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.
Lynne D. DiStefano
Tracking Ontario’s Thames
In the mid-1990s, George Kapelos and I began work on an exhibition about Ontario’s Thames River that was to be held at Museum London.
I don’t remember exactly when I became fascinated with the river. I think it had to do with how the river was depicted in 19th century t
Keirsten & Kasha
Fulford Place was the estate of a millionaire by the name of George Fulford I at the end of the 19th century. This estate was passed on to his son George Fulford II, who at the time of his passing, bequeathed it to the Ontario Heritage Trust. The three reasons why they decided to take the property u
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
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
Chloe Cooley and the 1793 Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada
On March 14, 1793 Chloe Cooley, an enslaved Black woman in Queenston, was bound, thrown in a boat and sold across the river to a new owner in the United States. Her screams and violent resistance were brought to the attention of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe by Peter Martin, a free Black an
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
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
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
Gordon Pim
Remembering Ruby
Some of my fondest memories of childhood involve my grandmother. An immigrant from the UK (she came to Ontario in 1921 with her best friend Sadie and $45 in her pocket), Ruby was tiny in stature but enormous in character. I can remember her up at the cottage, cooking feasts on a w
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
Ontario Black History Society
My Ontario celebrates the diversity among us! The Black History Month Kick-Off Brunch is an annual event that brings together community, businesses, educators, students and many more. It's a celebration of Black history, culture and music, and launches many other celebrations across the city. Featur
Muhammad Qureshi (2014 recipient of a Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Youth Achievement)
Our natural fingerprint
The magic began on a cold autumn afternoon after a hockey game with friends. I was walking home through a trail and the leaves had turned bright yellow and deep red, and I came across a painted turtle scurrying to find its way back to a pond. A whole hour vanished as I expl
Jean Lumb, C.M., 1919-2002
Jean Lumb was born Jean (Toy Jin) Wong in British Columbia, and came to Toronto in 1935. She was soon operating a profitable fruit store and, by 1959, she co-owned the well-reputed Kwong Chow restaurant with her husband, Doyle Lumb. Energetic and outgoing, she established strong links with prominent
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
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
Desiree Laporte
Acceptance of EVERYONE.
- Desiree Laporte, Canuck It Up Festival Amherstburg, downtown Amherstburg, August 6, 2017
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
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
The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell (29th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario)
The conscience of our province
Ontario’s Legislative Building, completed in 1893, is a magnificent structure filled with stories from the most significant moments in our province’s modern history. The place is replete with traditions. One of the more recent ones is the hosting of the Lieutenant Go
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
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