New Indigenous spirit garden opens outside Toronto city hall

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A new Indigenous spirit garden opened in Toronto on Monday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, to honour residential school survivors.

City officials say the garden is Toronto's response in part to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Call to Action 82, which calls for governments to install a residential schools monument in each capital city to honour survivors and all the children who did not come home.

Andrew Wesley, a member of the Fort Albany First Nation and residential school survivor, said visitors to the garden can learn not only about the abuse suffered by residential school survivors and intergenerational trauma, but also about the culture and history of Indigenous peoples who live in Toronto and its surrounding area.

"Be open to your heart when you hear our stories. These are sacred stories."

The public garden, in the southwest corner of Nathan Phillips Square in front of city hall, has as its centrepiece a large turtle sculpture made of limestone. Elements that represent First Nation, Métis and Inuit cultures surround the turtle and include a teaching lodge, a silver voyageur canoe and an inukshuk made out of granite.

The turtle, designed by Anishinaabe artist Solomon King, sits on sculpted boulders in the middle of a reflecting pool, facing the pool's north wall. The wall displays the names of all 18 residential schools that operated in Ontario.

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