Forests, First Peoples, & Future Cities at the OUFC 2021 Conference

This past November, Sheila had the pleasure of speaking at the Ontario Urban Forest Council (OUFC) 2021 Conference with a talk entitled Forests, First Peoples, & Future Cities. In this talk, Sheila discussed her personal relationship with the natural world, experience with participating in various initiatives to better protect the environment and the rights of Indigenous people, as well as strategies for making change happen. 

Sheila often thinks back to her youth and the influence that the cedar forests she grew up playing in had on her. Especially during the early stages of Covid lockdowns, she found herself seeking out the sanctuary of cedar forests again. Her connection to cedar is not solely a personal one, she shared. Cedar trees, referred to as Grandmother Cedar by Anishinaabeg, are important medicines and culturally significant to many Indigenous people. Cedar forests were also a place of refuge for Indigenous people to escape colonial violence. Through a deep understanding of the protection trees provide, Sheila frames how necessary it is for humans to do their part in protecting trees in turn. 

Cedar forest.

To stress the importance of being an advocate for trees, Sheila brings up the particular case of Small’s Creek, a creek and wetland located near her home. The existence of this wetland is important to the local ecology, the community, and it is unclear is it was mentioned in any engagement with First Nations. Yet the design that Metrolinx has proposed for the fourth rail will cause irreparable damage to the wetland, while removing a section of the existing natural trail that likely predates settlement.

Small’s Creek, Toronto.

The ways to help protect plants are sometimes fairly subtle, Sheila describes. Part of it can be taking on small tree planting projects and considering the perspective and needs of a tree, like a planting she did on Danforth Avenue. The language used while working on projects can also be important. A low fence surrounding a tree planting is not a ‘decorative fence’ but rather a ‘tree protection fence’. Initiatives such as these can lead to other change, including things like Adopt a Street Tree projects. 

Being critical of ‘heritage’ (i.e. asking, whose heritage are we referring to?), and asking many questions can also contribute to protecting trees. Doing some research at a local library, Sheila discovered the significance of a row of mature white oak trees (250 yr old+) near Cosburn Middle School, in the east end of Toronto. She traced them to likely having significance to an early ‘Market Gardener’ family who lived across the street, and where a similar aged white oak still grows. The significance of this history doesn’t end there. According to Indigenous oral history shared by Gary Pritchard of Curve Lake First Nation, Indigenous Peoples planted oak trees to help guide them on routes such as leading them towards bodies of water (they were also used as a food source to make a type of flour). As such, it is likely that these trees were planted by Indigenous Peoples before colonization, and should be designated heritage trees, in addition to the settler history. The protection of heritage and consideration of whose heritage and stories are being protected or shared is extremely important. Sheila has spoken with teachers who work with Indigenous youth who have said that they do not feel represented, valued, heard, or cared for in cities. Protecting heritage trees and raising awareness of the importance of these white oaks to the First Peoples of Toronto could be one way to connect Indigenous youth to the land and their heritage, and to feel valued. Another way is providing meaningful work for these youth that involves tree conservation, such as the Nikibii Dawadinna Gigwag program, that Sheila initiated and co-founded in 2018 with the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto and University of Toronto, while with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). (Note: The program is ongoing today, and is led by the Daniels Faculty, University of Toronto, and their Indigenous Advisor to the Dean, Elder Whabagoon). 

Heritage white oaks at the edge of Cosburn Middle School’s western border, in Toronto.

Nikibii Dawadinna Gigwag participants during a training session at Bolton Camp (TRCA).

Sheila discussed how sometimes one project can open doors for the creation of several other projects. After the founding of Nikibii Dawadinna Gigwag, she was asked to work on a week-long green infrastructure training workshop for Pheasant Rump First Nation (PRFN), and then later (with SpruceLab), to assist both PRFN and also Kawacatoose First Nation with the creation of their food forest designs. 

She explained that sometimes help is as simple as just showing up and getting involved when invited. She describes events such as Miinikaan’s Pawpaw tree restoration and ceremony, and the water ceremony performed at Small’s Creek with Knowledge Keeper Luana Harper-Shirt, as being extremely rewarding to be involved with, and provide meaningful opportunities to learn just by being there.    

Sheila closed by describing the immersive film experience called ‘Biidaaban’, meaning ‘First Light’ in Anishinaabemowin, by artist Lisa Jackson. Jackson describes Biidaaban as “…an imagining of a future Toronto, where all the elements of nature have… come back in.” She also explains that the film invites audiences to think about the other life forms that humans share the earth with, and what happens to them when humans continually destroy the environment. To Sheila, Biidaaban further emphasizes the need for the usage of “two-eyed seeing”, a concept created by the Mi’kmaq Elders Albert and Murdena Marshal. As described by Dr. Cindy Makwa Baskin, this principle is based on “…encouraging learners to see from one eye Indigenous ways of knowing, and from the other eye with mainstream ways of knowing, and importantly, learning to see with both eyes together—for the benefit of all.” It is our hope that by using the two-eyed seeing approach, we can fix the damage done and become better protectors of the trees.