Alex Decoteau Park in downtown Edmonton hosted the Homeward Trust medicine garden. Amid the rows of raised planters containing vegetables and fruit, the medicine garden was on a small, triangular plot first planted in 2018.
The garden was used as a hands-on tool to educate front-line workers on traditional herbs and plants, their relationship to Indigenous culture, and their significance in ceremonies and everyday life as for many First Nations people in Canada, practicing their traditions includes preserving and maintaining the practice of utilizing Indigenous medicinal plants both for ceremony and personal healing.
Throughout the growing season, employees and partner agencies spent time in the garden learning about the plants, their uses and their significance in traditional Indigenous practices. Medicine gardens and other similar initiatives are an ongoing component of Homeward Trust’s focus on Indigenous cultural awareness through experiential learning, and with the current work in Alex Decouteau Park, Homeward Trust is reenvisioning the Medicine Garden for 2025.
Plants are a crucial component of Indigenous medicine, and more than 500 different plants are used for their healing properties. Here are some plant types and their uses:
Cedar. Used as a vitamin C supplement, in the 1700s, Indigenous people treated Europeans suffering from scurvy with a tea made of white cedar.
Dandelion. Cleanses the liver and can be used as an antioxidant.
Mint. Mint leaves contain properties that help remove arterial plaque, a significant cause of hypertension. First Nations have long used mint to make a relaxing and healthy tea.
Nicotiana Tabacum. Considered a sacred medicine, it was used in ceremonies long before contact with Europeans. The plant grown in this garden is not the traditional tobacco plant used in the ceremony; however, it is symbolic within the garden as an offering to the Earth and as an acknowledgment of its critical role within the Indigenous culture.
Sage. White or Buffalo Sage is primarily used in ceremonies and for praying. It creates a cleansing energy, stimulates the immune system, and heals the mind and body.
Sweetgrass. Like sage, sweetgrass cleanses energy but can also be used in a warm bath to help treat shingles, eczema, and other skin conditions.
White Pine. Used for ceremonial medicines, spiritual healing, and protection in conflict, it promotes good energy.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We recognize we are gathered, in collaboration and with joint purpose, on Treaty 6 territory. This territory is the traditional home and gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples. The nêhiyaw (Cree), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Dene, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux/Ojibwe), Nakota Isga (Nakota Sioux), Inuit, and Métis, among many others cared for this land since time immemorial and continue to steward it today. As visitors in this territory, we honour the importance of the Treaty and our responsibility to these communities. Only in partnership can we create the changes necessary to end homelessness. It is vital we meaningfully engage and partner with Indigenous people and communities in this work while recognizing and addressing the conditions brought forth by colonialism. Displacement from traditional homelands, systemic racism, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and the ongoing overrepresentation of Indigenous people in child welfare, correctional systems, and homelessness are responsibilities we all share.