About Us
Our Story
In the Spring of 2020 a group of like-minded community members decided to tackle the effects of COVID-19 by bringing people together with food. We realized that a crucial way to help with the alienation and food shortages we saw in our neighbourhood was to establish a collective garden and food forest.
We first came up with the idea though in 2018 when we observed there was a serious need for more community gardens in this neighbourhood of 34,000 people, but at the time our chosen park was not available. In time, our vision evolved from the allotment model of community gardening to a philosophy of sharing harvests, collective gardening and food forests, being guided by Indigenous ways of knowing, prioritizing marginalized voices and creating a hub for mutual aid. Our mission has continued to expand and deepen alongside our growing ties to this community.
In April 2020, we proposed this new community-based, intergenerational and cross-cultural knowledge sharing space to the Vancouver Park Board. It was very much aligned with their new Local Food System Action Plan so the Burrard View Park project was approved in concept in March 2021. On March 29th, 2022 the Southeast site of Burrard View Park was officially approved by Vancouver Park Board and development is likely to start in the fall of 2022 subject to an archeological investigation which was instigated by our group.
On June 21st, 2022 we planted our first Indigenous food forest, also located on Wall St. in Oxford Park called Chen Chen Stway which means “to lift each other up” in the Squamish language. This is a sister garden to the upcoming food forest in Burrard View Park.
While we waited for approval of these first sites, we spent time connecting with our neighbours in meaningful ways, conducting workshops with partnering organizations and spreading the word about food justice as a tool for systemic change. We created and facilitated an annual event called Neighbourhood Food Week which takes place at the end of September in Hastings-Sunrise!
Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation is a Canadian Registered Non-Profit.
Below are some of the folks involved in bringing this project to life:
Co-creators
Leona Brown
(she/her) A Gitxsan and Nisga’a mother of 3 children, of the Fireweed House and the Killerwhale Clan. I am an Indigenous Independent Cultural Facilitator. I gained 3 years of training in Land and Lives around Indigenous Culture with the Resurfacing History Program Coordinated by Jolene Andrew. This work has become my Healing Journey, the grassroots teachings and knowledge is shared with my children. This knowledge is important to know who we are and where we come from and how we live with the Lands and Waterways around us. As a Gitxsan Refugee in the unceded territories of Musquem, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh, I have been taking on land based work here in the city and thrive as a great ambassador to the work Resurfacing History has taught me around Indigenous food and resources that we harvest in the city. I advocate at every opportunity with School Boards, City of Vancouver, and Vancouver Parks Board for all opportunities for Indigenous People to relearn our culture on the lands and waterways that we live on and actively talk of Reconciliation.
LoriAnn Bird Snyder
(she/her) is an Indigenous Metis herbalist and educator with a deep knowledge of wild, medicinal and edible plants that grow in everyday spaces. Through LoriAnn's eyes, our immediate surroundings take on a new life and offer a wealth of untapped nutritional and ecological resources. Through Indigenous ways of knowing and pedagogies, LoriAnn leads people of diverse backgrounds in reconnecting to the Earth’s wisdom. Her first book, Revered Roots: Ancestral Teachings and Wisdom of Wild, Edible, and Medicinal Plants, weaves together Indigenous teachings, personal stories, and practical knowledge. It’s an invitation to listen to the plants, nurture our connections to the land, and honour the gifts of our More-Than-Human-Kin. LoriAnn created Earth Awareness Realized Through Health and Company in 2013, to share First People’s perspectives on wild, edible and medicinal plants. Her practices include plant identification walks, illustration and plant medicine workshops, homemade products for the skin, consulting on garden design, as well as public speaking and team training. Lori walks gently and teaches primarily on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, as well as neighbouring Coast Salish nations. Lori is a descendant from the Powhatan, Dakota, T’suu tina, Nakota, Cree, Nipissing, Dene and Anishinaabe peoples, mixed with French and Celtic ancestry. She was born and raised on the lands of the Squamish people, near Vancouver, Canada, overlooking the Salish Sea on the Pacific Northwest Coast of Turtle Island. LoriAnn’s teachings remind us that every plant has a story, and in tending to the land, we also tend to ourselves and our communities.
Laura Cisneros
(she/her) Mujer mestiza from Cuba, and of Yoruba, Taino and Spanish descent. Community builder, art historian and writer. Practitioner of conscious dreaming. Laura came to the unceded ancestral land of the Coast Salish people looking for freedom. Here, she felt foreign to everything except the plants and the sky. The plants taught her that we could speak their language; they also showed her that human languages reduce our relations with nature. The sky taught her that she could trust herself. Quickly, Laura understood that she was already free and that her true purpose was to know her own roots. "I like saying that I came to the North to learn about the South, to see myself as a reflection of Mother Earth and the Cosmos. Through my dreaming practice and plant medicines, the connection with the Cosmos became more relevant to my everyday life. I have also found a new love and inspiration to share my journey, and trust others can also accept and love themselves as they are, as written in our stars." Laura is the founder of Unfolding Senderos, a dreaming circle started in 2019. Since 2020, she has led monthly new and full moon circles with Lori Snyder. She has studied dreaming and plant medicine practices under various traditional healers, and medicine women and men from the Amazon, Andes, Mexico and Turtle Island.
Yoko Tomita
(she/her) creates educational, accessible and skill building visual art activities for a variety of age groups. She is an art instructor for visual art class, lantern, origami workshops in Vancouver. She has worked at Collingwood Neighbourhood House since 2004 as the Arts & Culture Coordinator. She has been working on unique lanterns for installations and instructing lantern workshops for the Still Creek Moon Festival and Winter Solstice Festival. She organizes visual art shows and annual artisan markets as well. She completed numerous community art projects in the east side of Vancouver, street banners, fountain mosaic project, community murals by engaging with multicultural community members creating beautiful public art in our neighbourhood. Her expression of arts shows in bright colours, local animals and flora and fauna in nature as the main themes which brings smiles and cheer to the public. Her work extends to Neighbourhood Cultural Network Developer for RCMAN (Renfrew Collingwood Multicultural Artists’ Network) and beyond for the community art movement She also loves growing food in community and guerilla gardening!
Marisa Stableford
(she/her) Marisa is a queer, neurodivergent visual artist living and working in Vancouver on the west coast of Canada on the unceded, ancestral land of the Coast Salish people. Marisa holds a BA in Psychology from the University of British Columbia and is constantly working to expand her knowledge, experience and skills through community-based, traditional and academic learning relationships. Marisa brings over a decade of experience working with local, community-focused non profits in education, arts and culture to her current role as Operations Coordinator at VUFFF. The common thread in my work history and creative practice is a desire to understand the unique ways that humans relate to the ecological communities we are part of. I’m curious how the relationships we have individually and collectively with plants, animals, landscapes and waterways can be a portal to deeper, more meaningful connections with place. What healing can be found, what futures become inevitable, when we see ourselves as part of the natural world we love?
Lisa Patterson
(she/her) Lisa is a lifelong learner of EVERYTHING, but is especially interested in zero-waste, food, gardening, and our natural world. She is grateful to be able to call the lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ people home. Lisa has maintained a small vegetable garden everywhere she's lived and is currently the coordinator of Hastings Community Centre Food & Garden Programs. You can learn more about the programs offered here: https://linktr.ee/seasonsoffood
Sarah-Anne Mitchell
(she/her) Traditional name: Ta Ne Spa uth (Mother Bear), proudly embraces her diverse heritage, blending Scottish, Irish, Sto:lo, and Metis ancestry. Descended from the resilient Mary Mussel of the Skwah Nation, Sarah-Anne was born in Calgary, Alberta, and found her roots firmly planted in East Vancouver, where she has nurtured a family of five children. Since 2012, Sarah-Anne has dedicated herself to the downtown East side community, offering unwavering support to individuals grappling with homelessness, addiction, mental health challenges, and trauma. Her journey has been marked by the creation of impactful cultural workshops, the orchestration of dynamic networking events, and the development of vital programs. Sarah-Anne's profound experience includes serving as a compassionate Support Worker for women and children. With a keen focus on crisis intervention, highlighted by her influential tenure as program coordinator at the Aboriginal Mother Centre Society for over six years. Driven by a fervent belief in social justice and fuelled by her deep empathy for those facing adversity, Sarah-Anne currently lends her expertise as a board member of the Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation. Additionally, she proudly serves as the treasurer and visionary founder of the Eagles Inspirit Protecting Indigenous Fathers Society, an organization she holds close to her heart. Sarah-Anne's commitment to her cultural journey is a cornerstone of her life's work. She passionately pursues knowledge of her heritage, seeing it as a powerful catalyst for healing, personal truth, and identity. Engaging in ceremonial practices, she eagerly absorbs and imparts traditional teachings, ensuring that her children and future generations inherit a rich legacy of resilience and cultural pride.
Ruth Suarez
(she/her) Born in Mexico and now calling Canada home for over two decades, Ruth is a compassionate Counsellor, a Community Worker, a dedicated mother of two wonderful boys, and a firm believer in the power of love. Her journey into counselling was deeply personal—shaped by lived experiences and a profound desire to help others, especially her children, build better lives. Before stepping into the world of counselling, Ruth worked as a travel agent for 16 years, a role that deepened her love for human connection and capacity building. She sees the beauty in every person and understands that we thrive best when we support one another. Her passion for social justice fuels her work—she stands for equity, uses her privilege to uplift others, and speaks up when voices go unheard. For Ruth, kindness is a daily practice. Whether it’s offering a warm smile to a stranger or truly listening to someone’s story, she knows that even small gestures can make a big impact. As a mother, she has learned how fragile the human heart can be and believes that love requires both, strength and vulnerability. Her journey to Canada wasn’t without challenges—leaving behind her family, culture, and language was difficult. But she found strength through community, seeking support from like-minded individuals and embracing the beauty of reciprocity. Today, she carries that lesson forward, reminding others that asking for help is not a weakness but a sign of courage. If she could offer one piece of wisdom, it would be this: Do not be afraid to love and to be vulnerable—that is the greatest strength you can have.
Chantell Brown
(she/her) is a creative artist with a deep passion for photography, filmmaking and gardening. She uses her garden to explore how plants and ecosystems connect, grow and thrive, which often inspires her artistic work. When she isn't gardening or working on creative projects, Chantell enjoys hiking, biking and exploring the world of mushrooms and fungi. Whether she's behind the camera or exploring the natural world, Chantell is dedicated to making a positive impact on both people and the planet.
Finn Cubitt
(he/him) Hey all, I was born here in Kitsilano, Vancouver! I’m very honoured and proud to be connected to this landscape of the seemingly endless Pacific Northwest valleys, mountains and the Salish sea. My ecological interests range from studying wild ecosystems to all the amazing plants that humans have and continue working with like selective breeding and some semi exotic fruit/veg species in the context of agriculture and hobby gardening! I was born into a family of Andean (Chile), Brit and Dutch parents/grandparents, and a 2nd generation family in Canada, so as someone with very little ancestral connection to this land, I’m always learning and being humbled by this beautiful place! I’m greatly looking forward to meeting you all and sharing some great, harvests, afternoons, knowledge and joy together!
Marie-Pierre Bilodeau
(she/her) originates from the territory of the Innu in Saguenay and is of French and Quebecois heritage. After twelve successful years co-managing and creating an “Organically Grown, Ethically Sewn” eco-clothing brand called Rabbit & Empee, Marie-Pierre realized that her efforts to find sustainability, regeneration and fulfillment fell short of the life she aspired to live. She studied permaculture at Seven Ravens Permaculture Academy on Salt Spring Island and her hands-on training was done in East Africa where she continues to work today. She is the founder of REFARMERS.org, a grassroots organization that creates and supports small-scale community-based food growing initiatives as well as provides land-based learning opportunities that enable people to be the drivers of their own change. She helped light the spark that is now Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation (VUFFF) and is passionate about immersing her local work and life in Indigenous ways of knowing and growing. She is currently the Operations Co-ordinator of VUFFF.
Omri Haiven
(he/him) is currently the Cook and Food Programmer at Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, a founding member of the VUFFF and sits on its Board of Directors. He is of Ashkenazi Jewish background and originally hails from Saskatoon (Cree, Metis, Blackfoot) and Halifax (Mi’Kmaq). Omri believes in the VUFFF project’s capacity to act as midwife to a new era of re-indigenization as well as social and environmental justice on these lands we call home in East Vancouver (Coast Salish). Omri’s passion for Food and the community around it has pulled him into many related fields (literally) including working as a cook, farmer, community organizer, elected representative, food cooperative founder, business owner, market vendor, local food distributor, journalist and board member. Omri is a continuing student of Permaculture, history, wisdom traditions and his surroundings.
