Food Justice Garden at Wilfrid Laurier University supports Indigenous students in need

Students returning to Wilfrid Laurier University this fall will notice something new growing on campus.

Volunteers with the Food Justice Garden, a new student-led initiative, started growing different vegetables and herbs this summer in order to support Indigenous students in need.

Corn, carrots and kale are just a handful of the vegetables being grown in planters and small plots across the main campus. 

Veda Hingert-McDonald, a recent graduate student who started the project, said she hopes the food garden will bring more awareness to the issue of food insecurity.

"The vast majority of marginalized students at Laurier experience some type of food insecurity," she said.

"There are few things in place like a campus food bank, but we thought that if we're trying to transform the way that space is being used on campus, wouldn't it be cool if we grew food for people who need it?"

Hingert-McDonald is now in Colorado continuing her studies in music. During her time at Laurier, she also studied permaculture design, which she said played a big role in how she wanted the Food Justice Garden to unfold.

Hingert-McDonald said she wanted the garden to be front and centre for people to see.

"I really wanted it to be somewhere that people can walk by every day and can see what we are doing," she said.  "I love the idea that growing food can be really beautiful."

Hingert-McDonald said the group is working on creating signs that will help inform students about the project and its purpose.

Various veggie types at Food Justice Garden

Students Mikayla Wall and Javier Fuentes are looking after the project, and dedicate their Thursday afternoons to maintaining the garden and harvesting food.

Foods like berries, Swiss chard and different lettuces are growing on plots along the Faculty of Music building. An herb garden with basil, oregano and thyme shares the same space.

Planters near the Fred Nichols Campus Centre building grow other foods, including carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, kale, eggplant, peppers and onion. One planter is also dedicated to the Three Sisters foods — beans, corn and squash. 

"We tried to go as diverse as we could get to hit all the food groups, and the vitamins and nutrients people will need," Wall said.

Indigenous students can pick up whatever foods and other items they need at Martin Luther University College, which runs the distribution program for the Food Justice Garden.

Giving back to Indigenous communities

Wall and Fuentes hope the Food Justice Garden will inspire students to think about reconciliation and ways they can give back to Indigenous communities.

"There's more of a practice now around land acknowledgement, but I think there's still a lot that needs to be bridged in terms of the actual land that we're on," Fuentes said.

"I think this is a small step in getting these plots to try and start working on that relationship."

Fuentes said more volunteers are welcomed and people don't have to be students at Laurier to help out.

Wall and Fuentes want to see the Food Justice Garden grow and hope it makes a difference for students and the community.

"Especially once we're a little more established and once we're able to produce more food that we can make a real impact for the Indigenous students, not just here at Laurier, but in general," Fuentes said.