Sophie Langille

2023 Heritage York Curatorial Assistant Intern 

University of Toronto Master of Museum Studies Class of 2024

 

Contributed Sections: 

Indigenous Governance

The Ontario Temperance Act

Lambton House Proprietors

 

Sophie Langille arrived in Toronto (Tkaranto) in 2022 to pursue her graduate degree in Museum Studies, and, as a settler, has been fortunate to roam through several places on Turtle Island. She grew up in Calgary (Mohkinstsis), although her first year of life was in St. John’s (Ktaqmkuk), at 14 her family relocated to Halifax (Kjipuktuk). She also spent two university summers in Banff (Minhrpa), a semester abroad in the United Kingdom, and for a time worked at a museum in her father’s hometown of Bridgewater (Sin So’sepe’katik). As a wanderer on the move, Sophie has always felt a deep connection to the places and spaces she sets foot in. Lambton House, and the surrounding community of the Lower Humber River, was no exception. Having the opportunity to interact with the history of this area first hand was not something that she took for granted. Combing through various archival records and Lambton House’s on-site library, she began to grasp a historical portrait of the area. Although ten weeks is not a long time to thoroughly research a topic, had time permitted it, she would have appreciated the chance to delve deeper into women’s and working-class histories. Nevertheless, the work she completed on Indigenous Governance and the Ontario Temperance Act was a valuable learning process of synthesizing (and verifying) information from a wide range of resources, and presenting it in a manner that is accessible to the public.