Events
From our great Speaker's Nights featuring experts on local and national history to specialty event programming, our goal is to entertain and educate. Here is a sample of some of the events being held in the coming months. Come join us!
NOTE: OUR SPEAKER's NIGHT SERIES IS AN EXCLUSIVE EVENT FOR MEMBERS OF THE ETOBICOKE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND AS SUCH, THERE IS LIMITED SEATING. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A MEMBER, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
NOTE: OUR SPEAKER's NIGHT SERIES IS AN EXCLUSIVE EVENT FOR MEMBERS OF THE ETOBICOKE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND AS SUCH, THERE IS LIMITED SEATING. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BECOMING A MEMBER, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Thursday, February 20, 2020 - Speaker's Night: Black Settlements and African Canadian Communities.
In parts of Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, and British Columbia, Black and other communities can trace their ancestry to the pre-confederation settlement of people of African descent on Canadian soil. Channon Oyeniran will give an illustrated talk about the various Black settlements and communities that were founded across Canada with emphasis given to Toronto and the surrounding area. The presentation will also look at the establishment of various institutions (schools, churches etc.) that were part of the Black Canadian community’s survival.
Channon Oyeniran is an Honours graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in History and Caribbean Studies from the University of Toronto, a Master’s Degree in Slavery Studies from the University of Hull in the UK and a Certificate in Adult Education from George Brown College. Channon is the co-founder of Oyeniran Education Support (OyES), an educational organization created by herself and her husband. Apart from participating in conferences and workshops relating to the Black experience and history in Canada, Channon is currently the first Vice-President for the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS), where she helps the organization preserve, celebrate and spread the rich Black History of Ontario and Canada.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
In parts of Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, and British Columbia, Black and other communities can trace their ancestry to the pre-confederation settlement of people of African descent on Canadian soil. Channon Oyeniran will give an illustrated talk about the various Black settlements and communities that were founded across Canada with emphasis given to Toronto and the surrounding area. The presentation will also look at the establishment of various institutions (schools, churches etc.) that were part of the Black Canadian community’s survival.
Channon Oyeniran is an Honours graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in History and Caribbean Studies from the University of Toronto, a Master’s Degree in Slavery Studies from the University of Hull in the UK and a Certificate in Adult Education from George Brown College. Channon is the co-founder of Oyeniran Education Support (OyES), an educational organization created by herself and her husband. Apart from participating in conferences and workshops relating to the Black experience and history in Canada, Channon is currently the first Vice-President for the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS), where she helps the organization preserve, celebrate and spread the rich Black History of Ontario and Canada.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
Thursday, March 19, 2020 - Speaker's Night: The Struggle for Women’s Rights in Canada.
In 1918 women gained the right to vote in Canada. This great achievement was the result of the determination, will and sacrifice of many strong women who advocated and fought for equal rights. Maggie Newell will the tell the story of many of the key women who originated the suffrage movement in Canada and how their contributions lead to 1918 federal act to extend the right to vote to all Canadian women.
Maggie Newell has been a historical interpreter with Toronto Museums for more than 30 years at Montgomery's Inn, Gibson House and most recently the Zion Schoolhouse in North York. She curated a presentation at Gibson House in 2018, “The Fairer Vote”, celebrating the 100th anniversary of women voting in federal elections in Canada. Maggie has served as secretary and board member of the Culinary Historians of Ontario (now Canada) as well as a past president of the Costume Society of Ontario. Her hobbies include traditional textile handcrafts – from cross stitch to needle felting to basket weaving.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
In 1918 women gained the right to vote in Canada. This great achievement was the result of the determination, will and sacrifice of many strong women who advocated and fought for equal rights. Maggie Newell will the tell the story of many of the key women who originated the suffrage movement in Canada and how their contributions lead to 1918 federal act to extend the right to vote to all Canadian women.
Maggie Newell has been a historical interpreter with Toronto Museums for more than 30 years at Montgomery's Inn, Gibson House and most recently the Zion Schoolhouse in North York. She curated a presentation at Gibson House in 2018, “The Fairer Vote”, celebrating the 100th anniversary of women voting in federal elections in Canada. Maggie has served as secretary and board member of the Culinary Historians of Ontario (now Canada) as well as a past president of the Costume Society of Ontario. Her hobbies include traditional textile handcrafts – from cross stitch to needle felting to basket weaving.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
Thursday, April 16, 2020 - Speaker's Night: Between Raid & Rebellion: The Irish in Buffalo and Toronto, 1867-1916.
William Jenkins compares the lives and allegiances of Irish immigrants and their descendants in one American and one Canadian city between the era of the Fenian raids and the 1916 Easter Rising. Highlighting the significance of immigrants from Ulster to Toronto and from Munster to Buffalo, he distinguishes what it meant to be Irish in a loyal dominion within Britain's empire and in a republic whose self-confidence knew no bounds. With the question of Irish home rule animating debates throughout the period, Toronto's unionist sympathizers presented a marked contrast to Buffalo's nationalist agitators.
William Jenkins is an Associate Professor of Historical Geography at York University. He completed his PhD in Historical Geography at the University of Toronto in 2001 after obtaining an MA from University College Dublin, Ireland in 1995. William specializes in the study of Irish migration to Canada and the U.S. from 1815 to 1914 and has written several books and many articles on the topic. His current book, Between Raid and Rebellion: the Irish in Buffalo and Toronto 1867-1916, has won awards from the Ontario Historical Society, Canadian Historical Association, the American Conference for Irish Studies and The Geographical Society of Ireland.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
William Jenkins compares the lives and allegiances of Irish immigrants and their descendants in one American and one Canadian city between the era of the Fenian raids and the 1916 Easter Rising. Highlighting the significance of immigrants from Ulster to Toronto and from Munster to Buffalo, he distinguishes what it meant to be Irish in a loyal dominion within Britain's empire and in a republic whose self-confidence knew no bounds. With the question of Irish home rule animating debates throughout the period, Toronto's unionist sympathizers presented a marked contrast to Buffalo's nationalist agitators.
William Jenkins is an Associate Professor of Historical Geography at York University. He completed his PhD in Historical Geography at the University of Toronto in 2001 after obtaining an MA from University College Dublin, Ireland in 1995. William specializes in the study of Irish migration to Canada and the U.S. from 1815 to 1914 and has written several books and many articles on the topic. His current book, Between Raid and Rebellion: the Irish in Buffalo and Toronto 1867-1916, has won awards from the Ontario Historical Society, Canadian Historical Association, the American Conference for Irish Studies and The Geographical Society of Ireland.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
Thursday, May 21, 2020 - Speaker's Night: "The Ward"
From the 1870s to the 1950s, waves of immigrants to Toronto – Irish, Jewish, Chinese and Italian, among others – landed in ‘The Ward’ in the centre of downtown. Deemed a slum, the area was crammed with derelict housing and ‘ethnic’ businesses; it was razed in the 1950s to make way for a grand civic plaza and modern city hall. John Lorinc will use archival photos and contributions from a wide variety of voices to tell the story of this complex neighbourhood and the lessons it offers about immigration and poverty in big cities.
John Lorinc is a Senior Editor at Spacing Magazine and an award-winning journalist who has contributed to Toronto Life, MacLean’s, The Globe and Mail, National Post, Saturday Night, Report on Business, and Quill & Quire, among other publications. As the non-fiction editor for Toronto’s Coach House Books, he has contributed to many books including The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood and The Ward Uncovered. John also specializes in leading walking tours of The Ward and other Toronto historic areas, some of which have been included in the annual Jane’s Walks.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)
From the 1870s to the 1950s, waves of immigrants to Toronto – Irish, Jewish, Chinese and Italian, among others – landed in ‘The Ward’ in the centre of downtown. Deemed a slum, the area was crammed with derelict housing and ‘ethnic’ businesses; it was razed in the 1950s to make way for a grand civic plaza and modern city hall. John Lorinc will use archival photos and contributions from a wide variety of voices to tell the story of this complex neighbourhood and the lessons it offers about immigration and poverty in big cities.
John Lorinc is a Senior Editor at Spacing Magazine and an award-winning journalist who has contributed to Toronto Life, MacLean’s, The Globe and Mail, National Post, Saturday Night, Report on Business, and Quill & Quire, among other publications. As the non-fiction editor for Toronto’s Coach House Books, he has contributed to many books including The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood and The Ward Uncovered. John also specializes in leading walking tours of The Ward and other Toronto historic areas, some of which have been included in the annual Jane’s Walks.
Location: Montgomery's Inn, 4709 Dundas St W, Etobicoke, ON M9A 1A8
Time: 7:30pm (Refreshments served from 7pm onward)