Saagajiwe, The Creative School, TMU

At the Toronto Metropolitan University, Saagajiwe is The Creative School's home for participation, action, and research in Indigenous creative practice.

The human ecology of Indigenous life facilitated by Saagajiwe includes graphic, textual, performative, audio-visual, lifestyle, couture, and governance. From the Algonkian-linguistic root “first ray of light”, Saagajiwe is located on the frontier of Indigenous renaissance of continent-wide change called the Fifth World, Sixth Sun, Seventh Fire, and Great Swamp Elm. Saagajiwe challenges Indigenous creative practitioners to put the theory of Indigenous Knowledge into practice – design-thinking to invent an Indigenous future. Saagajiwe operationalizes Toronto Metropolitan University’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) 94 “Calls to Action” and recommendations by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) for the recovery of Indigenous languages, cultures, and knowledges.