Change is inevitable. And there’s no progress without change. But progress is just one option, especially during challenging times like these, when finding inspiration and optimism about the future can be hard.
The Open Door is where we work to create a better future - by exploring the past.
I am your host, Andrew Humeniuk, Executive Director of The Brown Homestead in St. Catharines, site of one of the oldest homes in Ontario, the John Brown House. It is also the location of the only surviving residence of Mohawk Chief Teyoninhokarawen, also known as Major John Norton, which was moved here to save it from demolition.
On this podcast, we are going to share our journey of reimagining this historic site as one of Niagara’s most exciting cultural and educational venues and exploring ways that other sites can be catalysts for change in their communities.
And we’ll be talking to people we meet along the way, examining historical issues that relate directly to the world we’re living in now, and looking for ways to use our new understanding to change our world for the better - today.
History is the story of how we got here and it helps us know where to go next.
The Mohawk linguist Charles Cooke wrote that Teyoninhokarawen translates to “his door is open,” an allusion to his friends finding the door open not only to his home, but to his heart.
Norton was a lifelong learner, an educator and a community leader, who worked hard - rightly or wrongly - to bring disparate groups, Indiginous peoples and European settlers into harmony.
We hope to honor those ideas here on the Open Door, as well as in our approach to history, to the future and to each other. Come join us. Our door is open.