Connor Lalande
Mansfield-et-Pontefract
June 24, 2023
In a celebration of culture and heritage, the Pontiac Native Community held a fundraising event at the Pontiac Healing Garden this past Saturday.
A community gathering point meant to reflect on the lasting legacy of colonialism and Canada’s residential school system, the Pontiac Healing Garden is a public space that seeks to promote healing, cultural understanding and outreach.
“This is to highlight and to really advertise the healing garden. And to help us continue, because that’s a work in progress, to add more medicine to the garden, so that when the time comes, we’ll be able to self-heal,” explained President of the Pontiac Native Community, Lise Romain.
According to Romain, among the many medicinal plants used by regional Indigenous peoples, four are considered sacred: tobacco, cedar, sage and sweetgrass. The money raised will go towards upkeep of the garden and replenishing it with medicinal herbs, plants and trees.
Romain explained that the fundraiser, in the spirt of togetherness, was also a celebration of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, the summer solstice and National Indigenous Peoples Day that was marked on June 21.
The event began with a performance by members of the Kichi Sibi Women’s drumming group. The group brought with them traditional drums and invited those in attendance to participate in the ceremony.
Door prizes donated from the local community, a 50/50 draw and the sale of food and beverages by volunteers were all used to raise funds for the Pontiac Native Community.
Later in the day, a DJ entertained the gathered crowd with music.
“It’s really an opportunity to celebrate our culture and to reconnect with the diversity of iIndigenous people,” said member of the Board of Directors, Ann Marie Sullivan Urbaitis. “Especially with truth and reconciliation and on the path forward, the Healing Garden provides a really safe, sacred space for people to come and go. They can go into the tipi, sit under the gazebo, enjoy nature. It’s very therapeutic and has many benefits.”
