wardmuseum.caToronto Ward Museum - The Ward

Museum Visit Visit InConversation Podcast Block by Block Journeys to the Frontline Not Just Numbers Dishing Up Toronto 2020 Homemade” Εxodus Εxperience Picturing the Ward Finding Myself in the Archive The Ward: Our Living History Pathways To Toronto …But I still can’t vote”Vision & Mission Board Of Directors Team Programming Committee Founders Join Us Partners Partners Words of Support Blog Resources Visit Visit InConversation Podcast Block by Block Journeys to the Frontline Not Just Numbers Dishing Up Toronto 2020 Homemade” Εxodus Εxperience Picturing the Ward Finding Myself in the Archive The Ward: Our Living History Pathways To Toronto …But I still can’t vote”Vision & Mission Board Of Directors Team Programming Committee Founders Join Us Partners Partners Words of Support Blog Resources × Donate Now TORONTO WARD MUSEUM FILLING A GAP IN TORONTO’S HERITAGE SECTOR Toronto is home to 20 per cent of Canada’s immigrants. Almost half of Toronto’s population was born outside of Canada and over 180 languages and dialects are spoken throughout the city. As one of the most multicultural cities in the world, immigration has been integral to Toronto’s past and present. While a number of organizations in Toronto have done much work to preserve and document this history, Toronto currently does not have a go-to destination where the public can discover and interact with this wealth of stories. The city needs a cultural institution that strengthens our understanding of immigration history through innovation in interpretation and public engagement. Working with our partners, the Toronto Ward Museum will bring the city’s untold history to life, and engage visitors and locals alike in a conversation about pluralism and what it means for our communities. About Toronto Ward Museum Featured Exhibits Block By Block Block By Block Dishing Up Toronto Dishing Up Toronto InConversation Podcast InConversation Podcast View All Exhibitions ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL LAND Sharing stories is at the foundation of TWM’s mission. As we encourage newcomers to Canada to share their stories of immigration, we also encourage them to hear and respond to the stories of Canada’s First Nations. That story begins at least 15,000 years ago on the territory where we all now live—lands that are traditional territories of the peoples of Turtle Island. The lands that are now Toronto are the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. The territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. The TWM is grateful to live and work with them and with newcomers on this territory. Living on this territory makes all people in Toronto treaty peoples, including those who come as settlers, or immigrants of this generation or earlier generations, including those brought involuntarily as a result of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade. For more information, please visit the City of Toronto’s Indigenous Affairs Office and the Tkaronto Indigenous Peoples Portal (TIPP) . Support Us The Toronto Ward Museum is unlike any other museum, a community based, participatory organization that gives a platform to residents of Toronto to tell their stories. Donate today. Donate WORDS OF SUPPORT FOR TWM Kapisanan believes in safe spaces that serve to encourage and empower our youth to explore their identity and realize their full potential, so we are delighted to collaborate with the Toronto Ward Museum in not only the preservation but celebration of Toronto’s rich narrative history. We are thrilled at the prospect of sharing and contributing our own distinctive cultural heritage to the complex and multifaceted tapestry of our city. NICOLE CAJUCOM Executive Director, Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture If Pier 21 was an immigration gateway Toronto, and the Ward in particular, was a destination. The staff and volunteers at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 look forward to partnering with the Ward Museum to tell the rest of the story” in innovative ways that bring historic and contemporary migration stories together. MARIE CHAPMAN CEO, Pier 21 The Toronto Ward Museum is an innovative and interactive cultural and educative program that will recognize the roots of Toronto’s rich immigrant history and merge it with current and future immigrant experiences and contributions to our great city. KRISTYN WONG-TAM Councillor for Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale The Toronto Ward Museum stands apart from previous attempts as it places immigrant communities at the very centre of its creation and programming. It is both a necessary and ground-breaking addition to Toronto’s rich cultural landscape. OCASI looks forward to championing an initiative like the Toronto Ward Museum, as it will highlight the multiple histories of immigration and ethnic communities in Toronto. DEBBIE DOUGLAS Executive Director, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants Heritage Toronto is excited to partner with Toronto Ward Museum and to tell the stories of the people, places, and events that shaped The Ward and the diversity of our city. FRANCISCO ALVAREZ Executive Director, Heritage Toronto Hart House is pleased to be a supporting partner of the Toronto Ward Museum. Our exhibit,…but I still can’t vote ” gives voice to an outsider” population who have greatly contributed to building their communities even without full citizenship or the right to vote. The mission of the Toronto Ward Museum is the perfect fit for our exhibit and for Hart House’s ongoing commitment to serving as a forum where students of the University of Toronto and other members of the community can learn from one another through the exchange of different narratives. JOHN MONAHAN Warden, Hart House Every great city needs a space where the stories of newer immigrants can meet and mingle with the stories of older arrivals, creating a dialogue that allows all to appreciate the long history of everyday struggles and soaring hopes that built Toronto. DONNA R. GABACCIA Historian, University of Toronto Scarborough and Tenement Museum Consultant since 1990 Passages Canada is excited to support the Toronto Ward Museum—an initiative that, by telling Toronto’s migration stories, new and old, will spark valuable cross-cultural dialogues and bring to light many untold stories of this increasingly diverse city. JILL PATERSON Senior Project Manager, Historica Canada The Ward holds forever a spot in Toronto’s history. Although most of the bricks and mortar that once filled the neighbourhood are long gone, its legacy and stories will endure through initiatives like the Toronto Ward Museum. While Toronto is celebrated and recognized for its diversity, history shows that the path to today’s successes was not without obstacles and hardships. Remembering the past is integral to steering the present and future. ARLENE CHAN Author and Chinatown Historian The Ward Museum is an exciting and inspiring initiative which will make Toronto’s history of immigration visible and meaningful for today’s multicultural citizens. The museum’s vision, which is based on a collaborative and inclusive model, speaks to the awareness that well established immigrants and newcomer communities should speak to each other and learn from their diverse experiences. The extremely creative, passionate and knowledgeable team at TWM is building more than a museum, creating a space for dialogue about Toronto’s past, present and future. IRINA D. MIHALACHE Assistant Professor, Museum Studies, University of Toronto The labour of feeding a city falls largely to immigrants: restaurant workers,...