Temiskaming Native Women's Support Group

Published purpose

This project will convert and rehabilitate the lands surrounding an old youth justice facility into a space to support community healing, on-the-land learning, and climate resilience. This site is 18 acres large with a pond onsite that is a key water system for the surrounding town of Kirkland Lake. The process of land restoration through the planting of plants and trees as well as hybrid natural in structure to enable increased accessibility to the lands will support self guided access to the land for community members as well as a space for on-the-land training to occur. One of the components of the rehabilitation efforts will be to revitalize the existing space for greater public use by establishing an Indigenous-led interactive food forest system demonstration site that models sustainable land use and climate resilience. The food forest system will provide local families experiencing poverty and food insecurity direct access to nutrient dense, safe and healthy foods and contribute to a clean growth economy through the development of entrepreneurial opportunities. This will be a space where people of all ages can access and interact with natural infrastructure. The Indigenous-led teaching curriculum will build capacity among community members to stimulate the local food and green economy and create more jobs. Key activities: Creating an Indigenous-designed outdoor space The healing of the lands and revitalization of the outdoor space will create a gathering place for Indigenous ceremonies and public celebrations. Its close proximity to our Indigenous Health Care Centre will also support on-the-land healing for Elders and families alike. Our interactive food forest will be designed and developed with an Indigenous lens. This will ensure that our community space is reflective of Indigenous worldviews and Traditional Knowledges, while incorporating natural and hybrid infrastructure systems. Supporting site activation with curriculum to support the activation of the food forest, we will develop an education curriculum around the local circular economy and connection to traditional cultural teachings. This will be utilized to share Indigenous ways of processing, foraging, and other ways of doing and knowing their food and build capacity to support a localized circular food economy through an Indigenous lens. Community-led implementation. We will engage with Elders and other community members to assist with the implementation of the food forest and other natural and hybrid infrastructures. This will include site preparation, planting, maintenance, harvesting, and foraging. Participating in the implementation and management of these infrastructure systems will bring community members together and provide an opportunity for multigenerational learning.