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Expanding the narrative
This is part of a broader conversation about whose history is being told, about gender, people of colour and the economically disenfranchised, and others whose stories have been overlooked or intentionally omitted from the authorized discussion.
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- Indigenous heritage
- Intangible heritage
Intangible heritage
Intangible cultural heritage includes language, traditions, music, food, special skills, etc.
- Medical heritage
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- Natural heritage
- Sport heritage
- Tools for conservation
- Women's heritage
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."
RelatedStories
![Interior of Assumption Church (Photo courtesy of Kevin Mannara)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Kevin-Mannara-Image-3-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Buildings and architecture
MyOntario - Author: Kevin Mannara,
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...
![Ted and Jim Szilva (Photo courtesy of Jim Szilva)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Jim-Szilva-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Jim Szilva,
A nickel and a prayer
In 1963, a firefighter named Ted Szilva entered a contest organized by the Canadian Centennial Committee in Sudbury. The committee asked residents of the city...
![On Cranberry Lake](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/James-Raffan-Image-4-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: James Raffan,
On Cranberry Lake
Afloat at dawn and inhaling the misty rays of rising late-summer sun. Other days, it might be a sunset paddle with a Thermos of coffee...
![Collegiate Institute, Owen Sound (Photo courtesy of Toronto Public Library)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/OSCI-Postcard-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Melanie Pledger,
Learning from the past
I’m proud to be a Canadian. I’m also proud to be an Ontarian. Going one step further, I’m proud to be a Falcon. In 2014...
![Meeting the Queen in 1959 (Photo: David Onley)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/1959-Meeting-The-Queen-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: David Onley,
Thoughts about Ontario at 150
The photo became an heirloom in our family: a picture of Her Majesty the Queen at Kew Gardens in The Beach, escorted by Toronto Maple...
![A plate adorned with a scene from Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Photo courtesy of Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants Inc. and Infrastructure Ontario)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Holly-Martelle-Image-1-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Black heritage
MyOntario - Author: Holly Martelle,
Hopes for the future
My life as an archaeologist often consists of hour upon hour of painstaking analysis of small bits and pieces of everyday life. But last year...
![Small hand-held artifact](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Jean-Luc-Pilon-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Indigenous heritage
Archaeology
MyOntario - Author: Jean-Luc Pilon,
The gift of time travel
In the summer of 1982, I was carrying out archaeological research near the shores of Hudson Bay on the Severn River. One of the sites...
![McIntyre headframe – part of Doors Open Timmins](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Doors-Open-Timmins-07-09-15-McIntyre-Mine-Headframe-From-NW-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Buildings and architecture
MyOntario - Author: Georges Quirion,
Ontario’s rich industrial history
Northern Ontario has unique structures, not familiar to many, spread out through small northern communities, reflecting its rich history and its vast wealth of precious...
![Thonnakona – a Huron-Wendat sacred cultural landscape in the city of Vaughan, and resting place of the Ancestors. Photo courtesy of Melanie Vincent 2016](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Konrad-Sioui-image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Indigenous heritage
MyOntario - Author: Konrad Sioui,
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...
![Gay Pride parade (© 2017 Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/David-Rayside-Image-3-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Expanding the narrative
MyOntario - Author: David Rayside,
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...
![Iconographic copper-alloy rings recovered from 17th and 18th century archaeological sites are commonly attributed to Jesuit missionary activity.](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/William-Fitzgerald-Image-3-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Archaeology
MyOntario - Author: William R. Fitzgerald,
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...
![Premier Kathleen Wynne, Minister Eleanor McMahon, Mayor Jim Watson and Ottawa MPPs joining Ginger Ale & The Monowhales at the Ontario150 launch party](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/McMahon-Premier-Wynne-Ottawa-02-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Eleanor McMahon,
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...
![Sunset over Manitoulin Island](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Steve-Paikin-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Natural heritage
MyOntario - Author: Steve Paikin,
Heaven on earth
A month before Ontario turns 150 years old, I’ll celebrate my 57th birthday. I’ve lived all but one of those years in the province of...
![Underwater archaeology](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Scarlett-Janusas-barque-Arabia-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Scarlett Janusas,
Underwater archaeology
I’ve always had a passion about archaeology and also about water. I love being on the water and under it. So, what better way to...
![Cycling in the Don Valley](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Yannick-Bisson-Image-1-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Natural heritage
MyOntario - Author: Yannick Bisson,
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...
![Josephine Mandamin (Photo courtesy of Josephine Mandamin)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Josephine-Mandamin-Image-4-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Indigenous heritage
MyOntario - Author: Josephine Mandamin,
Walking with the water
When we walk with the water, we pray for the water. The water that we carry, we pray for it, and we pray to it...
![Cléo Ducharme et son épouse Flore, Rosanna Généreux et Joseph Ducharme (Rosanna et Jos sont mes grands-parents). Photo courtesy of Joëlle Roy](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Joelle-Roy-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Francophone heritage
MyOntario - Author: Joëlle Roy,
Descendants de la Vallée du Saint-Laurent
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 Ontario sous la...
![Ellen Scheinberg giving a tour (Photo courtesy of Ellen Scheinberg)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Ellen-Scheinberg-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Ellen Scheinberg,
Celebrating the history of Toronto’s Jewish cemeteries
Over the past decade, I have developed a passion for cemeteries. It started during my tenure as Director of the Ontario Jewish Archives, when I...
![Group of archaeologists (Photo courtesy of Patrick Julig)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Patrick-Julig-image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Archaeology
MyOntario - Author: Dr. Patrick Julig,
Reflections on ancient quarry sites of northern Ontario
In the 1980s-90s, I excavated at Cummins and Sheguiandah National Historic Site quarry/ workshops in northern Ontario – in addition to many neat places elsewhere...
![Legislative Assembly (Photo courtesy of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Elizabeth-Dowdeswell-Image-1-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell,
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...
![Christ Church, Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal of the Mohawk – Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/R.-Donald-Maracle-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Indigenous heritage
Buildings and architecture
MyOntario - Author: R. Donald Maracle,
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...
![Ontario trains (Photo: Earl Minnis)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Larry-Richards-image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Larry Richards,
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...
![Chinguacousy Badlands](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/2001-07-Cooper-Badlands-Karen-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Natural heritage
MyOntario - Author: Joseph Desloges,
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...
![Fairbank Oil barn (Photo courtesy of Charles Oliver Fairbank III)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Charles-Oliver-Fairbank-III-Image-1-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Charlie Fairbank,
An enduring landscape
Each morning, I open the door of our farmhouse and step into an enduring landscape of beauty, shaped by horse and man. Sheep dot the...
![David P. Silcox (Photo: Linda Intaschi)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Contributors/David-Silcox-Headshot-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: David P. Silcox,
My Ontario is …
MY ONTARIO IS: RosalieAbella, RobertAitken, AndréAlexis, LouApplebaum, MargaretAtwood, IainBaxter&, StanBevington, BillBissett, JeanBoggs, DaveBroadfoot, EdBurtynsky, JackBush, JackCostello, DavidCrombie, KikiDelaney, LouiseDennys, MichaeldePencier, RamsayDerry, RupertDuchesne, BuddFeheley, MaureenForester, DavidFrench...
![North Buxton Maple Leaf Band at a tattoo hosted in North Buxton, 1960 (Photo courtesy of Adrienne Shadd)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Adrienne-Shadd-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Black heritage
MyOntario - Author: Adrienne Shadd,
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...
![R.C. Harris Water Filtration Plant overlooking Lake Ontario (Photo courtesy of Taylor Hazell Architects)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Atom-Egoyan-image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Atom Egoyan,
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...
![Métis sash {Photo courtesy of M. Margaret Froh}](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Margaret-Froh-Image-2-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Indigenous heritage
MyOntario - Author: M. Margaret Froh,
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...
![Indigenous artifacts (Photo courtesy of Mélanie-Rose Frappier)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Melanie-Rose-Frappier-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Indigenous heritage
MyOntario - Author: Mélanie-Rose Frappier,
On the path to reconciliation
Education is key. It will lead to healing as well as social awareness about the Indigenous culture. My ancestors spent hundreds of years fighting for...
![Edwardian home (Photo courtesy of Carl Benn)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Carl-Benn-Image-3-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Carl Benn,
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...
![View of the Rideau Waterway from Rock Dunder](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Rock-Dunder-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Manuel Stevens,
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...
![Lake Superior Provincial Park, Sault Ste. Marie (© 2017 Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/OTMPC_MyOntario-00024470-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Expanding the narrative
MyOntario - Author: Beth Hanna,
The stories that define us
Stories are powerful. They reveal our values, pleasures and memories, the rituals and rhythms of our lives, our spiritual natures, our creative selves, our triumphs...
![D’Arcy Jenish](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/DArcy-Jenish-Headshot-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: D'Arcy Jenish,
Making the voyage
Our voyage aboard the MV Algomarine began at the Port of Montreal late on a Saturday afternoon in July 2007 and ended early the following...
![The Maymaygwayshi, or water sprite, painted on a cliff near the mouth of the Nipigon River](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Susan-Bryan-Image-1-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Indigenous heritage
MyOntario - Author: Susan Bryan,
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...
![The Pioneer Cabin, painted by Homer Watson (1900). Reproduction courtesy of Homer Watson House & Gallery.](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/watson_2000_j_proc-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Arts and creativity
MyOntario - Author: Thomas H.B. Symons,
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...
![Gateway to Ontario](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Arlene-Chan-Image-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Arlene Chan,
Gateway to Ontario
Toronto’s Chinatown East has a beautiful gateway – a Chinese architectural tradition first introduced in British Columbia in the 1880s. As a writer and Chinatown...
![Algonquin Park region. © 2017 Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/100005737-copy-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Michael Bliss,
You can go home again
I first saw the Camp Ahmek waterfront on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park in 1951. I saw it again last summer – 65 years later...
![Highway 11, near Hearst, by Todd Stewart](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Todd-Stewart-cover-Highway-11-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Arts and creativity
MyOntario - Author: Todd Stewart,
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...
![Premier Kathleen Wynne with her family in Sherwood Park. From left to right: Jessica, Stan, Kathleen, Olivia, Hugh, Jane, Maggie, Claire and Chris. Photo courtesy of Premier Kathleen Wynne.](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Kathleen-Wynne-family-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Kathleen Wynne,
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...
![Leap of Faith mural by the George Brown School of Design team at the Lucie and Thornton Blackburn Conference Centre.](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Karolyn-Smartz-Frost-Image-6-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Black heritage
MyOntario - Author: Karolyn Smardz Frost,
Digging for the Promised Land
In 1985, the Toronto school board and Ontario’s culture ministry created the Archaeological Resource Centre. There, schoolchildren and volunteers could dig into their own city’s...
![Northern lights (Photo: © 2017 Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/100010149-copy-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: The Honourable James K. Bartleman,
My Muskoka – Winter 1949
Every evening when I was a kid in the 1940s, I’d manoeuvre rough logs up onto a sawhorse and use a small bucksaw to cut...
![Craig Campbell and Philip Pritchard, Keepers of the Cup](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Phillip-Pritchard-Headshot-2-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Sport heritage
MyOntario - Author: Philip Pritchard,
Ontario and the Stanley Cup
Hockey is Canada’s national sport, and there is nothing more synonymous with hockey than the Stanley Cup. The tradition, the aura and the respect it...
![Afua Cooper at Emancipation Day celebrations at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site, Dresden](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Contributors/Afua-Cooper-Headshot-2-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Black heritage
MyOntario - Author: Dr. Afua Cooper,
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...
![Wolves (Photo: Michael Runtz)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Michael-Runtz-Image-2-web.jpg)
- 17 Feb 2017
- Natural heritage
MyOntario - Author: Michael Runtz,
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...
![Janet Douglas Hall (Photo courtesy of Sam J. Steiner)](https://questions-de-patrimoine.ca/uploads/Articles/Sam-Steiner-Image-1-web.jpg)
- 01 Feb 2017
- MyOntario
- Author: Sam Steiner,
The cloud of witnesses
As a historian of Mennonites in Ontario, I have always enjoyed wandering through Mennonite and Amish cemeteries. Whether plain Old Order Amish or Old Order...
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- Privacy statement
- Terms of use
- © King's Printer for Ontario, 2023
- Photos © Ontario Heritage Trust, unless otherwise indicated.