Our Spaces

About the Space

A quintessential example of Modernist architecture in Toronto is now home to the Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health at the University of Toronto. Since its completion in 1961 and through its many renovations, the heritage building has held its reputation as a centre for best practices in education.

Community-Centered Design

As a department of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, the Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health serves as a leader in ethical and meaningful research in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. Its location on the building’s fourth floor presented Brook McIlroy with an opportunity to develop and design an interior environment supportive of participatory research. The project transforms a once-generic office into a space to foster community – embedding stories, art, and knowledge throughout the design.

Art & Symbolism

The main entrance showcases a parametric wall installation illustrating the motion of water, as well as a triptych titled “Air, Earth and Water” by the acclaimed artist Roy Thomas. Glass panels dividing the office are decorated with custom geometric decals portraying the story of the Thunderbird. This is the origin of the name Waakebiness; in the Anishinaabemowin language, it means Radiant Thunderbird from the South.

Restoring Traditions

The presence of Askaakamigokwewigamig connects traditional knowledge with the University of Toronto community shared through land-based learning. The raising of the Lodge in 2020 was an opportunity to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure open air, physically distanced learning on the land, and create space for engaging Indigenous knowledge/teachings/ceremony as an essential aspect of continued learning.

The primary Traditional Space Protocol for this Lodge is:

No drugs, No alcohol, No Violence.

The Lodge will be a respected space to connect to the land; with scheduled times to access this shared space for facilitated learning as well as traditional practices (supervised sacred fire, ceremonies) for learning.

Lodge Governance

Currently, the Lodge is supported by a team of Indigenous faculty and staff represented from various departments within all University of Toronto campuses to advance a student-centred approach to building community from relationship with the land towards a reciprocity of reconciliation that strengthens Indigenous culture and traditions.

The Lodge is self-governing and requires participants’ conduct in and around the Lodge to respond to all protocols for use and reflect the Seven Grandfathers Teachings.