People’s Archive of Rural Ontario was recently launched as a freely accessible online community welcoming everyone to share their stories of rural Ontario.
Over 60 people from the public, community groups, academia and the media attended the official launch of the People’s Archive of Rural Ontario (PARO). Through this online event attendees witnessed a virtual walkthrough of the new website and learned the importance of people’s archives.
PARO is a free and accessible online community of “everyday stories about everyday lives in rural Ontario.” This initiative is based out of the University of Guelph, with the support from Rural Ontario Institute.
PARO’s holistic definition of rural considers so much more than just agricultural activities and farmland - it highlights population density, geography, infrastructure, human activities, economics and more.
PARO is founded on the following four principles:
- Privileging Rural Voices – PARO intends to be a safe space for people to narrate their stories that are important to them, in any form they choose to best represent them.
- Aligning with Rural Needs – PARO aims to be a flexible initiative, continuously evolving practices, and efforts in response to changing priorities and needs of people and communities of rural Ontario. PARO supports reconciliation, recovery, preservation, and resilience of rural Ontario.
- Diversity and Equity – PARO is grounded in an anti-oppressive approach both online and offline. PARO welcomes all submissions including people who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities and persons of all sexual and gender identities.
- Open Access – PARO is committed to sharing knowledge and stories that are accessible to everyone through a free online platform with a diversity of multimedia forms - audio, visual and written content.
The People’s Archive of Rural Ontario was inspired by a similar project in India, which documented the lives of people from rural communities. People’s Archive of Rural India captures voices and experiences of rural people that are less likely to be known.
PARO believes that by telling stories, bridges of understanding will be built between urban and rural Ontario.
"This archive is about people's voices shining through — and everything coming through in terms of people's everyday stories and experiences, whether they are historical or current,” says Josie Wittmer, Coordinator and Project Manager of PARO.
"It's important to highlight these things and have this archive that we can learn from and see the resilience of rural Ontario."
PARO’s website currently has 24 stories published in different multimedia forms.
Speakers at the online event included Rob Black, Senator of Ontario; Sharada Srinivasan, Guelph Professor and Canada Research Chair in Gender, Justice and Development; Charlotte Yates, President and Vice Chancellor at the University of Guelph; and Palagummi Sainath; Founding Editor of People’s Archives of Rural India.
To watch the full video of People’s Archive of Rural Ontario’s launch, visit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtbpvIHs3vI