Grand Opening – The Indian Residential School Survivors (IRSS) Legacy ‘Restoration of Identity” project recreates the Turtle, symbolic of Mother Earth, acknowledges former IRS students, their Nations and Clans and roots them back to their rightful place in creation. The Turtle climbing over a boulder structure (listing residential schools in Ontario) is intended to remind ALL of the struggle experienced by Residential School Survivors and to demonstrate continued recovery.

The memorial will be located at Nathan Phillips Square at City Hall in downtown Toronto. The celebration aims to create awareness of the IRSS Legacy Project, led by Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre in collaboration with the City of Toronto. The project, to be permanently featured on Nathan Phillips Square, is anticipated to be completed in 2022. This public space initiative will consist of a 6-foot (two metre) turtle sculpture called the “Restoration of Identity sculpture” and a “Teaching, Learning and Sharing and Healing space”.