The Medicine Wheel for Truth and Reconciliation
If you’ve walked through Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, you’ve probably seen the massive illuminated TORONTO sign. In 2018, an Indigenous Medicine Wheel was added beside it, four bold colours arranged in a circle, each with deep meaning.
As we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th, symbols like the medicine wheel take on extra meaning. This day exists to honour the children who never returned home from residential schools, the Survivors who lived through them, and the ongoing impacts on Indigenous families and communities. It’s also a call for everyone in Canada to engage with the truths of our shared history, and to take action toward repairing relationships.
Part of that work is learning about the cultural knowledge and frameworks that have always existed here, long before colonization.
What Is the Medicine Wheel?
Across many Indigenous nations on Turtle Island, the medicine wheel is a framework for understanding life, balance, and our place in the world. While details vary from nation to nation, it often represents the interconnectedness of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.
The circle itself symbolizes that life is continuous, with no true beginning or end. It’s a reminder that everything, people, animals, plants, water, and the land, is connected. What affects one part of the circle affects the whole.
The Four Directions are a key element of the medicine wheel — east, south, west, and north. Each direction is tied to specific teachings, which might include:
East: Sunrise, new beginnings, and spirituality.
South: Growth, relationships, and community.
West: Reflection, harvest, and maturity.
North: Wisdom, guidance, and the knowledge of Elders.
In different nations, the directions may also be linked to colours, animals, seasons, or elements.
The medicine wheel is just one of many important symbols in Indigenous cultures on Turtle Island.
There are also clan animals, beadwork patterns, traditional drums, and countless other cultural markers that carry meaning and history. Each comes from specific nations, languages, and teachings.
Because the medicine wheel belongs to certain nations, learning about it should be done with respect, using resources and knowledge shared by Indigenous communities themselves. No single version exists as its teachings are specific to the nations who hold them.
The medicine wheel’s focus on balance, connection, and responsibility makes it relevant today not just for Indigenous communities, but for anyone thinking about how to live in a way that respects others and the earth.
This Truth and Reconciliation Week, as the orange shirts and public ceremonies prompt us to reflect, symbols like the medicine wheel can remind us that reconciliation is not just about the past. It’s also about the knowledge, traditions, and relationships that continue.