Nurturing relationships and reconciliation: Growing garden brings together Indigenous community and Catholic church

A reconciliation garden is growing in Breslau thanks to a partnership between Anishnabeg Outreach and St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Kitchener.

Anishnabeg Outreach provides local Indigenous peoples with culturally appropriate services. In this case, a 10-acre garden will soon be filled with food and medicine.

“Ancient Indigenous squash that hasn’t seen the light of day for hundreds of years,” said Stephen Jackson, Anishnabeg Outreach’s CEO, as he explained some of what the garden will offer. “We’re planting pumpkins so in the fall we can do a reconciliation event … We have a medicine garden so we grow cedar, we grow sage, we grow sweet grass and tobacco.”

The land was provided by the Diocese of Hamilton, which is affiliated with St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. It acted as a perfect foundation for the church and Anishnabeg Outreach to join forces. It’s also a way to foster partnerships with local businesses.

“So we can bring reconciliation to them, and so they have an opportunity to participate in reconciliation in a really easy way,” said Jackson.

The Neighbourhood Group, which runs several local restaurants, is one business that has stepped in to help get the garden off the ground.

“Not just providing lip service, in a sense. It's not about putting up a plaque on the wall. Trying to find out what's the impact we can create and how do we have somebody who guides us through the journey?” said the group’s CEO, Court Desautels.

A large part of that journey is helping the Indigenous community heal. Given the Pope’s arrival in Canada, the garden has become a space to discuss what else needs to be done.

“To talk about these things as you're focused on something else. Sometimes face-to-face conversations can be eased and a lot more productive if we're focusing on something like a garden,” says Father Toby Collins from St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church.

With enough money, the hope is to eventually turn the garden into a greenhouse, which will produce far more food.

“The problem with the greenhouse is it costs about $7 million to build a greenhouse, but it produces $5 million worth of food every year,” said Jackson.

In the meantime, the garden will support the 450 families, or 1,000 people, Anishnabeg Outreach already supports through its services.

As the garden grows, the hope is for relationships to grow with it, as the community works together on the road to reconciliation.

“It's helping everyone engage. Because if everyone does a little bit, a lot will actually help in totality,” says Jackson.

Anyone hoping to volunteer at the reconciliation garden can do so starting Friday, Aug. 5 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more information, visit Anishnabeg Outreach’s website at aocan.org.