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2024 recipients of the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards
“These recipients include dedicated lifelong volunteers, innovative projects blazing new trails, and young people just beginning to make their marks. Each represents the hard work of heritage. Together, they embody some of the best and boldest approaches to heritage work in Ontario today.” — John Ecker, Chair, Board of Directors, Ontario Heritage Trust
The Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards honour the people who uphold the integrity of the heritage sector, and the achievements born from their dedication. From restoration projects and digital resources to exhibitions and bodies of work, Ontario’s heritage comprises the hard work of volunteers, professionals and organizations that conserve and celebrate the stories of our communities for the present and for future generations.
Join us in celebrating the 2024 recipients of the Lieutenant Governor’s Ontario Heritage Awards:
Lifetime Achievement:
Youth Achievement:
Excellence in Conservation:
- The Pickering Museum Village Log Barn and Log House Restoration
- North Star: A Portal for Black History in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent
- Across the River to Freedom: Early Black History in Sandwich, Ontario
- Dickson Public School Adaptive Reuse, Cambridge
- Pathways to Reclamation: The La Cloche Cataloguing, Learning and Sharing Project, Northern Ontario
- The Mallorytown Glassworks Permanent Exhibit, Front of Yonge Township
- The Postmark Hotel Revitalization Project, Newmarket
Community Leadership:
- The Maltese-Canadian Museum, Toronto
- The Markham Museum and the York Region District School Board Museum & Archives
Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation:
Lifetime Achievement
Marie Carter
For 28 years, Marie Carter has been a driving force in preserving and promoting Dresden's history. She is a prolific author and researcher, uncovering the stories of Black and formerly enslaved leaders who shaped the town’s development. As an original member of the advisory committee of the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History, Marie played a key role in guiding the museum’s direction and mission. A founder of the Dresden Archives and Dresden Virtual History Group, Marie has helped preserve over 450 artifacts and is a trusted resource for those exploring the town’s heritage. She has also sparked widespread interest in Dresden’s rich history and has inspired new preservation initiatives.
Richard Cumbo
Richard Cumbo has spent over 55 years preserving Maltese heritage in Ontario. Since the1970s, he has secured grants, organized events and written extensively on the Maltese-Ontarian diaspora, helping to keep traditions alive. He has served as curator of the Maltese-Canadian Museum for the past seven years, where he has led key initiatives, including publishing a social services guide in Maltese, co-ordinating community seminars, and securing funding for cultural projects. Despite a shrinking Maltese population in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood, his nearly lifelong efforts have maintained vital cultural connections locally and with Malta.
Peter Handley
Peter Handley has dedicated over 50 years to preserving North Bay’s history. Peter served 26 years with the Municipal Heritage Committee (19 of those as chair) and 27 years on the Public Library Board. He organized Heritage Week events, plaque unveilings and created a local history podcast based on over 60 interviews he conducted. Peter also donated his collection of artifacts to the North Bay Museum, ensuring that the city’s stories endure. Retiring from volunteer work at 89, Peter has contributed significantly to the record of Northern Ontario’s rich history.
John Sabean
John Sabean has devoted over 25 years to researching and preserving the history of the old Township of Pickering. As co-founder of the Pickering Township Historical Society, he has shared his extensive research through lectures, publications and community involvement. John has worked tirelessly to conserve artifacts and historical records, and to ensure that they have a permanent home. He has contributed to city heritage initiatives — including heritage building preservation and street naming — leaving a lasting impact on both Pickering’s past and its future.
Youth Achievement
Allison Leroux
Allison Leroux’s passion for heritage spans various fields, including natural heritage, music and storytelling, contributing to the promotion of reconciliation and environmental stewardship. As a director at Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters, she has played a key role in arts-based programming, workshops and field trips focused on Indigenous heritage and biodiversity. She has also been involved in organizations like Ecosource and Blooming Boulevards, where she helps preserve native plants. Allison has served as a guest educator, committee member and volunteer, fostering community engagement and conservation practices.
Ellen Siebel-Achenbach
Ellen Siebel-Achenbach has made remarkable contributions to the preservation of heritage craft techniques. Ellen uses a hands-on approach to research and recreate historical processes and to craft historically accurate tools and objects. As a gifted communicator, she brings these crafts, like Canadian stained glass, to life at conferences and workshops, demonstrating the methods behind their creation. Her work bridges the gap between past and present, allowing audiences to witness historically accurate crafting processes firsthand. Her development of community-based preservation programs showcases her commitment to safeguarding heritage for future generations.
Grace Tan
Grace Tan has made notable contributions to natural heritage stewardship through her leadership in Credit Valley Conservation’s Frontline youth program, where she mentored peers and participated in activities like tree planting, litter cleanups and water-quality testing. She helped organize bird box repairs and native plantings. Beyond her work with Credit Valley Conservation, Grace contributed to the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance, leading the 2024 EcoBuzz Conference with over 300 students in attendance. As president of her school’s EcoClub, Grace continues to inspire peers to take action for a sustainable future, designing activities that foster community engagement in environmental issues and natural heritage.
Excellence in Conservation:
The Pickering Museum Village Log Barn and Log House Restoration
The City of Pickering, with B.A. Construction, has recently restored the Log Barn and Log House, two mid-19th-century structures at the Pickering Museum Village. The restoration team combined traditional and modern construction methods while cleverly concealing evidence of modern techniques. The team also made efforts to reuse materials, such as reclaimed foundation stones, and to source appropriate new materials, like native softwood. This restoration transformed the Log Barn and Log House into welcoming spaces for educational programs and exhibits that celebrate Ontario history at the Pickering Museum Village.
North Star: A Portal for Black History in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent
The University of Windsor and the Essex County Black Historical Research Society partnered to create digital gateway to carefully vetted academic sources, museums, heritage sites, archives and interactive learning experiences that tell the story of Black Canadians in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent. This portal reduces barriers to education for researchers, students, residents and tourists who want to explore the profound impact of Black Canadians on this area of the province. Great care was taken to model a high standard of digital conservation practices and research standards.
Across the River to Freedom: Early Black History in Sandwich, Ontario
The University of Windsor and the Essex County Black Historical Research Society have partnered to create a web resource entitled Across the River to Freedom: Early Black History in Sandwich, Ontario. The website provides access to short films, contextual essays, oral history transcripts and a historical resource gallery, in addition to audio-guided walking tours that help users explore the places that feature the history of Black heritage in Sandwich. The project team used digital preservation policies and metadata tagging to ensure that stories and legacies are preserved and can be shared in meaningful ways, while people explore the spaces and places where these stories took place.
Dickson Public School Adaptive Reuse, Cambridge
Summerco Properties, John Macdonald Architect and partners recently repurposed the historical Dickson Public School into much-needed residential units. Built in1876 in the vernacular Scottish Georgian style, the building served as a school until 2014. This thoughtful transformation celebrates the rich architectural heritage of Galt. Significant conservation efforts retained key features, such as original oak floors, wainscoting, floral tin panels, deep windowsills and exposed stone walls. The exterior remains largely unchanged, maintaining the building’s historical character, and modern systems were integrated discreetly to preserve the structure's integrity. This project skilfully balances the preservation of the architectural intent of the original structure with modern living requirements.
Pathways to Reclamation: The La Cloche Cataloguing, Learning and Sharing Project, Northern Ontario
For this collaborative project, 25 Anishinaabe individuals from communities on the north shore of Lake Huron have catalogued over 57,000 ancestral belongings from the La Cloche site — a former trading post in traditional Sagamok Anishnawbek territory. These belongings had been stored in dispersed facilities for decades until they were transferred to the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation (OCF) in 2014. The OCF and Sagamok Anishnawbek partnered with University of Toronto archaeologists, marking the first time that Indigenous people from the region have led the examination and care of these artifacts. The collection is now a dynamic resource that connects people with their heritage through a searchable catalogue. This initiative has inspired an upcoming exhibit at the OCF and aided the ability of Sagamok Anishnawbek to conserve the site and mitigate erosion. Emphasizing Indigenous sovereignty, the project integrates art, language and storytelling, shifting away from traditional academic formats to engage communities actively and creatively, reimagining archaeological practices.
The Mallorytown Glassworks Permanent Exhibit, Front of Yonge Township
The Thousand Islands River Heritage Society and the Mallory Coach House Museum team have meticulously curated a permanent exhibit honouring the legacy of Amasa Mallory and the Mallorytown Glassworks — the first glassworks in Canada (1839-40). The exhibit immerses visitors in a room that tells a story: from the sandstone-style floor to custom red-oak and glass display cases, and lighting that enhances the glass’s beauty. Highlights include a full-wall mural of the glassworks' rediscovery in 1954, original Mallorytown glass, reproductions, tools and preserved newspaper articles. This tribute conserves memories of the glassmaking process and the rediscovery of Mallory’s buried history, while fostering local pride and boosting tourism.
The Postmark Hotel Revitalization Project, Newmarket
Streetcar Developments and the Archive Hospitality Group have thoughtfully revitalized the 1914 historical post office in downtown Newmarket, a cherished town landmark, to honour its historical value while finding a practical, minimally invasive use. The project team navigated town hall meetings, construction challenges and the expectations of a discerning community and council, to achieve a design that respects the building's character-defining elements. The partners added a discreet additional storey to the rear that harmonizes with the original architecture, while subtly differentiating itself. Remarkable efforts were made to blend heritage and modernity, creating a timeless hotel, integrating seamlessly into the neighborhood, weaving together the past, present and future.
Community Leadership
The Maltese-Canadian Museum, Toronto
The Maltese-Canadian Museum in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood is run by a volunteer group dedicated to the preservation of the cultural and material heritage of the Maltese diaspora and the memories that shaped the identity of the neighbourhood. Also known as Little Malta or Malta Village, this area had a significant increase in Maltese immigration after both world wars and is still the largest Maltese community in Canada. As the community evolves and new generations emerge, local heritage and traditions are at risk of being lost. Their body of work curating exhibitions, displays, events and a recently launched large-scale digitization project with the Magna Żmien Foundation makes them inspiring leaders in their community.
The Markham Museum and the York Region District School Board Museum & Archives
The Markham Museum and the York Region District School Board Museum & Archives have jointly undertaken an extensive initiative culminating in the “Standing in the Doorway: Lived Histories & Experiences of the Chinese Community” exhibition series. The initiative marks the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act and explores York Region's Chinese community, balancing historical challenges like railroad labour and head taxes with modern stories of resilience. This project was developed with scholars, community advisors and youth. The project features 17 oral histories and 300 artifacts and has been made available through a physical exhibition at the Markham Museum, a virtual exhibit, and a travelling display for schools. The breadth of the project and the thoroughness of community consultation undertaken for this project showcase the hard work that is required for meaningful heritage conservation and accessible interpretation.
Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation:
Regan Hutcheson
Regan Hutcheson is a cornerstone of heritage preservation in Ontario, managing the City of Markham’s Heritage Planning Department for 35 years, and shaping the city into a model for heritage conservation. His work balances conservation with new development, with his influence extending beyond Markham, as he is frequently consulted by municipalities across the province. Regan spearheaded the creation of innovative heritage policies, including financial incentive programs. His contributions include efforts to preserve historical buildings through initiatives like Markham Heritage Estates as well as the establishment of new Heritage Conservation Districts, designation of over 100 properties, and projects like the Stiver Mill restoration and the Unionville Heritage Conservation District Plan. Regan’s commitment to the field has made a lasting impact on the preservation of Ontario’s built and cultural heritage.
