NEWS
THIRD ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
February 27, 2024
HAPPY 2024!
January 8, 2024
HASTINGS & KAMLOOPS PLAZA PLANTING DAY
November 3, 2023
NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD WEEK 2023
October 5, 2023
The third annual NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD WEEK was a huge success with 17 events in 8 days happening in 10 locations and about 450 participants.
A big thank you to NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD WEEK sponsor the Hastings Sunrise Community Food Network (HSCFN) who helped plan the event and provided funding from the United Way of British Columbia and PNE Playland. HSCFN is made up of Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, Hastings Community Centre, CityReach Care Society, Thunderbird Community Centre and Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House who all contributed space, time and events to the week.
Thank you to Copley Community Orchard, MLA Niki Sharma’s Office, Ancestral Foodways, Vines Art Society, Aboriginal Mothers Centre Society, City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board for making this incredible week possible!
We are eternally grateful to the volunteers and participants who filled the atmosphere with love and positivity. Thank you to all workshop hosts, facilitators, teachers, neighbours and friends who put in time and energy into making each and every event unique and meaningful.
We can’t wait for next year’s NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD WEEK which will happen from September 23-30, 2024! Thank you Thank you Thank you!
NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD WEEK on CBC
September 25, 2023
Click on the image to watch the clip
Thank You For Your Votes!
August 29, 2023
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Indigenous Peoples Day and
Chén̓chenstway's 1st Birthday Celebration
June 21, 2023
Thank you to all the community members who came to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day and Chén̓chenstway Food Forest’s 1st Birthday on June 21st!
The garden was filled with over 30 folks throughout the evening who enjoyed some beautiful flower petal and medicinal teas made by Laura Cisneros, vegan Earnest Ice Cream made possible by Lori Snyder, creating at the craft table cutting out and decorating tiny orange tshirts and red dresses with Yoko Tomita which were then hung around the garden and ended the evening watching our new medicine wheel mosaic video.
Things around our medicine wheel mosaic project in Oxford Park have changed a little so we will update you soon but in the meantime, feel free to watch the beautiful video lovingly made by Iryna Mitnovych:
Chén̓chenstway Happenings
June 17, 2023
“What a gift to be able to give away this food! Tobacco starts last week and fresh lettuce for the elders at Aboriginal Mothers Centre this week! How amazing!” Victoria Buffalo Robe, Chén̓chenstway Garden Steward
Thursday’s volunteer and community work parties have been buzzing with excitement these days! Lots of folks stopping by to help out harvesting food and medicines, helping to weed and transplant, watering the garden. It’s been really fun to connect community through the healing garden. You are welcome to join us any Thursday from 11-2pm.
Radishes and spinach were harvested for the elders and the kitchen at Aboriginal Mothers Centre and ceremonial tobacco babies growing from last year’s plants are being gifted on a regular basis. There are still lots for you to come dig up on Indigenous Peoples Day from 7-9pm if you would like one!
on June 21st!
Join us for a community celebration from 7-9pm!
One year ago on June 21st 2022, our first Food Forest and Healing Garden, Chén̓chenstway, was born.
Around 60 community members came to plant over 30 varieties of Indigenous food plants infusing the soil with their prayers for the regeneration of Mother Earth and the unceded lands of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ Nations.
It was a beautiful day shared with our partner Aboriginal Mothers Centre and many friends, community organizations, neighbours and beyond.
Thanks to CBC News Vancouver for capturing the historic moment!
And thank you to Vancouver Park Board, Vancity Credit Union and Vancouver Foundation for making this all possible!
If you haven’t seen the garden these days, it has gone through many transitions since the images you see in the video. It’s so green and abundant right now and growing lots of veggies through our new Moose Stew program facilitated by Chén̓chenstway Garden Steward, Victoria Buffalo Robe.
VUFFF NEWS
Instagram story posts highlighting some of our activities in the past month
Instagram Story News
May 11, 2023
2nd Annual General Meeting
April 5, 2023
Below is part of the 2022 Annual Report
Chén̓chenstway Log Seating
March 27, 2023
The logs were very rough and difficult to sit on as some were very tall so JP made them all flat and also sculpted animals into them. He even made a captain’s chair from a huge willow log which also looks like a whale fin!
One of the logs features an eagle carving and the other one is a killer whale or Yéw̓yews and also looks like an otter, hippo or whatever you would like it to be!
The carvings will be sanded but are also beautiful as they are now.
These logs are directly on the ground therefore will decompose over time. Although we will try to preserve them for as long as possible, the intention is for them to return to earth. This art is temporary and helps us see that all things eventually return to Mother Earth where the cycle of renewal can continue.
We would like to thank Vancouver Park Board for funding this art project. Come by and have a seat!
Chén̓chenstway, Fieldhouse, Volunteer Village
February 17 , 2023
We started this organization during the pandemic, so having a physical space is game-changing for us. We are so grateful for this beautiful location and for Vancouver Park Board’s Fieldhouse Residency Program for giving us this opportunity. We will be able to deliver much more programming now and create even deeper roots in the community.
We are still waiting to hear back about the results of the Ground Penetrating Radar before we can confirm a date for the food forest planting in Burrard View Park!
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Happy 2023!
December 31 , 2022
We have so much to be grateful for as 2022 comes to a close. Our year was filled with so many blessings like planting our first food forest and healing garden, Chén̓chenstway and receiving the funding and support we need to keep everything in bloom.
We are first of all endlessly grateful to Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations for graciously allowing us to thrive on these beautiful lands which they have stewarded since time immemorial.
We want to extend our deepest gratitude to Kiwassa Neighbourhood House for their partnership since the first days of VUFFF, supporting us in ways that have allowed us to flourish and be the best that we can be. We wouldn’t be here without them and we are eternally grateful to the Kiwassa staff we work with for generating such positivity and creativity toward our work and helping us in ways that go beyond the call of duty.
The second annual Neighbourhood Food Week was an incredible event filled with so many supportive partnerships and community spirit. We would like to thank Hastings Sunrise Community Food Network(HSCFN) for fully supporting Neighbourhood Food Week with funding obtained from the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and United Way BC – Lower Mainland Region. HSCFN is an awesome network and if you don’t know it or the organizations that comprise it, please check them out!
We are so grateful to the Real Estate Foundation of BC for believing in our work and providing us with the funding we need to continue thriving!
We are grateful to Vancouver Foundation who have supported us ongoingly since the get go and have recently granted us funding for our newest team member for the Chén̓chenstway Garden Steward position (we’ll tell you more soon!). We are so grateful for our partnership with Aboriginal Mother Centre Society for this program and for contributing so much to the success of Chén̓chenstway.
We are grateful to Vancity Credit Union who has also supported us throughout our journey.
And thank you to our newest funder, Grow Grants for their support and enthusiasm for our work!
We are grateful to the Vancouver Park Board for their ongoing support of our work from Burrard View Park to Oxford Park to the Fieldhouse Activation Program. Thank you to the Neighbourhood Matching Fund for funding our awesome upcoming mosaic project in the cement circle in Oxford Park and log seating carving.
Thank you so much to the Capilano University class INTS 335 and Prof. Josema Zamorano for helping us with all kinds of community work, outreach, plant ID signs and more this semester!
There is so much more gratitude to go out! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all our amazing cocreators, Board of Directors, volunteers, donors, members, organizational partners, neighbours. You all make neighbourhood community building so inspiring and fulfilling! We would not be here without this community. It definitely takes a village to raise a non-profit organization!
Burrard View Park Fieldhouse Residency
November 25 , 2022
Archeological Assessment Update
October 22, 2022
The ground-penetrating radar assessment in Burrard View Park where our future food forest project will be located, has been ongoing since Tuesday. Archeologists from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) have been leading the work as well as Park Board’s archaeologist and a UBC professor who works alongside Musqueam. In the following week or so the images will be analyzed to determine if there are unmarked graves or anything else of historical or spiritual importance for the host nations. Drone surveying and some minor excavation are planned in the coming weeks in order to complete the assessment. This is one of the first times that ground-penetrating radar has been used to bring to light Indigenous history in a Vancouver park. We are extremely appreciative that Vancouver Park Board responded to VUFFF’s findings and research with an archeological assessment. It is very encouraging to see steps being taken toward truly becoming a city of reconciliation. We will keep you updated!
October 16 , 2022
NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD WEEK 2022!
October 9, 2022
Wow NEIGHBOURHOOD FOOD WEEK was incredible! It’s a week later now and we’ve had some time to rest after a jamboree of beautiful events, ceremonies, workshops and tours.
We’ve compiled a few collages to help recap the week! You’ll see photos of the Opening Day, Tobacco Workshop with Leona Brown, Chen Chen Stway Work Party, Mural Ceremony at Wall Street Community Garden, Fresh Ideas at Niki Sharma‘s office, Copley Community Orchard Tour, Here Comes the Sunflower Workshop with Yazmin Vasquez, Indigenous Plant Walk with Lori Snyder, Traditional Hot Chocolate Workshop with Luis Almazan, Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society Schoolyard Tour, Healing Through Plants Workshop at Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, the Japanese Cooking Class with Yoko Tomita, the CityReach Care Society Warehouse and Rooftop Apiary Tour, the Market & Movie Night at the Hastings & Kamloops Pop up Plaza, the Food Week Community Market at Pandora Park, the 215 Memorial Garden Rock Painting, Planting & Ceremony and the Orange Shirt Day Gathering at Hastings Community Centre and Templeton Park Pool & Welcome Garden.
There were a few more events that weren’t captured here but we will have more photos on our Food Week page soon!
We are so honoured and grateful for those who came out to support food justice in Hastings-Sunrise!
We recognize that none of this would be possible without the permission of the host nations Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and səlilwətaɬ who allow us to work, live and play on their unceded and ancestral territory. We are eternally grateful to all the Elders, neighbours, attendees, workshop facilitators, volunteers and organizations who put their souls into this special week. It’s truly heartwarming.
We are thankful to those who shared and helped spread the word and we thank those of you who couldn’t make it out this time around but allowed a little bit of the unifying feeling that food week sparks to be ignited within you. We honour the land and waters for allowing us to thrive here.
We raise our hands to you all!
CityNews Highlights Running Free Wildflowers Project & VUFFF
September 30, 2022
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Heart & Soil Magazine Article
Featuring VUFFF
August 22, 2022
CBC's "On The Coast" Features VUFFF Cocreators
July 17, 2022
Click on the image to read
Chen Chen Stway
Healing Garden
Opening Ceremony
July 10, 2022
As Elder Eugene explained, the blanket represents the arms of the ancestors wrapping around the person for protection and the bandana is wrapped around the head so that they may remember this day and cherish it in their hearts.
Deborah Baker of Squamish Nation and the ED of Aboriginal Mother Centre Society, Marie-Pierre Bilodeau of VUFFF, Elder Katherine Cooper of PAFNW, Leona Brown of VUFFF, MP Jenny Kwan, MLA Niki Sharma, City Councillors Michael Wiebe and Adriane Carr and Vancouver School Board Chair Janet Fraser were present and most gave speeches to express their appreciation for this new healing garden which represents important steps on the journey to reconciliation and land rematriation.
Thank you to all the beautiful people who made this day possible, all the drummers, dancers, elders, volunteers, the VUFFF & AMCS teams, PAFNW, the community and all our supporters!
First VUFFF Food Forest in the Ground!
June 21, 2022
It was a memorable and historic moment for VUFFF and the community as we have been working 2 years to be able to plant our first food forest! Our dream came true on June 21st, Indigenous People’s Day! It was a celebration we will never forget!
Along with our partners on this project, Aboriginal Mothers Centre Society (AMCS), Pacific Association of First Nations Women (PAFNW) and many other representatives from partner organizations such as Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, Hastings Community Centre Food & Gardens Program and more, over 60 people came out to plant Indigenous trees, shrubs, flowers, ground covers and lay down burlap sacks and cardboard to protect the garden soil from the sun and elements! We are waiting on bark mulch to be delivered by Park Board in order to complete the garden and cover all the soil and pathways.
Metis herbalist and educator and VUFFF Board President Lori Snyder showed us the proper way to dig holes and add water to prepare our plant friends for their permanent homes and she guided us on how to care for Indigenous plants.
Our day began with a beautiful Cree prayer to the 4 directions led by Elder Katherine Cooper from PAFNW and words were shared by VUFFF cocreators Leona Brown and Marie-Pierre Bilodeau. Sarah Cushman spoke on behalf of AMCS and outlined all the fun crafts to do like adorn plant identification signs and paint orange rocks to decorate the garden.
CBC was there documenting the perfect morning equipped with a reporter, photographer and drone!
On July 10th, from 10:30 – 12:30, we will have yet another celebration to bless and name the Chen Chen Stway Healing Garden. There will be a blanketing ceremony, a naming ceremony, blessing by Host Nation Elders present, a traditional dancer and drummer, a free lunch prepared by AMCS to share in community and much more.
Chen Chen Stway is the Squamish name given to the garden (and hopefully the park one day!) which means “to stand and work together – to hold each other up” the concept of mutual aid which is what VUFFF is all about it! Thank you Deborah Baker for giving the garden this meaningful and fitting name.
CBC News Highlights VUFFF Project
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Indigenous Food Forest in Oxford Park
May 17, 2022
The signs are up for VUFFF’s first Indigenous Food Forest in collaboration with Aboriginal Mother Centre Society and other Indigenous organizations and neighbours!
This is a sister garden to our bigger, future project down the street! The Indigenous Food Forest in Oxford Park is a Type 2 Garden in Park Board’s urban agriculture policy which is a garden under 250m2 so doesn’t need the same level of public consultation as Burrard View Park did. Also, as this project is stewarded by Indigenous folks and organizations, it was prioritized to happen in a timely manner.
As the signage mentions, “This project is part of our (Park Board’s) Local Food System Action Plan which aims to create a sustainable, just, and decolonized local food system.”
We hope you will come help plant and re-Indigenize Oxford Park in a couple weeks with us! We already got all our plants from the beautiful Coast Salish Nursery at Maplewood Flats some of which are pictured in this newsletter.
Aboriginal Mothers Centre is planning an opening ceremony on groundbreaking day with a blessing and naming of the garden by local Elders.
It will be a special celebration and you are all invited! We will give you more details soon as we still don’t have a date yet.
1st Annual General Meeting
It’s time for our first Annual General Meeting happening virtually Wednesday, April 27th from 5:30 – 6:30 pm.
Now that we have clarity on what’s in store for 2022 and beyond, it’s time to look back on 2021 and elect a new board to help move us forward in a good way!
VUFFF has been operating with an advisory board of “co-creators” who through consensus-based decison-making guide our processes. This decionmaking is also led by the thoughts and words of the two Indigenous women on our team.
Although we strive to decolonize our processes, we became a registered organization so that we can create change in the system from within.
If you would like to participate in voting for the new board of directors which is in place as a regulation of BC Societies Act but also helps ensure VUFFF stays aligned to its mission and vision, then please become a member by April 20th.
You can also attend as a non-member and simply come gather with us.
Please email us at info@vufff.org if you would like to join us!
See you soon friends!
Food Forest Approved by Park Board!
March 31, 2022
Very exciting news friends! If you have been following our journey, you’ll know that we have been working toward the goal of bringing Indigenous food sovereignty, urban biodiversity and community cohesion to the SE area of Burrard View Park for almost 2 years now.
On Wednesday, March 30th, 2022 at around 8:30 pm, 5 out of the 7 Park Board Commissioners voted for our project to go ahead in the recommended area.
After 8 hours of meetings over 2 days, where 50 speakers were heard and the site location for VUFF was debated for over an hour, it was finally approved!
We have grown so much through the process and rolled along with all the obstacles and teachings but we have to say that we are relieved to be on to the next stage of the journey.
The motion passed by the board requires an archeological assessment before any work can be done on the ground. We are very much in favour of this as we instigated much of the research that led to this investigation. We will inform you more about this and next steps soon.
We are going to take our time establishing this new food forest as we have a few other small projects lined up for the summer but we will keep you posted on ways to participate and our process.
The VUFF project is one of the first initiatives to fulfill the goals of Vancouver Park Board’s newly approved Local Food System Action Plan!
Thank you for believing in this since the early beginnings!
Thank you for believing that an equitable, decolonized and just Vancouver is possible!
Vancouver Sun & The Province Feature
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