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.
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
Kathy Stinson (author of books for young people)
When I first started going to the cottage that has been in my husband’s family for more than 100 years, I loved the sense of continuity I felt there, as five generations enjoyed the traditions that Grandfather Gordon established in the early 1900s. And the place. The gorgeous combinations of water,
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
Patricia
An air of mystery surrounds Simone Rusu’s photo of 401 Richmond Street West - a heritage-designated, industrial building turned arts-and-culture hub - in Toronto, Ontario. The photo was taken during Luminato’s second Youth Photography Program workshop at the Doors Open Ontario Toronto 2017 event, wh
Diane Denyes-Wenn, Curator
Mariners Park Museum
2065 County Road #13Picton, Ontario
This museum features artifacts from marine history around Prince Edward County. Display on lighthouses, ship wrecks, fishing, rum running, boat racing, and water craft of all kinds. Open Victoria Day to Thanksgiving Wednesday to Sunday. Lots f
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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.
Olivia Wallace
Emancipation Day. FREE AT LAST!
- Olivia Wallace, Emancipation Day celebration at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, Dresden, August 5, 2017
Alicia Hawkins
In 2006 Laurentian University and University of Toronto students were excavating at the Thomson-Walker site in Simcoe County. This is a large Huron-Wendat village located on an Ontario Heritage Trust property. I clearly remember the day that one of the students came rushing over to me holding this a
Ken Butland
Bon Echo
You see the sign—oh you’ve arrived;Bon Echo’s a sight for sore eyes.
Generations of families camp‘Round tended fire and propane lamp.They laugh and play, canoe and cook,Or lazily lounge with face in book.Parents nurture their children to feelNature’s gifts, her wonders real.
Animals r
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
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
Dawson Bridger
The photo of my great great grandfather, Frederick Allen Weir, on the cover of the 1913 Rod and Gun magazine connects me to a family member I never met. This image was captured near Rondeau Provincial Park, where my family lived at the time. Frederick Weir, his son, and my grandfather, hunted the Ca
Lorraine Watson
Big and beautiful.
- Lorraine Watson, Canuck It Up Festival Amherstburg, downtown Amherstburg, August 6, 2017
Michael Runtz (educator, naturalist, author and nature photographer)
Drawn back to Algonquin
Being a lifelong naturalist whose goal has been to explore Ontario’s natural history, I’ve come to appreciate just how rich this province’s biodiversity is. The north boasts the southernmost tundra in the world, home to polar bears and Arctic fox. The south harbours vestige
Manuel Stevens (retired Parks Canada planner)
Stepping back in time to Old Ontario
My Ontario is the Rideau Canal region between Smiths Falls and Kingston. Having spent many years as the planner for the Rideau Canal – and lately a cottage owner on the canal – I have had many occasions to travel these backgrounds over a period of nearly four d
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Share your Doors Open Ontario discoveries
From natural landscapes to century-old cabins to modern marvels of engineering, every space tells a story. Doors Open Ontario is a chance to explore some of the province's most fascinating places and experience our unique history from a new perspective.
Adrienne Shadd (historian, curator and author)
Reflections on my hometown
In the year of the 150th birthday of Canada, I would like to pay tribute to my hometown. North Buxton started out in 1849 as a colony established by escaped slaves and free Blacks from the United States. One of the final stops on the Underground Railroad, Buxton occupies
Cameron Ylimaki
Pride & Happiness.
- Cameron Ylimaki, Bay and Algoma Buskers Festival, Thunder Bay, July 29, 2017
Eleanor McMahon (Ontario’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport)
A Place to Stand
As Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, I’ve had the privilege to meet many proud, talented and hardworking Ontarians through my participation in a number of special events and occasions. One highlight came a few months ago.
It was a perfect late-summer day in our nation’s ca
William R. Fitzgerald (archaeologist)
A divine intersection of history and archaeology
Suspicion, fear, and intimidation met Jesuit priests Jean de Brébeuf and Pierre-Joseph-Marie Chaumonot during their Mission of the Angels to “la Nation Neutre” between November 2, 1640 and March 19, 1641. This tribal confederacy – so named by Champl
Susan Bryan (volunteer Chair of the Nature Reserves Committee of the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists)
Someone has passed this way before
I’m standing on the deck of a small boat, riding the swells of the Nipigon River where it widens into Lake Superior. In front of me, a rock cliff rises straight out of the water. On this cliff are a series of pictographs – lines, circles and other symbols – as we
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Choose your own adventure
From historic sites to roadside attractions, festivals to hiking trails – there are many things to see and do in your own backyard. Tell us about your favourite ways to discover the province!
Join the conversation on social media: See #MyOntario posts about exploring O
R. Dennis Moore (Archivist, Multicultural History Society of Ontario)
This badge belonged to Bohdan Panchuk, one of the most influential Canadians involved in the effort to resettle thousands of Ukrainians who were displaced by the Second World War.
By the end of the conflict, countless refugees had been forcibly displaced from their homes and faced uncertain future
R. Dennis Moore (Archivist, Multicultural History Society of Ontario)
This is the temporary passport of Arthur Schönberg, an Estonian naval engineer who risked the high seas to secure a new life in Canada. Although I have never met Mr. Schönberg, his story has been preserved on audiotape by the Multicultural History Society of Ontario.
Arthur Schönberg had a lot of
Joëlle Roy (auteure, compositrice-interprète et animatrice communautaire)
Descendants de la Vallée du Saint-Laurent
This French poem pays homage to the residents of the St. Lawrence velley who moved to Ontario in search of a better life working in the mines.
Il est parti au chantierY avait à peine 15 ansY a moyen de s’en sortirPour ça, faut faire d’l’argentY en a en