Photo credit: Tom ArbanOn September 30, 2024, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, the Spirit Garden opened at Nathan Phillips Square, after 7 years in development. More than 100 residential school survivors became the first to walk in the space alongside Indigenous community members, Mayor Olivia Chow, The Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.The Spirit Garden was designed by Gow Hastings Architects and Two Row Architect as a new permanent space to honour residential school survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities. It will also honour the diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Mtis cultural traditions.The gardens design centres around a six-foot-tall limestone Turtle sculpture by Anishinaabe artist Solomon Kin, placed in a reflecting pool. It symbolizes the First Mother, a commonality of creation stories for many Indigenous peoples. As the Turtle climbs over a boulder, it represents the strength and resilience of residential school survivors, a process introduced originally as the Restoration of Identity.The fully accessible site also includes a Two Row Wampum path, a Voyageur canoe, an Inukshuk, A Tree of Peace, a Three Sisters illustration on metal, and a timber-frame Teaching Lodge.The Spirit Garden is dedicated to Indigenous history and culturethe first public space built in a Canadian capital city to honour those impacted by the Residential Schools program and to directly respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Action 82.Nathan Phillips Square was selected by the City of Toronto, in partnership with the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre, as a publicly accessible, highly visible location to celebrate the resilience of survivors and their families with space for teaching, learning, sharing and healing. The garden serves as a space for contemplation, gatherings and spiritual ceremonies, and is open to all people seeking connection and understanding.The post Spirit Garden opens at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto appeared first on Canadian Architect.