For a several years, members of the Friends of Malcolmson Eco-Park have envisioned creating an Indigenous Healing Garden at the park. A healing garden is a space designed to encourage reflection, learning, wellness, and connection to the land through native plants chosen for their medicinal, edible, and cultural significance. It is a place that can foster community, storytelling, learning, and healing.
Last year, we reached out to members of our Indigenous community for guidance on how to make this vision a reality. With the help of Marie Louise Bowering, a Mohawk woman and Indigenous Community Connections Facilitator with the Niagara Catholic District School Board, and Louis Harris, a member of Six Nations of the Grand River, a special Healing Garden Committee was formed.
Following their guidance, it was decided that the garden would be created in the shape of a turtle. The turtle draws upon the Indigenous teaching of Turtle Island, a name used by many Indigenous Nations for North America. In some creation stories, the turtle carries the land on its back, symbolizing life, protection, resilience, and our interconnectedness with the Earth. The turtle’s shell and its distinctive pattern can also represent the cycles of nature, including the 13 moons of the year.
Louis and a member of the Friends of Malcolmson worked together to select culturally significant plants and determine their placement within the turtle’s scutes. Many of these plants have long histories of use and cultural significance among Indigenous peoples of Southern Ontario. They are also native plants that have evolved within the Carolinian ecosystem, providing food and habitat for wildlife while sustaining the ecological relationships that have existed here for generations.
One example is Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), sometimes known as the “leader of the berries” because it is among the first fruits to ripen each year. Strawberries hold cultural significance in several Indigenous traditions and are associated with nourishment, gratitude, kindness, reconciliation, and appreciation for the abundance provided by the land.
In July 2026, the garden was mapped out and created at the park. On September 15, 2026, the Friends of Malcolmson Eco-Park were joined by members of the community to celebrate the opening of our new Indigenous Healing Garden. The ceremony included a blessing by Grandmother Jackie Labonte, Traditional Healing Coordinator with De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre, followed by music, a ceremonial planting of Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and a community potluck lunch.
We invite you to visit the garden, take a quiet moment to explore the plants, and learn about their relationships to the land and to Indigenous cultures. The garden is open to visitors from dawn until dusk and is located at the end of the path to the right of the parking lot, at the far southeast end of the park along Lakeshore Road.
