Surviving Dionne quintuplet visits birth home after two decades away
Posted August 5, 2018 12:49 pm.
Last Updated August 5, 2018 5:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Surrounded by children, one of the two surviving Dionne quintuplets walked through the door of the house she was born in for the first time in decades.
During a ceremony Sunday in North Bay, Ont., a plaque was unveiled to commemorate the national historic significance of the birth of the quintuplets.
Annette Dionne says she was honoured to attend the ceremony and to see so many people still interested in the quintuplets’ story.
The Dionnes became international sensations after they were born on May 28, 1934, as they were the only known quintuplets at the time to survive for more than a few days.
More than 1,000 people attended the ceremony and had the opportunity to take pictures with Dionne and visit the house.
Cecile Dionne was not able to attend the ceremony due to health issues.
Nipissing – Timiskaming MP Anthony Rota said the historic designation provides an opportunity to connect with the past and that he encourages Canadians to learn more about the Dionne quintuplets place in history.
The city of North Bay purchased their birth home in 1985 to create a museum about the family’s history, but it was closed to the public in 2015 after the city’s chamber of commerce stopped running it.
Last November, it was moved to a different location in North Bay and will be open to the public today for the event.
All five sisters were taken from their parents by the Ontario government and were turned into a tourist attraction for the first nine years of their lives, bringing in about $500 million to the province.
By the 1990s, three surviving Dionne sisters received a $4-million settlement from the province after they alleged the government mismanaged a trust fund Ontario created for them.
