Our faculty stands in solidarity with all people seeking a just society without racial, ethnic, or sexual discrimination. As we work to improve our school's diversity and our responsiveness to the needs of students and faculty who have faced systemic racism, we will continue updating this page with related news and resources. 

The University of Toronto provides a number of resources for community members looking for ways to combat — or heal from — the effects of discrimination and violence. Here are some of them.

• The University of Toronto's Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office leads educational programs, hosts anti-racism events, and responds to complaints about discrimination and harassment.
   
• Indigenous Student Services provides culturally relevant services to support the academic success and well-being of Indigenous students.
   
• The Multi-Faith Centre fosters interfaith dialogue on campus.
   
• The Sexual and Gender Diversity Office works to foster LGBTQ inclusion on campus, in part by offering individual support services.
   
• The St. George Health and Wellness Centre provides a number of health-related services to students, including mental health services.
   
• The Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre provides a range of services to students and faculty who have been affected by sexual assault or sexual harassment.

Land Acknowledgment 

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. The land of 1 Spadina Crescent has been the home and an important trail of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Spadina is synonymous with Ishpadinaa, meaning “a place on a hill” in Anishinaabe.

Why Do We Acknowledge The Land?  

To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory we work and live on, and a way of honouring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial.  

It is important to understand the long-standing history that has brought you to reside on the land, and to seek to understand your place within that history. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation. (Source: lspirg.org/knowtheland)

Indigenous related news Daniels

• First Peoples Leadership Advisory Group
• Architecture course highlighting Indigenous storywork recognized with an ACSA award
• Daniels Faculty to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Orange Shirt Day at 1 Spadina Crescent
• Inside Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag, the program that connects Indigenous youth to landscape architecture, conservation
• Inaugural summer program engages Indigenous youth in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design 

Other Resources

Digital resources  

• Assembly of First Nations Toolkit  

• Indigenous U of T  

• Hart House Events  

• About Orange Shirt Day  

• Canadian Residential School History  

• Residential School Timeline  

• U of T’s Truth & Reconciliation Calls to Action  

Book and print resources  

• The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad  

• Fatty Legs: A True Story by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton  

• Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciation by Monique Gray Smith  

• Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools by Theodore Fontaine  

• 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga by David Alexander Robertson  

• Pathways of Reconciliation: Indigenous and Settler Approaches to Implementing the TRC's Calls to Action by Aimée Craft and Paulette Regan  

Video and films  

• You Are on Indian Land (Michael Kanentakeron, 1969)  

• Mother of Many Children (Alanis Obomsawin, 1977)  

• Sisters & Brothers (Kent Monkman, 2015) 

Elder Dorothy Peters 

A Traditional Teacher and Community Nookmis, Elder Peters is a member of Jiima’aaganing (Seine River) First Nation. Throughout her career, she has worked in various consultative capacities with multiple Indigenous organizations in Toronto, including Aboriginal Legal Services and Anduhyaun Inc., and she has previously supported Indigenous students at the University of Toronto through First Nations House, where she served until recently as an Elder-in-Residence. A residential school survivor, Elder Peters is regularly called upon to share her stories, teachings and cultural expertise at events throughout the city.

Contact Dorothy: de.peters@daniels.utoronto.ca

Amos Key Jr. 

A member of the Mohawk Nation, Key is an educator, advocate and Traditional Faith Keeper of the Longhouse at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. The long-time Director of First Nations Language at Woodland Cultural Centre, where he co-founded the Gaweni:yo Cayuga/Mohawk Immersion School System, Key is a leading figure in the ongoing language revitalization movement among First Nations people in Canada. He has also taught as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Indigenous Studies, and was the inaugural Vice-Provost, Indigenous at Brock University in St. Catharines.

Contact Amos: amos.key@daniels.utoronto.ca

Trina Moyan 

Artist and activist Moyan is nehiyaw iskwew (Plains Cree) from the Frog Lake First Nation in Alberta. She began her career as a writer and producer for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and co-produced and directed the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards (now Indspire) for CBC Television. Moyan is a co-founder of Toronto-based Bell & Bernard, a First Nations consulting firm dedicated to including the histories and current realities of Indigenous peoples within urban planning projects, and has spoken widely on Indigenous inclusion and empowerment. Moyan is also a muralist, a traditional dancer and a University of Toronto alumna.

Contact Trina: trina.moyan@daniels.utoronto.ca

Acknowledgements

Douglas Cardinal (Hon. LLD 2022), one of the world's most prominent Indigenous architects, served as Decanal Advisor, First Peoples Leadership Advisory Group, from 2022 to 2026.

Elder Whabagoon served as the inaugural First Peoples Leadership Advisor from 2021 to 2022. Since 2018, Elder Whabagoon has been a co-leader of Nikibii Dawadinna Giigwag (NDG), a culturally grounded, land-based mentorship program at U of T co-led with Professor Liat Margolis.

The Daniels Mural Project was part of U of T’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, Answering the Call: Wecheehetowin. It responded specifically to Call to Action No. 2, a strategy for the funding and placement of more Indigenous public art across all three campuses in close consultation with local Indigenous communities.

Learn more about the Daniels Mural Project