TORONTO, April 25, 2025 /CNW/ - Today, the Ontario Heritage Trust and the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario are celebrating the 2024 recipients of the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards. These annual juried awards, administered by the Trust, recognize people's outstanding achievements across a variety of pursuits in preserving and promoting Ontario's heritage.
There are nine projects and eight individual recipients of the 2024 Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards. The recipients were recognized at a private ceremony during the afternoon of April 25 at the Legislative Building in Toronto, presided over by the Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and John Ecker, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Heritage Trust.
Individual award recipients are:
- Marie Carter, Richard Cumbo, Peter Handley and John Sabean each received a Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement. Each of these remarkable individuals has selflessly given over 25 years of volunteer service toward enriching heritage in their community.
- Allison Leroux, Ellen Siebel-Achenbach and Grace Tan each received a Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Youth Achievement in recognition of their forward-looking spirit and trailblazing leadership. Each will also receive the Young Heritage Leaders Scholarship, worth $3,500 toward their post-secondary education to support their future. The Young Heritage Leaders Scholarship is jointly sponsored by Canada Life and the Ontario Heritage Trust.
- Regan Hutcheson also received the Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation in recognition of his visionary stewardship of heritage in Markham for over 35 years.
Recipients of the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation, which recognizes innovative and impactful conservation projects such as exhibitions, adaptive reuse and digital resources, include:
- Across the River to Freedom: Early Black History in Sandwich, Ontario
- Dickson Public School Adaptive Reuse, Cambridge
- North Star: A Portal for Black History in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent
- Pathways to Reclamation: The La Cloche Cataloguing, Learning and Sharing Project, Northern Ontario
- The Mallorytown Glassworks Permanent Exhibit, Front of Yonge Township
- The Pickering Museum Village Log Barn and Log House Restoration
- The Postmark Hotel Revitalization Project, Newmarket
Recipients of the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Community Leadership, which recognizes institutions and initiatives that develop and enrich a culture of conservation in their community, include:
- The Maltese-Canadian Museum, Toronto
- The Markham Museum and the York Region District School Board Museum & Archives
Learn more about each recipient of the 2024 Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards.
Quotes
"This year's award recipients have made tremendous contributions to heritage in Ontario through their care, their insight, and their expertise, and by making heritage accessible to people—physically or online. They have helped people learn about others and about themselves, and in doing so, they have strengthened the bonds within, and between, generations and communities." — The Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
"I'm honoured to celebrate the outstanding recipients of the 2024 Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards. Their dedication to preserving our cultural and built heritage plays a vital role in keeping our shared history alive. Through their work, they help us stay connected to where we come from—and they inspire people across Ontario to value and protect the stories that shape us." — The Honourable Graham McGregor, Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism
"The Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Awards shine a light on the exceptional work young people do to shape the future and make their communities a better place. As a founding supporter of this initiative, we're honoured to recognize Ontarians who create sustainable change each year. We proudly congratulate all the nominees and recipients on this outstanding achievement." — David Simmonds, Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Canada Life
"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
Contacts
- David Leonard, Senior Marketing and Communications Specialist, Ontario Heritage Trust at [email protected] or 437-246-9065.
- Tim Oracheski, Vice-President, Communications, Canada Life at [email protected].
- Joe Segal, Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, at [email protected].
Stay connected
Follow the Ontario Heritage Trust on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Subscribe to the Heritage Matters ... more! e-newsletter.
About the Ontario Heritage Trust
The Ontario Heritage Trust (the Trust) is an agency of the Government of Ontario. The Trust conserves, interprets and shares Ontario's heritage. The Trust conserves provincially significant cultural and natural heritage, interprets Ontario's history, celebrates its diversity and educates Ontarians of its importance in our society. The Trust envisions an Ontario where we conserve, value and share the places and landscapes, histories, traditions and stories that embody our heritage, now and for future generations.
About Canada Life
Canada Life is a leading insurance, wealth management and benefits provider focused on improving the financial, physical, and mental well-being of Canadians. For over 175 years, individuals, families and business owners across Canada have trusted us to provide sound guidance and deliver on the promises we've made. We proudly serve more than 14 million customer relationships from coast to coast to coast. Canada Life is a subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco Inc. and a member of the Power Corporation of Canada group of companies.
SOURCE Ontario Heritage Trust
Share this article