Park People’s Executive Director, Erika Nikolai, has been honoured with the Distinguished Individual Award from World Urban Parks—an international recognition that celebrates her leadership and the growing national movement Park People has helped build here in Canada.
Why are events in parks important? How do grants fit into Park People’s larger goals for creating change in city parks?
The InTO the Ravines Champions program offers people living near ravines training and support to learn, explore, and celebrate Toronto's one-of-a-kind ravines system.
A reflection on the BEING BLACK IN PUBLIC Survey Report, exploring how Black communities experience parks and public spaces, and what fosters joy and belonging.
For years, Geri and Gary James drove an hour outside Toronto to find nature — not realizing one of the…
How do we build a healthier, greener, more joyful Toronto? We start at the park. Discover how communities across the city have transformed their green spaces over the past fifteen years. Then roll up your sleeves and help shape what comes next.
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
During the first year of COVID, Geneviève learned that rates of food insecurity were skyrocketing in Montreal. Motivated to make a difference, Geneviève envisioned a sustainable response to address hunger in her community: a living and educational agriculture ecosystem composed of three urban gardens.
In this place, people could co-create and participate in planting and growing vegetables together. Living in an urban area of Montreal called Milton Park, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. Despite being next to Mount Royal Mountain, the neighbourhood needs more public parks and sufficient green spaces. She knew it was not a matter of improving pre-existing greenspaces to suit her community’s needs; she had to create them.
After months of knocking on doors, she successfully negotiated three areas for raised garden beds, one even for a greenhouse. She transformed these spaces into communal lots and encouraged community members to take part in the growing process — from planting seeds to weeding, harvesting herbs and vegetables to take home but also empowering people to cultivate their very own pharmacy.
As community interest grew around the gardens, Geneviève learned about post-covid deeper issues. Beyond food insecurity, residents struggled with profound challenges like isolation, stress, and depression. Geneviève recognized the need for more holistic solutions and approached Park People with an idea that could improve the well-being of her neighbours.
She wanted to create a sense of connection and trust among community members. In addition to food access, it creates a supportive environment promoting mental well-being and social connection.
With help from Park People, Geneviève created a series of workshops that wove together plant education with mental wellness and meaningful connection to the land. The first event was in Notman Urban Gardens, an overgrown, green oasis prohibiting public access. There was a meditation workshop, followed by an Indigenous-led teaching on the medicinal properties of the plants. 40 people attended the event and learned how to see the garden as a medicinal pharmacy. Together, they learned how to soak lemon balm with orange peel in water to improve mood, sleep quality and digestion. They touched, tasted and smelled herbs, sparking conversation and discovery.
A community member recently told Geneviève that the workshop helped her feel a sense of belonging and created a sense of connection to her neighbours and the environment she hadn’t experienced before. She learned about plants and their properties, opening up new ways of knowing and seeing the world around her. The workshop inspired her to become a weekly volunteer at the garden, and now she can’t envision her life without it. In the midst of Montreal’s bustling urban landscape, Jardins Pour Tous has become more than a garden but a haven of wellness and connection that she eagerly looks forward to every week.
Read other community leaders’ stories with Nawal from Toronto and Marie-Pierre from Vancouver. Their stories features the incredible work being done to foster social connection and community resilience in parks and green spaces across Canada.
Park People launched the 2023 Canadian City Parks Report, the fifth annual report highlighting the most significant trends, issues, and practices shaping Canada’s city parks.
Watch the webinar recording to meet the report’s researchers and writers and get the inside scoop on:
The report launch webinar features a lively discussion on the report’s key findings and future directions for city parks.
This hour-long webinar features Adri Stark and Jake Tobin Garett, co-author of the report. It is moderated by Selina Young, member of Park People’s Board of Directors and Director, Indigenous Affairs Office at the City of Toronto.
The webinar is held in English; French subtitles are available.
Adri Stark is specialized in research and policy at Park People, and co-author of the annual Canadian City Parks Report.…
Jake Tobin Garrett (he/him) is a writer, illustrator and public space policy and research consultant. He was previously Park People’s…
Selina is Métis from northern Saskatchewan. She has been a guest on Anishnawbe and Haudenosaunee territory in and around Toronto…
This case study is part of the 2024 Canadian City Parks Report, showcasing Inspiring projects, people, and policies from across Canada that offer tangible solutions to the most pressing challenges facing city parks.
Food-based park programming like food forests, community gardens and edible plants have grown in scope and popularity in the last five years in Canadian cities. Clearly, both municipalities and community members see the potential for food production in parks and want to see more of it. Over the past three years, 50% of city residents consistently say they’d like to see more urban agriculture and community gardens in their parks.
But if cities are planning to invest in park-based food programs, how can they ensure they are being used and, crucially, that produce is actually reaching those in need?
Launched in 2020, the City of Victoria’s Get Growing Victoria program uses a food justice approach to provide gardening supplies to communities at-risk of experiencing food insecurity, including people experiencing houselessness, Indigenous and racialized communities, seniors, and youth.
Instead of only focusing on increasing access to fresh food for all residents, food justice acknowledges that certain populations face structural and systemic barriers to food security. By acknowledging the barriers to gardening, the Get Growing program is able to provide sustainable and healthy food to those who tend to be excluded from community garden programs.
The Parks department quickly realized that the best way to reach those at-risk populations was to partner with non-profit organizations who know the community needs best. Collaborating with non-profit partners also meant the City was better able to meet the community where they’re at rather than expecting people to self-identify and sign-up for the program through city processes.
The program now has 67 community partners including public health organizations, mental health service providers, immigrant and refugee organizations, social service providers and affordable housing organizations. The partner organizations distribute gardening supplies and vegetable seedlings grown in City greenhouses to their clients and community members so they can use the materials at home or in their local community garden. Get Growing gives partners the autonomy to integrate the materials into their program delivery in ways that best suit their community’s needs.
City of Victoria food systems coordinator, Julia Ford, tells us they would not be able to run the program without the non-profit partners. “They greatly increase our impact, and allow us to reach more vulnerable communities that the program is intended for and who may not otherwise interact with the City directly.”
Exemplifying Julia’s point, this year our public survey found that over 30% of city residents do not feel confident that they know who to reach out to if they experience a problem or have feedback about their park. By collaborating with local non-profits that do have stronger rapport with local community members, the City of Victoria can reach those who feel disconnected from city services.
Now in the program’s fourth year of operation, it is estimated that 400,000 pounds of fresh produce has been grown. Beyond that, evaluation of program participants found that the vast majority of participants felt that the program increased their mental well-being, intake of healthy foods and increased their overall physical activity levels. The program demonstrates what’s possible in parks when we start looking at them with community health in mind.
“I think this program demonstrates the potential for Parks Departments to really look at the resources they have available and think creatively about how to use them to support community and preventive health in a much more active way,” Ford said. “I think within the Parks sector there’s a solid understanding that passive park use and access to green space is important for mental health and well-being. But how can we move to be active partners in supporting communities who want to spearhead innovative uses of public space? How can we support people to explore new recreational activities in a meaningful, accessible and equitable way?”
Julia Ford, City of Victoria Food Systems Coordinator