Askaakamigokwewigamig

(Ah-skaw-kom-ih-goh-kweh-whi-gah-mig)

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. Users and guests of the Lodge must also follow all safety protocols for COVID, including social distancing for those in attendance. 

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. You may book the Lodge online on our website.

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.

Culture enables people to survive in a given natural environment, and those who are born into that culture understand it best. Unfortunately, in most cultures the need for adjustments and adaptations is more subtle and hence more easily hidden from non-members who assume that the knowledge embedded in such cultures is unnecessary to their own survival.
Minor, 1994, p. 21-22

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.