Indian Residential School Survivors Legacy Project to be completed in 2020

By Rick Garrick

TORONTO—The Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre is planning a three-day celebration in October for the Indian Residential School Survivors (IRSS) Legacy Project’s Teaching, Learning, Sharing and Healing space at Nathan Phillips Square.

The Teaching, Learning, Sharing and Healing space is being developed in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Call to Action 82, which requests the establishment of a highly visible, publicly accessible structure in each capital city across the country to commemorate the victims and survivors of residential schools.

“It’s a cultural gathering — we’ll have over 20 teepees,” says Liana Canzian, communications coordinator with the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre. “Every morning we will have a sunrise ceremony and we will have a grand entry on the first day with the unveiling of a replica of the Restoration of Identity sculpture.”

Canzian says the sculpture is the focal point of the Teaching, Learning, Sharing and Healing space. Chippewas of Nawash artist Solomon King designed the sculpture.

“It’s of the shape of a turtle made over a boulder,” Canzian says. “The artist Solomon King will speak and share the process.”

Canzian says the turtle is significant in many First Nation creation stories.

“On the turtle’s back, it has 13 scutes to align with the 13 moons in the lunar calendar,” Canzian says. “The turtle is a snapping turtle, so it is indigenous to Ontario.”

Canzian says the boulder will have a list of all of the residential schools that once operated in Ontario.

“So the significance of the turtle climbing over the boulder [relates to] the resilience and the strength that the community, survivors and intergenerational members have in continuing to move forward.”

Canzian says interested people can apply for a variety of workshops that will be held during the celebration on Oct. 9-11 and it is free to the public.

“So far we are having teepee teachings, survivors are going to host a workshop [with] a sharing circle,” Canzian says. “There will be sports-related workshops and things for all ages.”

Canzian says the medicine wheel sign that was introduced for National Indigenous Peoples Day next to the Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips Square will also be in place for the three-day celebration.

“So that is generating a lot of excitement in seeing the Indigenous culture really shine through in an urban centre in downtown Toronto,” Canzian says. “Since this [was] a call to action for all capital cities across Canada to create a monument, Toronto is the first one to take this lead and do something about this response.”

The Teaching, Learning, Sharing and Healing space is scheduled for completion in 2020. In addition to the turtle sculpture, it will also include the Seven Grandfather Teachings, the Two Row Wampum, an inukshuk, a teaching lodge, a three sisters sculpture, a canoe and indigenous plants and trees.

“The whole space is meant for everyone to attend,” Canzian says. “It will be accessible if they want to host a workshop or a teaching.”

The Teaching, Learning, Sharing and Healing space will be situated on the southwest corner of Nathan Phillips Square at Queen and Osgoode.

“The Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre contribution for the Teaching, Learning, Sharing and Healing space is $6.2 million,” Canzian says. “[The fundraising] has been going well. People are really looking forward to this project and want to see this happen and they want to see how to get involved too.”

Information about the IRSS Legacy Project, including a donation page, is available online.