A sacred space for remembrance blooms at Trinity-St. Paul’s

By Ben Hohener 

Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church is nearing completion of its Heart Garden, a sacred space honouring Indigenous children who suffered in residential schools. Facing Bloor Street, the small garden has recently undergone its final touches: Two wooden panels constructed by Anishinaabe artist Solomon King. One panel is dedicated to the history of Canadian treaties, the colonization settlement, and the construction of residential schools, serving as an educational display about  the often swept-under-the-rug historical mistreatment of the Indigenous population. The other is engraved with a resonant and evocative poem written by Métis author Katherena Vermette. She writes of “an other story …carved on earth, every stone a song, that echoes the erosion…another story…scrolled on wind, painted in blood, every bone sings…” 

“We are here to honour our ancestors and make a place for our children,” said Vermette, “It is the only job that matters.” 

Between 1927 and 1969, the United Church managed residential schools across Ontario and Western Canada. In 1986 and 1998, the United Church publicly apologized for the pain and suffering that their involvement in the residential school system caused. The church’s tumultuous past cannot be overlooked, and the garden is recognition of that. It is about taking accountability for the church’s part in the history of colonization and taking first steps towards reconciliation. 

This was the prayer offered during the initial construction of the garden: “Help us to open our hearts to others, pay attention to our thoughts, words and actions, notice when we have hurt others and change our behaviour in the future. With this Heart Garden we honour the children who were lost or survived the Indian residential school system.” 

The garden was constructed in the shape of a medicine wheel, an Indigenous symbol representing the four interconnected aspects of one’s being: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. In the summer of 2019, the construction of a nearby parkette uncovered several large stones, and the city gifted two of them to the Heart Garden. 

At the website www.thechildrenrembered it states: “In Indigenous culture, stones are regarded as Grandfathers, wise from their countless lifetimes; the earth remembers suffering.” 

Over the years, more additions have been made to the garden. Jacqui Lavalley, an Anishinaabe Elder, helped guide the church in planting the four sacred medicines—tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweet grass. Jacqui also often leads the community in Anishinaabe ceremonies and teachings.

As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC)) came to a close in 2015, the call to create Heart Gardens across Canada came from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society in a celebration known as Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams. Celebrated in May and June, the event brings together people of all ages to honour the memory of children lost to the residential school system and to honour the survivors and their families. Every year since the closing ceremony of the TRC, the children of Trinity-St. Paul’s create and laminate hearts to plant in the garden. 

The project is almost complete, and with it, Trinity-St. Paul’s hopes to keep the garden as a symbol of unity for the community. There is still much to be done in terms of reconciliation, and the United Church seeks to learn from it as a source of healing, with humility. There is a palpable sense of melancholy in the garden, but also hope, which is just as powerful. Recognition and accountability are the first steps towards a brighter future, and Trinity-St. Paul’s Heart Garden hopes to serve as a profound display of a harmonious community working together to create a blooming memorial.

READ MORE:

• ON THE COVER: REDress at Trinity-St. Paul’s (May 2021)
• CHATTER: Heart Garden to honour residential school victims (Sept. 2019)
• CHATTER: REDress Project inspires local solidarity (July 2018)