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.
Carl Benn (Department of History, Ryerson University)
Edwardian home photos
I possess 16 photographs from c.1905 of my great-grandparents’ home in St. Catharines. At a personal level, I like these pictures because they record details about the life of my ancestors. The images also show some furnishings I knew growing up in the 1950s and 1960s because
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
Kathleen Wynne (Premier of Ontario)
Honouring our past, embracing our future
Ontario is Canada’s largest and most diverse province – home to ingenuity, inclusiveness and optimism.
Our province’s 150th birthday is a chance to reflect on our many achievements and look to the work that lies ahead with a renewed sense of purpose.
O
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
Aleksander Sielicki
PAINTINGS ON CANVASTONE
We are sailing on the ferry to Pelee Island. The mist from the water sets on my face. I look to the horizon, which soon disappears. I look deeper and deeper. The mysterious beauty of eternity. The afterimage of the sun when I closed my eyes. The sun is still in a shapeless cl
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
Steven Beckly (artist and former Doris McCarthy Artist-in-Residence program resident)
Steven Beckly is a visual artist specializing in photography.
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
#MyOntario
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.
S. Carlyle
In 1998 I packed up and moved to Ontario to start a new life in what I thought was a foreign land. I soon discovered that both sides of my family have deep roots in Ontario – something that is often hard for a native of the West Coast to accept!
Since then I’ve travelled all over the province. Ind
Waubageshig
Retrieving the Sleigh
It is mid-April. My three brothers, Michael, Tom and George, and I are outside playing catch in the warm afternoon spring sun. I’m 11 years old, Michael is 8, Tom 7 and George 6. The spring sun has been warm all week so the snow around our house has disappeared. We’re very ha
Beth Hanna (Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Heritage Trust)
Ontario has amazingly creative souls. The writings of Thomas King, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje and Al Purdy. The music of Glenn Gould, Gordon Lightfoot, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and Sarah Harmer. The paintings of Norval Morrisseau, Doris McCarthy, A.Y. Jackson, Daphne Odjig and the carvings of B
Jen Brennan
Many people are not aware that the Unitarian Universalism faith has been around in Canada since the late 1800s. The congregation in Ottawa began on Elgin Street in 1898.
To better serve the community, an award-winning building was erected on Cleary Avenue (Algonquin Avenue at the time) on five acr
Joseph Desloges (Professor, Departments of Earth Sciences and Geography, Woodsworth College, University of Toronto)
Celebrating the Chinguacousy Badlands
The Chinguacousy (“land of the young pines”) Badlands have been visited by hundreds of thousands of Ontarians. This rapidly eroding clay-shale bedrock at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment is a unique natural heritage feature in the province. As a designated A
Alisha Mohamed-Marchant
As a child, I imagined myself as an archaeologist exploring tombs and temples. As an adult, I find myself as an archaeologist exploring libraries and archives. Sure, it may not be the glamorous archaeology seen on television but for me it's a continuous narrative slowly revealing how the landscape a
W. Kelly
This table and chair belonged to my grandmother. She got it from her father who brought her and her two brothers to Canada just after the First World War. Her mother had died in childbirth. She showed me her father’s war medals when I was a boy. He’d fought in different wars in different parts of th
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
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
Amanda J. Ferry
All the different cultures that are welcome here.
- Amanda J. Ferry, Emancipation Day, Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site, August 5, 2017
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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.
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What's your spooky Halloween tradition?
From costumes to haunted houses to trick-or-treating, share the traditions that send a shiver down your spine!
Join the conversation on social media: Explore #MyOntario posts about Halloween and connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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
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