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St. Lawrence College (SLC) is partnering with Red Squirrel Conservation Services to transform 180m2 of parking lot into green space for an Indigenous Gathering Space for staff and students to learn about Indigenous culture, perform traditional ceremonies, and grow traditional medicines.
The project will kick off on Thursday, July 18 with a “depaving” event, whereby volunteers from the college and wider community will help prepare the parking lot for the installation of the gathering space. Volunteers will be lifting small squares of pavement out as part of readying the space to be converted to the garden.
The garden will include sitting areas, a drumming circle, a medicine wheel with the Seven Grandfather teachings incorporated, and traditional medicines will be grown for students and staff to cultivate and perform ceremonies on campus.
“The new Outdoor Indigenous Gather Space not only supports sustainability, but also our strategic objective of supporting Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being,” says Glenn Vollebregt, President and CEO, SLC.
The hands-on initiative will demonstrate how communities can create green spaces to divert water from our sewer systems and allow it to filter into the soil before entering our waterways, keeping our water cleaner and our communities more resilient to flood events. “This project is one of thirty-six projects supported by the national organization, Green Communities Canada, and funded through the Ontario Trillium Foundation,” says Jason Jobin, Water Projects Coordinator at Red Squirrel.
Volunteers will be welcomed by Portsmouth Councilor, Bridget Doherty and Glenn Vollebregt. Volunteers are required to wear safety boots with a steel toe.
To read more on Depave Paradise.
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Media Opportunity:
Who: St. Lawrence College and Red Squirrel Conservation Services
What: Community, volunteer event Depaving a parking lot
When: 9:00am -1:30pm, Thursday, July 18, 2019 (Remarks begin at 9 am)
Where:E39 entrance (first right turn into the parking lot off Country Club Drive when driving to the college from King street.)
For more information:
Laura Tulchinsky
St. Lawrence College, Communications
613-544-5400, ext. 1291
Ltulchinsky@sl.on.ca