(Student relaxes by Medicine Wheel Garden)
The unveiling of the Medicine Wheel Garden was held during a celebration of Sheridan’s 50th Anniversary on Monday, October 2. Hundreds of students, employees and Oakville community members attended this special event.
The Medicine Wheel Garden, located close to the main entrance on Ceremonial Rd. at the Trafalgar campus, was a project led by the Office for Sustainability (OfS). The installation of the garden has incorporated ideas from the Sheridan community and the Centre for Indigenous Learning and Support, and we are already seeing some of the results.
The diverse native plants are attracting pollinators (bees and butterflies) and the Medicine Wheel design has become a highly visible landmark reminding people about Indigenous teachings.
The Medicine Wheel garden is made up of four quadrants of native perennials surrounded by a circle of armour stone seating. The trees and shrubs in the perimeter gardens will provide shade over time. The garden was designed to grow a variety of native pollinator plants, provide clear sightlines for safety and durable seating. The plants have been chosen to provide colour in spring, summer and fall; winter colour is provided by the evergreens and native prairie grasses. Three Indigenous sacred plants, sweetgrass, sage and white cedar, are also included in the garden.
Sheridan President Mary Preece was the host of the 50th Anniversary celebration event In her remarks, she talked about the significance of the garden: “This is an important step in the path to truth and reconciliation, and we still have much to do. We hope that this garden will generate a sense of pride in the community.”
“This space has been completely transformed,” said Wai Chu Cheng, the project manager and Sustainability Coordinator at OfS. “We noticed that many people who passed by the garden were slowing down their pace to take a closer look at the site during the last few weeks when the garden was installed. Now when you are around the space, you can see people hanging out at the garden; some sitting on the armour stones chatting with each other while others are relaxing by themselves. This is exactly what we have designed the garden for, that is, creating a space to connect people with nature and with each other.”
The garden site was filled with invasive Buckthorn in 2015
Over the last few years an invasive species of Buckthorn had been growing fast and choking out all other plants. Two years ago, this site became overgrown with Buckthorn more than three metres tall.
With the support of Facilities Services and Health and Safety departments, OfS brought in a contractor to remove all the Buckthorn at the site in the fall of 2015. It was followed by planting 11 native trees in the north side of the plot last fall. The installation of the Medicine Wheel garden on the south side of this plot was the final phase of this project.
“About 90-95% of the garden occurs naturally in the area, I mean some of them even occur right in the wooded area by the campus. I haven’t done the full tally, but I believe there are over 75 plant species here that are native to the region,” expert botanist and garden designer Paul O’Hara said.
This project is also a great way to connect with the Indigenous community which has such strong historical links to the land we now call Sheridan College.
“The garden represents the alignment and continuous action of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual realities. The circular shape represents the inter connectivity of all aspects of one being and the connection to mother earth,” Elijah Williams from the Indigenous Centre for Learning and Support said.
When people approach the Medicine Wheel, they will see a colourful display, which provides every visitor with interesting information to help them enjoy and respect the garden even more. One quote from it that sums up this project goes as such: “It is a garden for all peoples and all living things. It provides a sacred space for healing, celebration and peace.”
