New Project: Oral History and Photograph Online Archive

The Multicultural History Society of Ontario is delighted to announce that work has officially begun on its 3-year project to create an online archive documenting the immigrant and ethnic experience. The archive will feature oral history interviews and historical photographs from the MHSO collection, augmented by contextual commentary and innovative educational programming.

It is now exactly forty years since Canada became the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy, and Ontario has a rich history of ethnocultural diversity. This online archive will help educators tutor students on this vital aspect of our provincial heritage, and highlight to all Ontarians and visitors our vibrant cultural mosaic.

The MHSO gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation that makes this project possible. A leading grant-maker in Canada, OTF strengthens the capacity of the voluntary sector through investments in community-based initiatives. An agency of the Government of Ontario, OTF builds healthy and vibrant communities.

Anyone who is interested in becoming involved in this project as a volunteer is encouraged to contact Britt Braaten at britt.braaten@mhso.ca or 416-979-2973.

Check out the MHSO on Facebook! 

Visit the MHSO's page on Facebook to view photographs and videos from past events, learn about upcoming events, and stay in the loop about everything that is going on at the MHSO. Remember to "like" our page! You can also check out the MHSO online at our YouTube channel and our Flickr group.

History Minds @your library Speaker Series: "Understanding Slavery Past and Present" 

The Mississauga Central Library, in partnership with ActiveHistory.ca, invites all to attend the free lecture by Karlee Sapoznik (PhD Candidate, York University) on the topic of historical and contemporary slavery. The lecture is on Thursday, May 12 from 7:30-8:30 PM at the Mississauga Central Library, Classroom 3, 2nd Floor.

Film screening and discussion: "DEATH or CANADA" 

The Enoch Turner Schoolhouse Foundation invites all to attend the screening of "DEATH or CANADA", an award-winning film that explores Canada's role in the Irish famine of 1847. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Daniel Thomson, Executive Producer, and historian Dr. Mark McGowan. Tickets are available in advance or at the door ($8 adults; $5 students, seniors, ETSF members). The event takes place May 12, 6:30pm-9pm. For more information, contact the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse at 416-327-6997.

Congratulations to the MHSO's UTM placement students 

On April 20, 2011, students Felicia Daisy, Grigor Grigorian and Ravneet Dulai presented the results of their History Internship at the MHSO. All gave very engaging presentations about their work conducting interviews with members of local Caribbean, Armenian and Sikh communities. These interviews have been added to the MHSO archival collection, and are available to all interested parties.

Congratulations to the "Experience This!" graduates 

On April 18, 2011, six youth from Serve! Canada's "Experience This!" program graduated, in a lovely ceremony at the 519 Community Centre. Since November, these youth worked with the MHSO on a weekly basis as part of this program that provides youth with work experience and job skills training. This partnership was very rewarding for the MHSO, and we look forward to working with this program in the future.

Launch of Chinese Canadian Women, 1923-1967 website and The Ties That Bind video 

On March 31, 2011, the Columbus Centre hosted a lively crowd for the launch of two major projects, the MHSO's website Chinese Canadian Women, 1923-1967 (www.mhso.ca/chinesecanadianwomen) and the Foundation to Commemorate the Chinese Railroad Workers in Canada's video The Ties That Bind (www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind). The projects were made possible through funding from the Government of Canada (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Community Historical Recognition Program).

Chinese Canadians are making history with a more inclusive interpretation of Canada’s official story in a new online exhibit that draws attention to their contributions in achieving the national dream – the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Nearly 125 years since the driving of the “Last Spike” that completed the main line of the CPR, a dozen descendants of Chinese railroad workers are now sharing their family stories about the building of the railroad, and settling in Canada, in The Ties That Bind: Building the CPR, Building a Place in Canada online exhibit www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind.

The project is sponsored by the Foundation to Commemorate the Chinese Railroad Workers in Canada, in partnership with the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, with funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada under the Community Historical Recognition Program.

Chinese Canadian Women 1923-1967: Inspiration-Innovation-Ingenuity

The MHSO started work on a two-year project, Chinese Canadian Women 1923-1967: Inspiration-Innovation-Ingenuity, thanks in large part to a significant grant from the federal government’s Community Historical Recognition Program. This project will bring together a variety of sources, including new oral history interviews that will be conducted across the country. It will culminate in an online portal that will make exhibitions, digital resources, learning materials and interactive activities available to the public. Online users will also be invited to contribute to this commemoration of the experiences of Chinese Canadian women.

Community Screening of Sluzhenie (Service) and Gifting of Heritage Magazine

On May 4, 2010, the MHSO, together with the Russian Canadian Cultural Aid Society (RCCAS), hosted a community screening of Sluzhenie (Service), a documentary by Alexander Gershtein. The evening also featured the presentation of Heritage bilingual magazine, published by the Russian Canadian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Heritage magazine is now available for consultation in the MHSO’s library and archives.

Launch of Multicultural Canada

The MHSO joined the Multicultural Canada Digitization Project Partners on March 23, 2010 at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia to celebrate the launch of www.multiculturalcanada.ca. Multicultural Canada's aim is to provide online access to historical records along with the shared histories and experiences of the many cultural groups that have built and continue to build a vibrant Canada.  

Digitization Initiatives

The MHSO recently partnered with Documenting Multicultural Canada, contributing approximately 100 hours of interviews with Italian Canadian Women and a selection of archival photographs to the Italian Canadian Women Oral History Collection, Photograph Collection, and the Hardworking Women Indeed learning module.

The MHSO also partnered with Connecting Canadians: Canada's Multicultural Newspapers digitization project. Ethnic newspapers in Estonian, Finnish, Latvian and Lithuanian from our collection are available on the searchable website: www.connectingcanadians.org.

New Location

We have moved! Please be sure to consult our new address when planning your visit.