Language and Race in Contemporary Canadian History

This project shares stories and archival documents from a critical period in Ontario's history, when debates about heritage-language classes sparked intense public controversy. Drawing on archival records, it explores how questions of language, race, and belonging shaped schools in the late 1970s and 1980s. By highlighting the experiences of families, students, teachers, and communities, the exhibit invites visitors to reflect on how struggles for linguistic inclusion continue to influence education in Ontario today.

How to browse the archival materials:

Each section of this exhibit (accessible from the left-side menu on desktop or the top menu on mobile) is organized by themes that correspond to those featured on our main website.

We encourage you to visit the main website to explore these themes and read stories in the Featured Histories.

See also: Heritage Languages Program in Ontario for a chronological overview of the program’s development.

Within each section, item titles are linked to detailed archival records. These records include the item’s metadata, project ID, and a downloadable digital file.

Users wishing to browse the materials by locations of the holding archives (e.g., the Archives of Ontario) should use the Collections page. This page organizes items according to their archival repositories