Waterloo Region Museum

Exhibits

Waterloo Region Museum features a main gallery that tells the story of Waterloo Region and a temporary gallery that features rotating local and travelling exhibits from around the world.

Torn From Home: My Life as a Refugee

On exhibit from June 1 to Sept. 2. This exhibit provides families with an opportunity to better understand the hardships and hopes experienced by refugee children and their families worldwide. In conjunction with Torn From Home, the Waterloo Region Museum explores the history of offering refuge in Waterloo Region. Associated Special Activities include:

Torn From Home TALKS Series
Monday afternoons in June from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Presenters discuss refugee issues and re-settlement in Waterloo Region.

World Refugee Day
Tuesday, June 18, 4 to 8 p.m. In partnership with the Community Coalition for Refugee and Immigrant Concerns (CCORIC) and many other community organizations, the Waterloo Region Museum hosts a celebration of World Refugee Day.

What Makes Us Who We Are?

Our main exhibit gallery traces the 12,000 year human history of Waterloo Region, from First Nation's peoples, to European settlement at the start of the 1800s, to the manufacturing heydays of the 1900s, to the high tech sector boom of recent years. Visitors will discover the reasons why people from around the world have immigrated to this region of Canada - whether they came for love, education, a better life, a new job or to find freedom

Coming of Age

Adolescence is a timeless and universal experience. Today's teens share many of the experiences of their parents and grandparents - high school, work, fads, fun, romance, even inter-generational conflict. Discover what it meant and means to be young in Waterloo Region regardless of your generation in the Coming of Age exhibit located in our main gallery.

Community Highlight: The Hmong in Waterloo Region

The current focus of the Community Highlight exhibit area is The Hmong in Waterloo Region.  The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group that have historically lived in the mountainous regions of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. Hmong refugees first began immigrating to Canada in 1979. This exhibit is located in our main gallery.