Teknion Unveils Legacy Space with Downie Wenjack Fund
Key Highlights
- Teknion's Legacy Space was created in partnership with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund to promote Indigenous understanding and reconciliation.
- Located at the company's Toronto headquarters, it serves as a public space for tours, education, and cultural reflection.
- The space emphasizes honoring Indigenous cultures, recognizing traditional lands, and fostering ongoing learning about Indigenous history.
Commercial furniture manufacturer Teknion has announced that its corporate headquarters in Toronto will be home to a Legacy Space, created in partnership with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF). The DWF builds a deeper understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada through its Legacy Spaces Program, empowering organizations such as Teknion to establish places that foster learning and encourage open conversations about Indigenous history and reconciliation.
What is a Legacy Space?
Teknion’s Legacy Space is a physical manifestation of the brand’s ongoing promise to look beyond performative reconciliation and make tangible impacts to promote healing and interconnectedness between all peoples in Canada. As leaders in the global contract office furniture industry, Teknion recognizes its responsibility to leverage the brand’s influential position in Canada.
“Teknion’s Legacy Space was developed to further in-person conversations that allow for deeper comprehension of the true history of this land, and the role we each play in truth and reconciliation. Not only as individuals, but as an organization, we want to take ownership of historical transgressions, come to the table with open minds and ears, and actively create the change we want to see in the world.” — David Feldberg, CEO and President, Teknion
Teknion’s newly forged Legacy Space will serve as an everyday reminder of the brand’s commitment to:
- Honor diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cultures
- Recognize that our organization and its members live and work on the traditional, ancestral, and treaty lands of Indigenous Peoples
- Enact ongoing learning about Indigenous history, heritage, perspectives, and cultures.
Connecting Culture and Corporate Responsibility
Teknion’s ongoing commitment to empowering people through design is reflected in its ergonomic, sustainable furnishings that support workplace well-being. Officially opened in June 2025, Teknion’s Legacy Space, located in its Toronto headquarters (1150 Flint Road, Toronto, ON, M3J 2J5 Canada), is open to the public and available for tours.
*Announcement has been lightly edited for clarity.
Creating a Legacy Space with Sensitivity
A Legacy Space, in partnership with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF), goes beyond building a physical environment that incorporates Indigenous cultural elements. These projects are intended to promote education, invite reflection and discussion, and encourage positive action through engagement with the history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
Why it matters: By integrating Legacy Spaces into workplaces, showrooms, or public venues, design firms and manufacturers can lead by example—creating environments that acknowledge the past and support a reconciliatory future.
Top Objectives for Partners in the Legacy Space Program:
- Engage with Indigenous employees, local community members, and businesses to build understanding and seek consult on cultural practices, artwork, historical, and design references.
- Design a welcoming, culturally respectful space using the feedback from those stakeholders.
- Educate staff and clients through programming and storytelling, including onboarding of new employees.
- Activate the space through launch events and ongoing reconciliACTIONs—“meaningful action that moves reconciliation forward,” according to DWF. The organization has many examples of commemorative activities, celebrations, and learning opportunities that partners can host.
Visit the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund website for more details and how to join.
—Sidebar content by Carrie Meadows