About This Site
Purpose of the Recounting Huronia Community Archive
The purpose of this site is to help preserve and make public histories of institutionalization. Specifically, it is to preserve the histories of people who lived at the Huronia Regional Centre, an institution that warehoused people with intellectual disability diagnoses. Patricia Seth and Marie Slark brought a class action lawsuit against the government of Ontario for failing in its duties to Huronia residents, and settled out of court in 2013. Among non-monetary benefits, the 2013 settlement pledged that documents produced for the lawsuit would be accessible for scholarly research and available to the public.
Archival records are available through the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Regional Centre records are available through the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. The Recounting Huronia Collective’s archive complements the work of the settlement to preserve and protect Huronia’s history while recognizing Huronia survivors’ dignity and agency. This archive presents materials that are publicly available and accessible to former Huronia residents and their communities. Our team has permission to present the materials on this archive. Materials are organized, presented, and interpreted from the perspectives of survivors and for the purpose of telling survivors’ stories.
Archive Content Contributors
We are so grateful to survivors and allies who donated materials anonymously. Names and identifying information have been redacted from records in order to protect their confidentiality. We also used pseudonyms when referring to residents in their own records, unless we had permission to disclose.
Archive Advisory Team
The following Huronia Regional Centre survivors developed and vetted content for this archive, and provided guidance on how these materials would be presented. Their self-advocacy work is absolutely integral to the creation of this archive.
- Harold Dougall
- Carrieanne Ford
- Brian Logie
- Cindy Scott
- Patricia Seth
- Marie Slark
Archive Build Team
- Kate Rossiter (Associate Professor, Department of Community Health, Wilfrid Laurier University)
- Jen Rinaldi (Associate Professor, Legal Studies, Ontario Tech University)
- nancy viva davis halifax (Associate Professor, Disability Studies, York University)
- Liza Kim Jackson (PhD, Environmental Studies, York University)
- Katharine Viscardis (PhD, Canadian Studies, Trent University)
- Annalise Clarkson (Doctoral Student, Critical Disability Studies, York University)
- Siobhán Saravanamuttu (Doctoral Candidate, Politics, York University)
Funding
Patricia Seth and Marie Slark brought a class action suit against the government of Ontario for failing in its duties to residents of the Huronia Regional Centre, and settled in 2013. Funding from the settlement was earmarked for a Strategic Program Investment (or SPI) Fund, which allocated funds in support of projects that enhance the ability of intellectually disabled persons to guide and influence decisions affecting them personally and systemically. The SPI adjudication body awarded funds to the Recounting Huronia Collective in support of the development of this archive.