Indigenous Peoples Month

Indigenous Peoples Month is a time to learn, reflect, and celebrate the diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis across Toronto and all of Turtle Island. It’s also a reminder to listen to and amplify Indigenous voices stories and experiences, as well as ensure that we partner with Indigenous communities to move our work forward.

Throughout the month of June, all Canadians can learn about the history of First Nations, Inuit and Métis and further embrace the opportunity to learn more about their identities. This is a time to celebrate the resilience of all Indigenous peoples, their vibrant and distinct cultures, and their beautiful languages.

This month is also an opportunity to acknowledge and honour the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people, family members, friends and survivors and the communities who support them, including their central role in the ongoing fight for justice. It’s also a time to remember the unmarked graves that were uncovered at residential schools in Canada. The City is committed to honouring them and their memory as it continues to advance truth, justice and reconciliation, guided by the Reconciliation Action Plan.

The City of Toronto encourages all residents to continue on their journey of respect and appreciation for Indigenous Peoples by learning more about Indigenous histories, attending Indigenous-led events, and supporting Indigenous Peoples.

      Throughout June

      Toronto Public Library

      Toronto Public Library hosts Indigenous celebrations, a festival of cultures and heritage to celebrate First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples heritage by presenting Indigenous storytelling and literature, as well as discussions on history and current issues.

      ReDress

      Take time to remember and reflect by visiting ReDress at Scarborough Museum, a mixed media work/painting/installation which acknowledges Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Girls 2Spirit People and their (chosen) families with the use of multimedia explorations such as sound, image and installation components. ReDress provokes thought to honour and to memorialise our Sisters, thereby attempting to invoke activations to redress some of the realities Indigenous Women face in society.

      Community Events

      Browse many festivals & events to join your community in celebrating and honouring Indigenous arts, culture and history in Toronto.

      June 7, 8, 14 & 15

      Join Indigenous storytellers for First Story Toronto at Colborne Lodge, a guided tour of the place now known as High Park.

      Friday, June 20 & Saturday, June 21

      Come together at Fort York for the Indigenous Arts Festival & Na-Me-Res Pow Wow, a community-focused and family-friendly event with traditional and contemporary music, dance, artisan and culinary experiences of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Turtle Island.

      Share in two days of vibrant culture expression rooted in Mino Bimaadiziwin (A Good Life), including storytelling, lacrosse demonstrations, dancing, tours, film screenings and Saturday’s traditional Pow Wow. Browse artisan and food market stalls, offering authentic handmade crafts, artwork and delicious cuisine. Stay into the evenings as the celebration continues with live musical performances.

      Saturday, June 21, 5:30 a.m.

      All are welcome to a Sunrise Ceremony  at Nathan Phillips Square followed by a feast on the (breakfast on the stage). Take photos of the Toronto sign lit in the four colours of the Medicine Wheel and journey on a self-guided tour of the Spirit Garden (Indian Residential School Survivors Restoration of Identity Project).

      Downtown

      • City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square:
        • Silver teapot gifted by Elder Garry Sault and Knowledge Carrier Tena Sault of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation is on display inside the Council Chamber at City Hall. Also, two panels recognizing the historic and ongoing service of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit who defended Canada and upheld peace around the world are on display in the Rotunda’s Hall of Memory. Please note, all visitors to City Hall must go through a security screening, which includes a walk-through metal detector. 
        • The TORONTO Sign is wrapped in the artwork Rekindle by Anishnaabe (Ojibwe) artist Joseph Sagaj in collaboration with Holly Fischer. The sign also features a 3D Medicine Wheel, an emblem of Indigenous cultural values, tradition and spirituality. Its four directions symbolize completeness, wholeness, connectedness and strength.
        • The Spirit Garden is an Indigenous cultural space honouring residential school survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities, and Indigenous cultural traditions. The design revolves around the turtle sculpture and incorporates elements that represent First Nations, Inuit and Métis cultures, including a teaching lodge, amphitheatre, a Three Sisters teaching garden, Two Row Wampum (Kuswenta), Tree of Peace, a water feature, a Métis canoe and an Inuksuk.
      • Dr. Lillian McGregor Park honours Dr. Lillian McGregor, a dedicated nurse and community leader, and its design reflects the heritage and her homeland of Whitefish River First Nation
      • Egerton Ryerson plaque on the campus of Toronto Metropolitan University explains his contribution to, and the trauma inflicted by, the residential school system at 50 Gould St.
      • 59 McGill St. was a boarding house for Indigenous youth run by Verna Johnston, an Anishinaabe author, activist, mother, grandmother and community leader from the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, from 1972 to 1973.
      • 114 McGill St. is the former home of Oliver Milton Martin, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) soldier and schoolteacher. He served in the First World War in the Royal Flying Corps of the British Army and during the Second World War and was quickly promoted to Brigadier, making him the highest ranked Indigenous person in the Canadian military up to that point. Afterwards, he became the first Indigenous person appointed as a provincial magistrate in Ontario.
      • Doctor O Lane honours Dr. Oronhyatehka (Burning Cloud), a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) physician and businessman. He attended the Mohawk Institute in the 1840s – one of the earliest residential schools in Canada – became the first Indigenous student at Oxford University in England and then earned his medical degree at the University of Toronto, becoming the second Indigenous person in Canada to do. His last home in Toronto was at 209 Carleton St. Nearby, his life is celebrated on a plaque in Allen Gardens Park and the mural on the outside of Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment at 167 Gerrard St. E.
      • Aspirations of Canadian Justice by Charles (Ya’Ya) Heit and Ongoing Journey by Susan Point on view inside the Federal Court House at 180 Queen St. W.
      • Ihati’ndouhchou’tenh/Clan Totems/Energetic Signatures by Huron-Wyandot(t) artist Catherine Tàmmaro are 27 bronzes embedded in the pavement of northside of Queen Street West from Spadina to McCaul Streets
      • A Battlefield Medicinal Herb Living Green Under the Snow by Susan Blight at 18 Wellington St. W.
      • Eagle V.1 by Dean Drever at 1 The Esplanade
      • Mural by Shalak Attack, Julian Periquet and Bruno Smoky at the basketball courts of David Crombie Park
      • Tom Longboat Lane honours Tom Longboat, a Onondaga distance runner, Canadian Olympian and First World War soldier. He was inducted into the Toronto Sport Hall of Honour.
      • The York Teamway by Robert Houle at the York Street Gateway of Union Station shows the history of the area, including information about the Indigenous icons depicted in the work including a Turtle, the Great Serpent, Fish, Trade Silver, Great Water Panther (Meeshupishu), Shaman/Ancient Teacher, the Canoe and the Thunderbird (Pinisi).

      Davenport & Spadina

      • Beneath Davenport Road lies hidden an ancient trail created by Indigenous peoples along the escarpment, linking their settlements with hunting and fishing grounds and trade routes using the Humber and Don Rivers. Read the plaque in Frank Stollery Parkette at 1 Davenport Rd.
      • Street signs at major intersections, e.g. Spadina/Davenport and Spadina/Dupont, honour the placenames in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe). Ishpadinaa, from which the name Spadina is derived, means “high hill” or “ridge”, while Gete-Onigaming for Davenport Road means “the old portage”. The signs were a joint initiative by Ogimaa Mikana and the Dupont by the Castle Business Improvement Area.
      • David A. Balfour Park was originally referred to as mishkodae meaning “prairie” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe). Mississaugas maintained the area as a meadow to attract animals into the environment, including deer, which gave rise to its previous name of Deer Park. The area is rich in plants that Indigenous people would use for medicines.
      • Painting on the traffic signal box by Anishinaabe artist Danielle Hyde depicts Aazowekidaadok Giiszook, where sun and moon meet (solar eclipse), at Spadina Road and Macpherson Avenue
      • The History of The Land mural by Shawnee, Lakota, Potawatomi, Ojibwe and Algonquin artist Philip Coté at 233 Spadina Rd.
      • Mural at 176 Dupont St. by Que Rock
      • Spadina Road library is home to a small collection in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) and it’s name is written on the front of the building in Cree syllabics and roman orthography. Mahsinahhekahnikahmik means “the lodge or place of the book”.
      • Totem pole by Plains Cree artist Don McLeay outside Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, the first Indigenous organization in Toronto, at 16 Spadina Rd.
      • Interconnections mural by Joseph Sagaj with contributions from artists Denise Aquash, Sonja Clarke, Larry M. Holder and Mike Rowade located in Paul Martel Park
      • K’san Village House Posts by Gitxsan First Nation artists Fedelia O’Brien, Murphy Green and Charles (Ya’Ya) Heit at the eastern Bloor entrance of Spadina TTC Station

      High Park

      • 57 ancient Iroquoian burial mounds have been identified in High Park including Bear Mound Complex, located north of Grenadier Café, and Snake Mound, located in the south end of the park
      • Sacred Fire by Philip Coté, Anahita Dehbonehie, Nick Blais, Sébastien Heins and Ishai Buchbinder inside High Park
      • Mural by Jim Bravo & Philip Coté at 149 Roncesvalles Ave.
      • Painting on the traffic signal box by Onyota’ a:ka (Oneida)/French-Canadian artist Aura Last (Monique Bedard) at intersection of Dundas Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue.
      • Mural by Alexander Bacon & Que Rock near intersection of Dupont Street and Osler Street

      Humber River

      • The Humber River is an important ancient Indigenous portage route leading from Lake Ontario up into the middle of Ontario to access Georgian Bay and beyond. Along the river, you’ll find the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas extensive presence in the area documented on numerous plaques and artwork.
      • The Humber River Pedestrian Bridge at the mouth of the Humber River displays the Thunderbird at the top of the bridge and below turtles, canoes, snakes and salmon
      • First Timeline is a series of ten large-scale murals by Philip Coté, Kwest and Jarus depicting ten points in the history of the Anishinaabe, Wendat and Haudenosaunee peoples, beginning 130,000 years ago, including cosmology, cultural and ecological history and teachings. It is located underneath the subway bridge at Old Mill Station, where nearby a Mississauga village existed from 1788 to 1805.
      • A plaque in Étienne Brûlé Park highlights the original placenames: Niwa’ah Onega’gaih’ihand means “little thundering water” in Onondaga and Kabechenong means “leave the canoes and go back” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe)
      • An agricultural Kanien’kehá:ka–Onöndowa’ga (Mohawk-Seneca) town named Teiaiagon/Taiaiako’n dating from 1670 to 1688 in the now Baby Point neighbourhood
      • Thunderbird Mound is an earthwork and burial site is estimated to be 6,000 years old located in Magwood Park
      • Self-guided tours with stops featuring above points of interest:

      Lower Don River Valley

        North York

        Scarborough

        • An Iroquoian village dating to about 1250 existed in Highland Creek valley near Birkdale Ravine
        • Two Huron-Wendat ossuaries are located in Tabor Hill Memorial Park and the memorial plaque includes an Iroquois Prayer by White Cloud
        • A Huron-Wendat village, including nearly 20,000 artifacts, dating to about 1400 existed in L’Amoreaux North Park

          Beaches

          • Emdaabiimok Avenue was renamed from Lower Cowell Road in 2024. The name means “where the road goes to the water” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) because the avenue was a traditional path that Indigenous people used to get to the water.
          • HOPE by Chippewa and Potawatomi artist Chief Lady Bird inside the Leauty Picnic Shelter at Beaches Park
          • Nkweshkoodaadidaa Ekobiiyag in Taylor Creek by City of Toronto’s Artist-in-Residence Maria Hupfield
          • Mural by Kreecha at 250 Westlake Ave

          Harbourfront

          • Plaques on the grounds of Fort York National Historic Site commemorate Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) warriors’ contribution to the Battle of York 1813
          • Toronto Inukshuk Park is home to the Toronto Inukshuk, a 50-tonne mountain rose granite stone structure created by artist Kellypalik Qimirpik from Kinngait, Nunavut. It’s one of the largest of its kind in North America.
          • Trillium Park’s entrance has moccasin engravings based on drawings by Phil Coté and young trees have been planted and bent at the trunk, shaped in a similar way to that done by First Nations people to mark paths through forests
          • Mino Bimaadiziwin – Good Life by Luke Swinson and August Swinson and Unity Pole by Kris Nahrgang in and near Centennial Park, respectively, in Exhibition Place.
          • Free Time by Dean Drever at 16 York St.