White corn project at Western aims to restore traditions to local Indigenous communities

White corn holds special significance to various Indigenous communities but due to colonization it's become a scarcity, forcing them to rely on non-Indigenous farmers to supply it.

The White Corn Resurgence Garden Project seeks to change that by bringing white corn back to Indigenous communities in southwestern Ontario, specifically the Munsee-Delaware, Oneida, and Chippewas of the Thames First Nations. 

"Currently, within community we have a hard time growing white corn because it was something that we had to put down since the government wanted us dependent on what they provided," said Paula Cornelius-Hedgepeth of Western University's Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII).

"The white corn is a staple traditionally for the Haudenosaunee peoples but it was also used for trade among other First Nations."

OII and Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada (AAFC) did a joint three-phase feasibility study on how to implement a white corn garden at the AAFC Centre, the new Indigenous learning space at Western, and ultimately a white corn farm in the communities. 

Cornelius-Hedgepeth said AAFC wanted to start a garden for the Indigenous community in London, Ont., but didn't want to do so without engagement from community members. Its garden was built with input and guidance from Oneida and Chippewas elders. 

"We wanted to see what it would take to bring that practice of growing back to community in terms of human resources, funding, and just general knowledge," she said.

Although she grew up in the Oneida Nation, Cornelius-Hedgepeth was surprised to find out all the different ways white corn was used by her ancestors for centuries. 

It can be used for a variety of daily applications such as weaving, mats, ropes, baskets, and different types of art using not only the corn but also its husks and every part of it, she said.

"There's so many aspects around growing, harvesting, and planting it and I think it's very valuable to bring it back to the community," she added. 

Colonialism had a significant impact on Indigenous ways of farming, Cornelius-Hedgepeth said while reflecting on what her own great-great-grandfather went through simply because he was a successful and thriving Indigenous farmer. 

Non-Indigenous farmers in the area who weren't thrilled to see his farm's prosperity complained to the Indian Agents and the Canadian government, who destroyed his farm, she recalled. 

She said they declared his livestock as diseased, ultimately killing them and burned all the crops of not only her relatives but all their ancestral farms in the settlement. 

"He'd worked hard all his life to build that [farm] and to have it taken that way, it broke him," she said.