Philip Cote Council Fire

Philip Cote is a young spiritual elder, artist, activist, historian and traditional wisdom keeper from the Moose Deer Point First Nation. His mural “Our Creation Story” is painted in an Eastern woodland style, and tells a creation story from the Ojibway/Anishinaabe Nation which was brought down through oral traditions and pictographic images painted on birch-bark scrolls. The piece, painted on the Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre, demonstrates the interconnectedness of Indigenous communities with nature. 

Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre (TCFNCC) provides necessary support services for Indigenous individual and community needs; it provides a space where the Indigenous community can feel seen, supported, and celebrated. 

Council Fire began in 1976 through a small group of concerned community members. Since then, they have only grown, supplying counselling, material assistance, and essential services to empower the Indigenous community. Today, they are at the forefront of a project to install a Spirit Garden in Nathan Philips Square, a publicly accessible commemoration honouring survivors and their families of the residential school system. This project forms part of the City of Toronto’s efforts to respond to TRC Call to Action 82. 

The project is expected to be completed in Fall 2024. The project has received $13 million in funding from the city and an agreement to help with future programming in the space.