For over 100 years, the Ontario Reformatory/Guelph Correctional Centre was embedded in the lives of the people of Guelph. The Reformatory was a place of duality: from reform intentions, which aimed to improve the lives of those who were incarcerated, to being one of Canada’s most notorious prisons. Yet some inmates and staff held hope, creativity, and a vision for life beyond the cell walls.
Discover stories from within the Reformatory at the exhibition opening of Darkness and Light: Inside the Ontario Reformatory. Join P. Brian Skerrett (guest curator) in conversation with Connie Shaw (retired Chaplin, Guelph Correctional Centre) and two former Guelph inmates, Freddy Taylor and Cliff Summers. They were both members of the Native Sons, a group of Indigenous inmates who self-organized to advocate for and practice their cultural traditions. Freddy Taylor (Curve Lake First Nation) is a survivor of the Mohawk Institute, and Cliff Summers (Oneida Nation of the Thames) was a Native Inmate Liaison Officer.
Visitors are encouraged to explore the exhibition before and after the event. Attendees are encouraged to gather in the programming room at 2 p.m. to mix, mingle, and enjoy refreshments. The conversation is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m.
Spiritual guidance provided by Jane Burning. Refreshments by Pow Wow Café.
The exhibition Darkness and Light: Inside the Ontario Reformatory will remain on view at the Guelph Civic Museum until April 30, 2025.
Image details, left to right:
Soldiers in the Billiards Room at Speedwell Military Convalescent Hospital, circa 1919 (Guelph Museums 1978.6.4); Painting created in 1985 by John J. Anishinabe (Courtesy: Janny Nieuwland); Riot at the Ontario Reformatory, 1952 (Guelph Museums 2014.1.1); “Hope” banner created by Reformatory inmates (Courtesy: Connie Shaw); Watching brook trout in a stream at the Ontario Reformatory, 1925 (Archives Ontario AO # B117492)
