Your Toronto Zoo’s Turtle Island Conservation (TIC) program respectfully shares the hopes and goals of First Nation partners in the preservation of biodiversity. TIC works with First Nations communities to protect significant cultural and natural landscapes by incorporating Traditional Knowledge into conservation efforts.

Your Toronto Zoo is proud to offer complimentary general admission to all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people.

Please note:
Parking, Zoomobile, and other onsite attractions still require payment.

For more information, please contact

[email protected]

 

Who We Are

 

Mission


Turtle Island Conservation partners with First Nations communities to preserve cultural and natural landscapes.

 

 

Vision


Preservation of First Nation Ways of Knowing will be utilized to preserve Traditional Knowledge to guide communities for generations to come.

 

Chi Miigwetch Nya:wen Kowa – Many Thanks!

On behalf of your Toronto Zoo, The Turtle Island Conservation Partnership, and our generous funders,
we thank you for sharing in this vision.

 
 

Background

Toronto Zoo shares the hopes and goals of First Nation partners in our commitment to the preservation of wildlife and wild places for those yet to come. The Turtle Island Conservation Partnership at the Toronto Zoo partners with First Nations communities to incorporate Traditional Knowledge into turtle and wetland conservation programming.

The intention of this partnership is to bring together Keepers of Traditional Knowledge (TK), Elders, First Nations community members and Turtle Island Conservation team members to support community cultural and natural history priorities incorporating Traditional Knowledge while building awareness with non-Indigenous.

The program employs First Nation youth. All Teachings and Knowledge remain with our partner communities who provide guidance on its use.

 

Objectives

To foster respect for self, community, Mother Earth, and the Creator
To recognize and record significant landscapes valued by First Nations communities
To integrate traditional ways of knowing with western science to monitor, protect, respect, and restore landscapes
To integrate language, art, and crafts to sustain traditional ways of knowing and living
To facilitate understanding of the diversity of First Nations culture and ways of knowing among non-Indigenous
 

Program Outcomes

Through outreach, education, and conservation, Turtle Island Conservation:

  • Engages First Nations schools and communities in conservation efforts.
  • Strengthens youth-Elder relationships through curriculum-based educational resources.
  • Supports language preservation in conservation education.
  • Fosters cross-cultural understanding through knowledge-sharing.
  • Raises awareness of Species at Risk and conservation initiatives.

Conservation Initiatives

Turtle Island Conservation partners with First Nations communities to promote environmental stewardship through:

  • Surveying and monitoring Species at Risk
  • Wetland conservation
  • Turtle Conservation (Turtle Tally Program, Turtle Monitoring)
  • FROGWATCH Program (frog calls and traditional teachings CD)
  • Outreach education presentations in First Nations communities
  • Shoreline cleanups
  • Youth engagement programs

These efforts integrate Traditional Knowledge with Western science to protect and restore important landscapes.

 
 

Contact Us

If you would like more information about the Turtle Island Conservation program, please contact:

Turtle Island Conservation, Toronto Zoo
361A Old Finch Ave., Toronto, ON, M1B 5K7, Canada
[email protected]
416-393-6362

Office Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30am – 4:00pm