By Helen Shim — February 25, 2023

At Riley Park Community Garden we are exploring what it means to decolonize our food systems as part of the evolution of our community garden. We are looking for better ways to manage our Food Forest area, in particular, through an understanding of the history of the land that our garden is located on and the adoption of pertinent indigenous horticultural practices. How would the Coastal First Nations people,with their historically sophisticated, intensive,and sustainable land management practices, have nurtured this ecosystem?

On Saturday, February 25, I had the privilege to attend the workshop, “Decolonization of Food Systems,” hosted by Little Mountain Neighbourhood House and presented by the snəw̓eyəɬ Indigenous Cultural Consultants. The foundational training workshops are a starting point to build a relationship with our indigenous neighbours and to learn from the wisdom of their thousands of years of sustainable land stewardship. The presenters offered, through a combination of story telling and scientific references, much thought-provoking and germane information.

A vital cultural focus of the indigenous community is the intergenerational responsibility of the transmission of knowledge, of bringing the wisdom of the past into the practices of the present. One of the presenters told a story about how the salmon were once so bountiful in the area between Iona Island and the mainland that it was if you could walk across their backs to get to the other side. A day after the workshop while on a walk along the north side of the Fraser River, a walk that I have done hundreds of times, I saw the land and the water of this area through a different lens. In addition, one of the striking things that I noticed was that the information signs are about the area after 1870, describing with words and photos the settlers’ farms and industries. There was not one mention of the Indigenous presence, past or present; of their long history as stewards of this area, or the natural gifts on the land and in the waters on which they depended to sustain themselves. This trail is a stone’s throw away from where many of the Musqueam members continue to live on a small portion of their traditional territory.

As an aside but something that provokes further consideration, is in regard to the use of burning as a vital process of indigenous land management, and especially as it pertains to the growing of berries as are found in our Food Forest area. Because it is a practice that we are unable to perform in an urban setting, is there a way that we can derive the same resulting benefits to the soil and plants, without the use of fire? A topic for another blog post.

We are most fortunate and grateful to have aligned with these Indigenous cultural teachers. We appreciate their generosity of time and willingness to share their knowledge and experiences so that we can work together to treat the earth respectfully and sustainably to make it, our home, a better place for all.