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.
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
Niagara Historical Society & Museum
Niagara-on-the-Lake became one of the several places that received poor children from the streets and workhouses of Britain. In 1868, Maria Rye purchased the former Niagara Courthouse and Gaol located just outside Old Town. She converted the building into an orphanage known as “Our Western Home” (OW
#MyOntario
Where are Ontario's best butter tarts?
When we asked for your favourite places to enjoy this quintessential Canadian treat, your answers spanned across the province – from your neighbourhood bakery to your family's kitchen. And despite a lively debate over the best butter tart fillings, there's one thing we can all agree on: Ontario's culinary heritage is just as rich as this iconic dessert!
Join the conversation on social media: Explore #MyOntario posts about butter tarts and connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Excerpt taken from an interview with Louis Lesage, PhD (biologist and Director of the Bureau Nionwentsïo, at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Church at Wendake, Quebec)
Why is it important to preserve the Wendat language?
Culture has many aspects. One aspect is the language. When you lose your language, you lose a part of your culture. The language helps you to describe your environment, to clearly express what you think, to make some colour in your way of life
Olivia Wallace
Since digital cameras became popularized, one of my major hobbies has been taking photos of my family, friends, and natural and built environment around me. Now that I have a great camera on my phone, I snap and share photos on a daily basis. My greatest focus as of late has been capturing the art a
Niagara Historical Society & Museum
Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of the few towns in Ontario that has had black residents since the beginning of the province. However, it was in the years following the War of 1812 that Niagara saw an increase in black immigrants and runaway slaves. When the United States Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was p
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,
M. Margaret Froh (President of the Métis Nation of Ontario)
The Métis sash
Métis youth leader Katelyn LaCroix was recently asked what being Métis meant to her. She replied that “like the sash, we are two cultures coming together to create something new and beautiful and useful.” This comparison is as apt as it is poetic because the sash is such an essentia
Leah and Kaitlin, Fulford Place
Working at a historic site, we work with artifacts daily and show them to the public. What isn't obvious is the story behind each object, which makes our research that much more exciting and interesting. This photo shows some of the 79 ivories in the Fulford family collection. Notably, the family ha
Janice Finkle, Adam Leslie and Ian Leslie
Amazing Provincial Parks! We have camped over the years at both canoe-in and drive-in Parks. Our family connects and explores together.
- Janice Finkle, Adam Leslie and Ian Leslie at Kingston Penitentiary Museum - Doors Open Kingston, June 17, 2017
Chief Francis Pegahmagabow, 1889-1952
Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwe of the Caribou clan, was born in Shawanaga First Nation. He volunteered at the onset of the First World War and served overseas as a scout and sniper with the Canadian Expeditionary Force's 1st Battalion. He was one of 39 Canadian soldiers awarded the Military Medal a
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
William "Liam" Wadsworth
Uncovering Our Forgotten Souls
For me, archaeology is not just a pathway to historical discovery. It may also be an instrument in the search for truth and, if necessary, justice for past and present peoples. This interest in uncovering unspoken stories brought me to the University of Toronto where
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
Fool’s Paradise
This property sits on the ecologically sensitive, geologically significant Scarborough Bluffs that display sediments left by glaciers over 70,000 years ago during the last phase of the Pleistocene epoch. Aboriginal peoples may have inhabited this site as early as 8,000 B.C. Scottish immigrant James
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
John Steckley
My Brodie History
In 1835 a nine year old Scottish lad named Alexander Brodie came to southern Ontario by ships and boats from Peterhead in northeastern Scotland. He and his family spent their first year on Lot Street (now Queen Street) in Toronto then called York. He described seeing cows being
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
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
Andrew Riddle (Partner at ASI)
For millennia, the Grand River served as a highway for the First Nations people of Southern Ontario, connecting broad expanses of the Golden Horseshoe inland to Lake Erie. The banks of the Grand River have sometimes been characterized as one long archaeological site, and that proved to be true for a
Sue Senecal
Two rivers that meet in downtown Paris! Wonderful sense of peace and adventure when you hear the train whistle blow ...
- Sue Senecal, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, July 23, 2017
CFCL Radio
The first French-language radio station in Ontario, CFCL-Timmins, began broadcasting in December 1951. The event was greeted with enthusiasm by Franco-Ontarians who until then had heard limited programming in French over the airwaves. The station reached listeners from Kirkland Lake to Hearst, showc