The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto is one of the city's oldest Indigenous community organizations. Founded in 1962, it offers a breadth of programmes and services based on Indigenous cultural traditions and teachings, including local Indigenous history projects. The centre is located in a Tudor Revival building designed by Alvan Sherlock Mathers and Eric Wilson Haldenby in 1928, which originally housed Toronto Bible College.

The exterior of the centre juxtaposes the Indigenous aesthetics of its totem pole with the English aesthetics of its hexagonal Gothic lanterns and four-centred entrance archway. Saskatchewan Plains Cree artist Don McLeay carved the totem pole out of western red cedar in 1980 and designed its motifs to symbolize the gathering of many nations.

The name Spadina – that of the street on which the centre sits – is derived from the Anishinaabemowin word ishpadinaa, meaning "high hill" or "going up the hill". It's the name of an ancient Indigenous trail that's partially contiguous with the current road. This legacy is honoured on street signs at the Spadina-Davenport Road intersection.

(Research and text by Alessandro Tersigni.)