NEWS RELEASE
GUELPH MUSEUM
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Guelph Museums’ exhibition ‘Into the Light: Eugenics and Education in Southern Ontario’ received the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation, presented by The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell at a ceremony at Queen’s Park last evening.
Into the Light: Eugenics and Education in Southern Ontario brings the histories and experiences of eugenics to light by preserving and sharing stories of survivors of eugenic practices while presenting evidence of eugenics in education uncovered in university archives. Into the Light is presented in partnership with Re•Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice, Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology and Access to Life, and Respecting Rights, Arch Disability Law. It is co-curated by Mona Stonefish, Peter Park, Dolleen Tisawii’ashii Manning, Evadne Kelly, Seika Boye and Sky Stonefish.
Into the Light situates people with lived experience at the forefront and turns over museum space to tell these stories. Substantial efforts have been made to ensure the exhibition is accessible, including use of plain language, American Sign Language interpretation at events, captioning and transcripts of audio components, and narrative audio description. Its curators hope that Into the Light will inspire future examination and scholarship regarding the issue of eugenics and other difficult histories. The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and the Ontario Heritage Trust celebrated projects and individuals who made exceptional contributions to heritage conservation in Ontario yesterday evening at the annual Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards ceremony at Queen’s Park.
These awards, now in their 14th year, encompass a wide range of unique and fascinating achievements in the conservation of Ontario’s heritage. The Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards, administered by the Ontario Heritage Trust, are prestigious awards that recognize exceptional contributions to heritage conservation, environmental sustainability and biodiversity, and cultural and natural heritage.
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