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Medicine Wheel garden planted at Falstaff Family Centre to begin healing with local Indigenous community

Local Indigenous residents and other community members gathered on the lawn of the Falstaff Family Centre Monday afternoon to bless and plant a Medicine Wheel garden, around which traditional talking circles and other Indigenous events and activities will be hosted.

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Following the recent discovery of the remains of 215 children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., members of Indigenous communities from the Stratford area gathered on National Indigenous Peoples Day Monday to plant and bless a Medicine Wheel garden at the Falstaff Family Centre.

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The garden, which represents the balance between the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of life and how they connect to the natural world, marks the beginning of a new relationship between the local Indigenous community, the Multicultural Association of Perth Huron and Falstaff Family Centre owner Loreena McKennitt.

“The Falstaff Family Centre will be the new meeting and grounds for the talking circle to meet around this garden … and we’ll be doing everything here. Our sweat lodge is coming here. Our feast will come here. We’re going to be having a mini powwow, hopefully around August. There’s a lot of excitement and things coming,” said Todd Torresan, a member of the Haudenosaunee of the Oneida Nation and the organizer of a local traditional Indigenous talking circle with more than 100 members.

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Torresan, who is also called Ditibaabid Animiki or Rolling Thunder, said the recent discovery of the remains of 215 children in Kamloops, with more bodies being discovered at residential schools across Canada since, has made it clear that local Indigenous people need a space to tell their stories, share their histories and embrace their cultures to allow for healing and reconciliation with the wider community.

“Now it’s 535 and counting,” Torresan said. “I lost three family members that were in the B.C. residential schools and it really affects me. I thought it was over – my PTSD and everything – and just speaking about residential schools and coming back now with Indigenous Day, this is the best time to bring it out and bring it open, and bring everybody forward.”

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Having tried to establish a regular talking circle and host other Indigenous events elsewhere in town, Torresan said he was relieved to have connected with McKennitt and multicultural association founder Dr. Gezaghn Wordofa, both of whom were eager to provide the outdoor space and support necessary to bring local Indigenous communities together to celebrate their culture and history, and share their teachings with the broader community.

With McKennitt, Wordofa, Stratford Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach and other members of the community present, Torresan performed a smudging ceremony to cleanse those in attendance and the ground itself before reading The Seven Teachings and blessing the Medicine Wheel garden. Those who gathered for the ceremony were then presented with a gift of dried tobacco, which they sprinkled over the garden before they set to work planting tobacco, sage and other traditional crops.

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Todd Torresan, also called Ditibaabid Animiki or Rolling Thunder, cleanses Stratford Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach with burning sage, sweet grass and other herbs during a smudging ceremony ahead of the planting of a Medicine Wheel garden at the Falstaff Family Centre in Stratford on National Indigenous Peoples Day Monday. Galen Simmons/The Beacon Herald/Postmedia Network
Todd Torresan, also called Ditibaabid Animiki or Rolling Thunder, cleanses Stratford Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach with burning sage, sweet grass and other herbs during a smudging ceremony ahead of the planting of a Medicine Wheel garden at the Falstaff Family Centre in Stratford on National Indigenous Peoples Day Monday. Galen Simmons/The Beacon Herald/Postmedia Network

“I’m one of thousands, if not millions, of Canadians that are coming to a much greater awareness of the fuller scope of what our history has been and all that needs to be attended to and repaired in some ways,” McKennitt said. “When you think about the truth and reconciliation process and what does reconciliation really mean, this is just some small, small stepping stone that I felt I could offer in my own part of the world.

“I think it’s really important to learn about what has really happened in the past and to move forward in a very holistic way.”

Wordofa also noted the importance of learning from local Indigenous people and working with them and people from all cultures to create a more welcoming community for all.

“I’m really thankful that Todd and Loreena have come together to create this garden,” Burbach added. “I think it’s a very special day where we want to celebrate Indigenous cultures, as well as remember the history that settlers have brought. So, I think this talking circle and Medicine Wheel garden is a perfect spot for us to come together as First Nations people and settlers and start having conversations.

“It’s an important spot to focus on healing and reconciling.”

gsimmons@postmedia.com

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