Garden of Nations offers Winnipeg newcomers a place to grow together

A new project in Winnipeg is welcoming newcomers by helping them establish roots — literally.

This weekend, 15 new Canadian families will begin working in their own gardens, created for them in a new space at the North Centennial Community Centre on Sinclair Street.

It's called the North End Garden of Nations and it officially opens on Saturday.

"People who come here … 95 per cent of them do not speak English at all. So when they come here, they feel very frustrated, and the first thing that makes them happy is just gardening," said Th'lay Htoo, who came to Winnipeg in 2007 after living for years in a refugee camp along the Thai-Burmese border.

Stefan Epp-Koop, acting executive director of Food Matters Manitoba, said 30 garden boxes, two for each family, will be built and filled with soil on Saturday. There will also be a general community bed for sharing and for special events, he said.

When they come here, they feel very frustrated, and the first thing that makes them happy is just gardening.- Th'lay Htoo

The families — who arrived as refugees from Burma, also known as Myanmar, Congo and Bhutan — will be invited to begin using them right away.

"They will be growing foods from around the world, right here in the heart of Winnipeg," said Epp-Koop.

In addition to giving families the opportunity to grown their own food, the gardens provide an opportunity for newcomers to develop friendships and build community.

They will share foods, gardening techniques, recipes, stories and culture, Epp-Koop said.

"Gardening can be such a powerful tool for people who are new to Canada. Not only do they get to eat foods they are familiar with from around the world — foods they might not [otherwise] be able to get here in Canada — but they're also able to get exercise, they're able to de-stress," he said.

"All that stress from that transition process of coming to Canada can be helped in the garden. Lots of them were farmers in their home country, so it gives them a chance to reconnect with something they're familiar with and also make friendships and social connections."