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.
Julie Dorsey
Diverse.
- Julie Dorsey, Emancipation Day celebration at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, Dresden, August 5, 2017
Brian Hamilton
Full of passionate, talented and cooperative people!
- Brian Hamilton, Bay and Algoma Buskers Festival, Thunder Bay, July 30, 2017
Konrad Sioui (former Grand Chief of the Huron-Wendat Nation)
The heart of North America
There are many stories that we can share. Well, first of all, the word “Ontario” itself. Many people don’t know what it means. People try to give an explanation to the name, but in Huron “io” is a superlative, “ontara” is a lake. So “Ontario” is a beautiful lake. In fact
Larry Wayne Richards (former Trust Board member, Professor Emeritus and former Dean, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto)
Ontario trains
My first views of Ontario were from a passenger train 45 years ago. In 1972, I crossed the border at Detroit and took a train from Windsor to Toronto. From my window, I experienced the southwestern Ontario landscape – rolling green farmland and orderly towns – unfolding like frames
Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site
Black walnut rocking chairs with elaborate folk carving found in the Dresden area, 3rd quarter 19th century. Several similar chairs are known from the same area including three in the collection of Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site. Most, this example included, have provenance linking them to the Dawn
Rozyur Rahman
I like Ontario because we can go hiking in many forests. I can play in parks and playgrounds.
- Rozyur Rahman, Ontario Science Centre, July 21, 2017
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
Nathan Tidridge
Her Majesty's beautiful @MohawkChapel - the oldest Protestant church in #MyOntario. #ChapelRoyal
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
Deepa Mehta (director, producer and screenwriter)
Ontario’s rich diversity
When I think of Ontario, I think of inclusion, diversity and the resulting richness it brings to our province. In a world that is becoming alarmingly xenophobic and nativist, we are in my opinion a haven for the ‘other’.
Watch us in the film Sam and Me set in Toronto, a
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.
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
Trini Mitra
One of the happiest moments of my life ... when Mum was visiting me in 2015 and was thrilled when I took her to the Niagara Falls in the middle of November. It was quite an experience for someone who is not used to our frigid temperatures to be experiencing the Falls in the middle of Winter. She was
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
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
Yannick Bisson (film and television actor and director)
Reconnecting with nature
My first visit to Ontario, from Québec, was at about age 8. I have a distinct memory of arriving by car down the Don Valley Parkway. Jerry Rafferty's Baker Street was playing on the radio and I was completely amazed that there was such a massive green space in the middle o
Oksana Kravets
Some people stop and smell the roses. Some wake up early to watch the sun rise. My dad watches thunderstorms.
When I was little, I'd see him get up at the first rumble of thunder, mute the TV, and stand at the window. Sometimes I'd join him as the clouds darkened and the rain struck up its overtur
David Rayside (Professor Emeritus of Political Science and founding Director of the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto)
Making history
At 6 p.m. on December 2, 1986, Ontario’s legislative assembly was scheduled to vote on adding “sexual orientation” to the province’s Human Rights Code. Ten minutes away, at University College, I ended a late-afternoon class and ran over to the public gallery.
The vote was the only
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
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
Gabriela Iglecias
Chez moi, avec ma communauté!
- Gabriela Iglecias - National Aboriginal Day at Fort York National Historic Site - June 21, 2017
Karin Almuhtadi
Home ♥
- Karin Almuhtadi, Bay and Algoma Buskers Festival, Thunder Bay, July 30, 2017
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
Atom Egoyan (film director, writer and producer)
R.C. Harris Water Filtration Plant
Whenever I have visitors to Toronto, I take them to the Harris Filtration Plant. This beautiful complex is one of the few remaining examples of industrial art deco design that has survived to this day, and its location on Lake Ontario makes it truly unique. It ha
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
#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.
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