Anishnawbe Health Toronto celebrates grand opening of new Indigenous health centre

A Indigenous organization in Toronto is celebrating the grand opening of a new health care facility that brings together traditional Indigenous healing and Western medicine under one roof.

The Indigenous Health Centre, located in the West Don Lands, will serve more than 90,000 Indigenous people, the majority of whom live below the poverty line, according to Michael Milward, interim executive director of Anishnawbe Health Toronto (AHT), an Indigenous community health care centre.

Milward said the Indigenous health centre, the first of its kind in Ontario, provides a blended model of health care for the Indigenous community in Toronto.

"What we do offer here are both Western health care practices as well as traditional health care practices," he said.

Milward said the centre has traditional healers on staff that come to the centre to offer healing sessions, services and ceremonies for clients.

"The main purpose of all of that is, we very much feel that helping our clients find themselves, find their identity, their traditions and culture is vital to their health and well-being," Milward said.

The building features ceremonial spaces, a sweat lodge and healing gardens. Its programming includes Indigenous palliative care and services for 2SLGBTQ+ clients.

Building was vision of former AHT executive director

Milward said the building was the dream of former executive director Joe Hester, who was executive director from 1993 to 2025. Hester died on Jan. 31, 2025 at the age of 77.

"This building was his vision. It's something that he worked on for 23 plus years," he said.

In an expression of condolence for Hester, Toronto city council said on Feb. 11, 2025:  "He dedicated his life to advocating for and supporting Indigenous communities by creating the foundation of urban Indigenous health in Toronto.

"Through his work, he ensured Indigenous people in and around Toronto had proper access to both traditional and western medicine delivered in a culturally appropriate way."

Milward said all service providers of AHT, who worked in several offices previously, are now able to work in one location, making it easier for them to collaborate on care plans for clients, ensuring that both spectrums of health care are included in the planning.

AHT has been seeing clients in the space since it moved into the building a year ago.

Leslie Saunders, manager of AHT's traditional palliative care program, said the centre merges traditional teams of healers, medicine people who run ceremonies and provide traditional teachings and health care from an Indigenous perspective, with a Western approach to health and wellness.

"Together this creates amazing health outcomes for the urban Indigenous community," Saunders said.

In palliative care, for example, the centre has a clinical partner, Mount Sinai Hospital, which provides medical and palliative care, while the traditional palliative care program uses Indigenous teachings and ceremonies to "decolonize death."

That means preparing the client and their family for the journey back home to the spirit world, Saunders said.

"In Indigenous tradition, there is no ending. There's a circle of life and people come from the spirit world and they go home to the spirit world," she said.

The program provides support, guidance, teachings and direction for the client and family to engage in that process, she added.

According to AHT, the centre is Toronto's only fully accredited Indigenous-led community health centre.

"From a public health perspective, this is a powerful example of how culturally grounded care improves outcomes for underserved populations facing chronic illness, trauma, addiction, and systemic barriers," AHT said in a media release.

The centre adds that it embodies TRC Call to Action number 22 "bringing Traditional Healers into full-time roles alongside physicians, nurses, mental health counsellors, and social workers in a unified Circle of Care."