Winnipeg’s Healing Forest
The second of its kind in Canada
In the heart of Winnipeg’s North End, construction of a Healing Forest is underway in St. John’s Park and is expected to officially open this fall.
The Healing Forest is a living memorial to children lost to the residential school system. A place for healing and reconciliation, the Healing Forest is also meant to be a place of learning for students, families and the community at large.
“It is a place where students will learn our histories and connect to the land. It is a place for remembering the past and envisioning the future.”
– Healing Forest Planning Group
Construction of the Winnipeg Healing Forest will occur in two phases. In progress is phase one which is the building of the outdoor learning space and phase two includes the completion of the healing garden to be completed by 2019. The design of the Healing Forest was created in consultation with the city of Winnipeg, Elders and community members and is based on Anishinaabe tradition.
The layout of the forest includes two circular gathering areas. The first, the outdoor learning space with a place for sacred fires at the center and surrounded by natural log benches facing inward to encourage reflection. Linked by a winding path the other more of a growing garden - a medicine wheel garden - located adjacent to the main site. A plaque from the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) will honour its designation as a Healing Forest.
The University of Winnipeg is partnering on the project and funding the curriculum work. Dr. Lee Anne Block, a professor at the University of Winnipeg, helped design the Healing Forest and is working with teacher groups to develop a living curriculum and resources that will assist in teaching students about Indigenous cultures.
A unique component of the curriculum plans is for the involvement of Elders and knowledge keepers who will provide teachings for students and the community in the Healing Forest space. “It’s important that they [Elders and knowledge keepers] be involved and be accessible to youth,” says Dr. Lee Anne Block. “It is meant to be a fluid process where teachers are able to build on Elder teachings and use the Healing Forest curriculum in layered ways with follow-up activities for students for continuous learning.”
Canada’s first Healing Forest was opened in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in November 2016 on the north bank of the North Saskatchewan River, and plans for a third and fourth Canadian Healing Forest are underway for Perth, Ontario, and Regina, Saskatchewan. The opening of Winnipeg’s Healing Forest will mark the 125th anniversary of St. John’s Park, which currently has artifacts and statues focused on settler and military history. These stories of the past will be enriched by Indigenous histories within the Healing Forest.
From conceptualization to realization. Below are the design plans for Winnipeg’s Healing Forest, including some snapshots that take us through the journey of phase one of construction currently in development on the outdoor learning space. The 2018 construction, including the benches, was made possible thanks to funding provided by the Manitoba government’s Community Development Initiatives program.
Winnipeg’s Healing Forest is part of a national initiative. The National Healing Forest Initiative, in response to the Truth and Reconciliation report of 2015, is a call to action - an effort to assist healing across the country and collectively build a better Canada. Any community can get involved.
Visit www.nationalhealingforests.com to find out how.