Indigenous organization will take over leadership of Hamilton's urban farm
CBC
Hamilton city officials have given the go-ahead to transfer leadership of an east-end urban farm to an Indigenous organization that operates a child-care centre and food bank nearby.
On Thursday, councillors on the emergency and community services committee voted to transfer managing the McQuesten Urban Farm from the city to Niwasa Kendaaswim Teg, which operates programs from 785 Britannia Ave.
Coun. Sam Merulla (Ward 4, east end) called the transfer "incredibly exciting."
"I really thought ... that [the farm's] day would come and there wouldn't be any money available, particularly surrounding all of the challenges we have.
"But what's before us is the actual missing link, and that missing link was sustainability."
Merulla called the farm the "only one of its kind." The farm officially launched in 2016, he said, and was aimed at addressing food insecurity in what used to be a "food desert" area.
Niwasa Kendaaswin Teg is a non-profit charity organization that "provides high quality programs and services across the entire life cycle" to Hamilton's Indigenous population, according to its website.
Executive director Monique Lavallee said she was "absolutely delighted" to be working with the farm.
"We have been operating our programs in the McQuesten neighbourhood for 25 years ... so we feel like the partnership is natural fit."
Lavallee said the move is also an important step for the local Indigenous community that will be able to know and grow their own food.
"Growing the foods that are here of Mother Earth that will nourish us [and take care] of the land. [Our programs] are rooted in our cultures and our language. Our connection to the land is so important for us."
"Having a gathering place for Indigenous peoples in Hamilton in the urban setting that is rooted in their culture, their languages and traditional practices and is a safe space for everyone is what we're looking forward to."
Adam Watson, project manager for the farm, told CBC Hamilton that the project was never supposed to be city run, so Niwasa was the "perfect organization" for a partnership.
"It was important to fulfil the community's wishes that [the urban farm] be a community farm ... and that it'd become a part of an organization that was already in the neighbourhood and already sustainable, so [Niwasa] was a perfect fit."
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