Dionne Quintuplets birthday a chance to bring 'history alive'

It was 85 years ago this week that history was made in Canada with the birth of the first surviving identical quintuplets.

Now, as the remaining quintuplets Annette and Cécile celebrate their 85th birthday, the curator of the Callander Bay Heritage Museum and Alex Dufresne Gallery is hoping the occasion will help Canadians to remember their story.

Natasha Wiatr admits while growing up in southern Ontario, the Dionne Quintuplets story was not one she knew well. She says she wants to change that for others.

"I don't think as many Canadians know about them as they should," she said. "This really was an iconic event in a sense but not necessarily in a positive way."

The sisters, born on May 28, 1934 in Corbeil near North Bay, were the first surviving identical quintuplets.

"Their birth arrived right in the middle of the Great Depression and just completely rocked not only this area but the world as a whole," she said.

"There was just something about these five tiny girls that inspired hope in a lot of people."

As a result, millions of people travelled to northern Ontario to see them. All five sisters were taken from their parents by the Ontario government and were turned into a tourist attraction called Quintland for the first nine years of their lives. About $500 million flowed into the province as a result.

A year ago, Wiatr says the museum opened an exhibit to look at the location of Quintland.  To mark the quintuplets 85th birthday, the museum did presentations showcasing both the historical side of the site as well as what it looks like today.

In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, the sisters expressed caution about the perils of childhood celebrity. Wiatr says the quintuplet's story could be considered the "original reality TV." 

"The fascination has always been there, it's just in a different format now in our digital age," she said.

She says she hopes the recent birthday of the two remaining sisters brings a renewed interest in their story.

"Our hope is that it brings history alive," she said.

"Sometimes we can become complacent in history and think that it happened so long ago that it doesn't matter anymore or it doesn't affect us. Hopefully we can bring it back to life and to really remind people what happened here 85 years ago."