Into the Light: Eugenics and Education in Southern Ontario, 2019

Into the Light examines local histories and ongoing legacies of racial “betterment” thinking in Southern Ontario that de-humanized and disappeared those who did not fit the normative middle-class lives of white, able-bodied settlers. In the early to mid -20th century, eugenics was taught in a number of universities throughout Southern Ontario. Educational institutions played a significant role in the eugenics movement by perpetuating destructive ideas that targeted Indigenous, Black, and other racialized populations, poor, and disabled people for segregation in institutions, cultural assimilation and forced sterilization. This exhibition centres the voices of members of affected communities who continue to work to prevent institutional brutality, oppose colonialism, reject ableism, and foster social justice.

Winner of the Lieutenant Governor's Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation, 2020