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.