Sarah Loretta Schuster (Zhaawashkwaa-Giizhigong-Biish-Kwe) is Anishinaabe from the Turtle Clan, born in Peterborough, Ontario. Her biological mother is a registered band member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation (Nizaatikoong) in Northwestern Ontario.
Sarah is an intergenerational survivor of the Sixties Scoop and was separated from her biological family, language, and culture through her own adoption. She has spent her life reconnecting with her heritage and is deeply grateful for the love and support of both her families.
She was lucky to grow up in a home where her adoptive mother was also Anishinaabe and her father encouraged her to stay connected to her roots. Raised in Richmond Hill, Sarah often felt isolated as a displaced Indigenous adoptee. With little local support, her family traveled long distances to attend powwows, ceremonies, and seek spiritual guidance.
In 2010, Sarah became active in grassroots Indigenous organizing. She learned more about her adoption, her mother’s adoption, her grandmother’s enfranchisement, and the flooding of her family’s traditional lands. These experiences inspired her to stand alongside Indigenous rights activists, water protectors, and land defenders. She embraced roles as a community organizer, storyteller, and traditional drummer.
In August 2016, she joined Allan Gardens Food and Clothing Share, an Indigenous-led group in Toronto’s Downtown East Side providing weekly meals, clothing, toiletries, and harm reduction services. As outreach and social media coordinator, Sarah managed donations, prepared side dishes, and handled communications.
Seeing the growing needs of the community, she launched Blue Wagon Outreach, a mobile project distributing essentials like fresh fruit, snacks, water, rain gear, blankets, and socks. She also created medicine bundles from plants grown in her garden to improve access to Indigenous medicines.
Sarah continues this work with a focus on supporting isolated seniors in Toronto’s Dundas and Sherbourne community. In 2016, she partnered with Allsaints Church to develop a medicine garden and taught traditional crafts at the church’s women’s drop-in center.
From October 2021 to August 2022, Sarah worked with the Indigenous Action Committee, helping develop programs and plan events including the National Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the Richmond Hill Indigenous Peoples Celebration, and the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
In fall 2022, she joined The Odeiwin Foundation as a cultural coordinator, supporting grant proposals, craft workshops, and events such as the Walk for Wenjack Richmond Hill, Richmond Hill Winter Carnival, Mayor David West’s Maple Syrup Festival, Truth and Reconciliation Day, and the Indigenous Artist & Vendor Market.
Today, Sarah leads Miskwaadesi Studio in partnership with the Richmond Hill Public Library, creating welcoming spaces for Indigenous arts, culture, and community connection. She is also working with the City of Richmond Hill to plant a network of five Indigenous medicine gardens, including public spaces at Richmond Green, Central Library, Oak Ridges Community Centre, and Phyllis Rawlinson Park, as well as a private garden at Hill House Hospice. These gardens support learning, healing, and access to medicines while raising Indigenous visibility.
In recognition of her work, Sarah received the 2025 Naim Malik Award for the Promotion of Intercultural Friendships. For her, this work is deeply personal—it reflects her commitment to creating the spaces she wished she had growing up.
