Textile Museum of Canada

The Textile Museum of Canada is a museum in Toronto, Ontario, dedicated to the collection, exhibition, and documentation of textiles. Founded in 1975 as the Canadian Museum of Carpets and Textiles, it has grown into one of the country's foremost institutions for textile arts, housing a permanent collection of more than 15,000 objects spanning 2,000 years of global textile history. The museum presents exhibitions of international contemporary art, craft, and design alongside historic and ethnographic artifacts, and it serves as a research and educational center through its programming and specialized library.

The museum was founded in 1975 by Max Allen and Simon Waegemaekers as the Canadian Museum of Carpets and Textiles. Its initial home was above an ice cream shop in Mirvish Village, and its earliest holdings consisted of textiles collected during business trips. In 1989, the institution relocated to its current location just north of Toronto City Hall, adopting the name Textile Museum of Canada. The museum has acknowledged the Indigenous history of its site, noting that it operates on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat. In February 2025, the museum closed for eight months due to a lack of funds for building maintenance and elevator repairs, with plans to reopen in October 2026.

The permanent collection encompasses more than 15,000 textiles from around the world, including fabrics, ceremonial cloths, garments, carpets, quilts, and related artifacts. The museum presents curated exhibitions drawn from its own holdings and from other collections, spanning contemporary work alongside historic and ethnographic material. To broaden its audience, the museum has expanded its exhibition focus to include clothing. Its educational programming encompasses lectures, round-table discussions, workshops, music and dance performances, hands-on demonstrations, school programs, and public tours. The museum is affiliated with the Canadian Museums Association (CMA), the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), and the Virtual Museum of Canada.

The museum's collection covers two millennia of textile production and use. Several of its exhibitions and publications have received awards: Cloth & Clay: Communicating Culture (2003); Canadian Tapestry: The Fabric of Cultural Diversity (2006); A Terrible Beauty: An Installation (2006); and Thor Hansen: Crafting a Canadian Style (2006). The Canadian Tapestry digitization project provides online access to 7,000 artifacts, with a second phase planned to make an additional 3,500 items available. The museum also houses the H.N. Pullar Library, a reference collection focused on non-industrial textiles.

The museum's current location is situated just north of Toronto City Hall. The building has required significant maintenance, and a lack of funding for building upkeep and elevator repairs led to the museum's closure in February 2025.

The Textile Museum of Canada is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its website is http://www.textilemuseum.ca/. The museum closed in February 2025 for an eight-month period due to insufficient funds for building maintenance and elevator repairs, with reopening anticipated in October 2026. During its operational periods, the museum offered public access to its exhibitions, library, and educational programs. Roxane Shaughnessy, who has been with the institution for more than 25 years, serves as senior curator and director of collections.