New Toronto Indigenous teaching lodge fitted with skylights in service of ceremony

Operable skylights provide ventilation for cultural ceremonies at new spirit garden honouring residential school survivors

At first glance, the skylights installed atop the curved roof of the teaching lodge at city of Toronto’s newly opened Spirit Garden may seem like a solely aesthetic choice.

The structure appears to rise from a nearby reflection pool, evoking the amphibious creature at the heart of a creation story shared by many Indigenous cultures across North America – aka, Turtle Island. The skylights contribute to this effect, adding a spine-like texture to the structure’s exterior turtle shell pattern, made from a pre-formed laminated Ash wood structural frame enclosed with a white cedar tongue-and-groove exterior enclosure and sheathing.

However, the operable skylights are incredibly utilitarian and provide ventilation necessary for individuals to freely use traditional medicines and to participate in smudging, among other important ceremonies.

Truth and Reconciliation and the Calls to Action

After seven years in development, the City of Toronto officially opened the Spirit Garden at Nathan Phillips Square on September 30, 2024, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

City officials have said that Toronto built the garden as part of its response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action 82, which calls for governments to install residential school monuments in each Canadian capital city, to honour Indigenous survivors and the children who never returned home.

The project was funded by the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre, the City of Toronto, and the Government of Canada, and will stand as a permanent space for reflection, teaching, and healing, for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike.

It’s also a celebration of the many First Nation, Inuit and Métis cultures that exist across Turtle Island, and started as a foray into Indigenous placemaking by Gow Hastings Architects and Indigenous design consultant Two Row Architect.

The garden includes five stand-alone features in addition to the teaching lodge. A turtle sculpture is another nod to the creation story and lists the names of the 18 residential schools that have operated in Ontario. The spirit canoe is an homage to the Métis Voyageur Canoe, and the Inuksuk is a nod to the symbol of guidance for Inuit peoples. The Three Sisters artwork symbolizes corn, beans and squash, traditional foods that are often planted together and signify stewardship of the land and planning for the future. The final piece is the Kaswentha, a Two-Row Wampum Walkway, signifying a treaty of the same name that encourages Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures to paddle their own boats, in tandem but without steering one another, “as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, as long as the rivers run downhill, and as long as the grass grows green.”

Skylights illuminate Indigenous cultures in teaching lodge

While each element of the spirit garden is important, the teaching lodge was specifically planned as a space to come together, as a spiritual home for all First Nations peoples to learn about the importance of family. The building had seating for up to 60 people at one time.

Brian Porter, Principal at Two Row Architect, described the Spirit Garden as a whole as “both a seed and a portal.”

“As a seed, it provides a catalyst for the relationship between the Original Peoples of Turtle Island and all Canadians to improve and flourish through healing, sharing, and learning activities that are in alignment with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action. As a portal, it offers regional, national, and international visitors a glimpse into the rich heritage of Our Peoples from the City of Toronto’s ‘front porch’.”