the late 19th or early 20th century. This sense comes partly from efforts by the Ontario Heritage Foundation [now the Ontario Heritage Trust] and Ministry of Cu
Pauline McGibbon 1910-2001
The first woman to hold a vice-regal office in Canada, Pauline Emily Mills, was born in Sarnia, Ontario in 1910. After local schooling and a degree at Victoria College, University of Toronto, she married Donald Walker McGibbon in 1935. A life-long volunteer and supporter of the arts, Mrs. McGibbon b
Afua Cooper, PhD (James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Dalhousie University)
The Black history of Ontario inspires me and defines who I am
Peggy Pompadour haunts me. I walk through the streets of Ye Olde Towne Toronto and I feel her presence – this Black enslaved woman who was owned, jailed and sold by colonial administrator Peter Russell. Peggy often ran away from slavery
Olivia Wallace
Emancipation Day. FREE AT LAST!
- Olivia Wallace, Emancipation Day celebration at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, Dresden, August 5, 2017
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, 1872-1918
The distinguished soldier, physician and poet was born and raised in Guelph, Ontario. John McCrae graduated from the University of Toronto in medicine, practised as a pathologist and taught medicine at McGill University in Montreal. In 1899, he served in the South African War as an officer with the
Kevin Mannara (Basilian scholastic, seminarian, Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Parish)
What was and what will be
The term symbolkirchen can roughly be translated as a “symbol bearing church.” Such churches point to living realities beyond ourselves and hold the potential to serve as bridges, transcending the present vision to bring together what was and what may yet be. Assumption C
Sara Waxman
Saxe-Coburg Soup
The charming town of Cobourg, on Lake Ontario, has visitors all year round. It’s a lovely place to spend the day. In 1819, to honour the marriage of Princess Charlotte to Price Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the town, originally called Amhurst, changed its name to Cobourg.
2 tbsp. butt
Laura Wickett
Industrial heritage in Jordan Harbour
To find your way to one of Niagara’s hidden gems, you first need to know which dead-end street in Jordan Station to park on, and then take an overgrown pathway through the bushes to a steel train trestle bridge. Follow it out over the mouth of Jordan Harbour,
D’Arcy Jenish (author of The St. Lawrence Seaway: Fifty Years and Counting)
Making the voyage
Our voyage aboard the MV Algomarine began at the Port of Montreal
late on a Saturday afternoon in July 2007 and ended early the following
Thursday morning when the 730-foot laker docked at the Port of Thunder
Bay. In four-plus days, the ship had travelled some 3,000 kilomet
Kendrick Doll
I’m so grateful to have experienced adventures across many of Ontario’s landscapes. Here are a few that stuck with me.
My Ontario is:
Feeling the splash of the waves on my face while kayaking the 1000 islands on the St-Lawrence RiverHearing the loons call as night settles in while sitting around
The Honourable David Onley (28th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario)
Thoughts about Ontario at 150
The photo became an heirloom in our family: a picture of Her Majesty the Queen at Kew Gardens in The Beach, escorted by Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe on a blistering hot June 1959 day, viewing dozens of kids in wheelchairs. The large banner framing the area pr
Pauline Moss
Fresh fruit, small towns, variety, farm fields, sunsets, lakes, camping, family
- Pauline Moss, Emancipation Day celebration at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, Dresden, August 5, 2017
James Raffan (author, speaker and consultant)
On Cranberry Lake
Afloat at dawn and inhaling the misty rays of rising late-summer sun. Other days, it might be a sunset paddle with a Thermos of coffee in Listening Bay, watching Venus chase the sun to China. Or maybe idling in star-speckled moonlight, howling with the coyotes, or startling with
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
Christine McMullan (née Orlowski)
During the 1920s and 1930s, my father, his six siblings and his parents would travel from Toronto to do seasonal work on farms in the Vineland area. One farm in particular was the Culps farm on John Street, with all living in a small cabin on the farm. When they stayed on into the fall, he and his s
Karin Almuhtadi
Home ♥
- Karin Almuhtadi, Bay and Algoma Buskers Festival, Thunder Bay, July 30, 2017
Kristen McLaughlin
I am not from Ontario. I moved here recently, in September of 2016. My home is in the west, having grown up in Alberta and gone to school in Vancouver, BC. This country has its pretty divisive lines between the two halves of east vs. west. I moved to Toronto expecting, somehow, an entirely different
#MyOntario
What's your Canadian Thanksgiving tradition?
From fall recipes to family traditions – tell us how you celebrate Thanksgiving!
Join the conversation on social media: Explore #MyOntario posts about Thanksgiving and connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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