Food bank gets grant for Indigenous garden program

Goal is to share in food, knowledge, and reconciliation effort

CAMBRIDGE— The Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank got a $50,000 grant from the Region of Waterloo to develop Indigenous programs at a garden at the Rare Charitable Research Reserve.

“It provides an incredible learning opportunity for people in the community,” said Siobhan Bonisteel, food procurement and development manager at the food bank.

The money comes from the region’s community innovation grant program that provide one-time grants for projects that have good potential to lead to more effective, equitable and sustainable solutions that address existing and emerging needs in the region. Up to $50,000 can be awarded in a year.

Thirteen submissions were received this year and the food bank scored the highest.

The Cambridge food bank already has a large 30,000square-foot garden at Rare that helps supply fresh produce for those in need.

This new venture is inspired by the Indigenous garden created on the conservation land in Cambridge this summer by Conestoga College professor Andrew Judge.

The grant money will go toward an expanded garden planted with food grown by Indigenous people prior to colonization.

These foods include corn, beans, varieties of squash, berries, sunflowers and ceremonial plants including tobacco.

“It’s targeting a really incredible food crop that is underutilized and undervalued,” Bonisteel said.

The garden will show food bank clients how to grow, prepare and store these foods through related programming. It will also create a space for Indigenous people to connect with the land and their heritage.

“It’s a move toward reconciliation,” said food bank executive director Cameron Dearlove.

The Healing of the Seven Generations, a centre that welcomes all First Peoples in the region and surrounding areas, will use the garden to host programs.

“This is going to be a very sacred space for us,” said Rebecca Sargent, grant and research co-ordinator.

Sargent said it’s great news for the organization, which is headquartered in downtown Kitchener and has no opportunity for land-based healing that members want.

“Our community has been crying out for this type of programming,” she said.

The garden follows traditional practices and has a spot for sacred fires. The project is named Minjimendan, meaning a state of remembering.

“I think it will do great things for the community,” Sargent said. “We have a lot of very vulnerable people in our community.”

Dearlove said the food bank offers similar programs that teach about growing and preparing fresh food. This new initiative will build relationships and a connection to the land.

“We hope this continues on into something bigger,” Dearlove said.