Algonquin College kicks off National Indigenous History Month with garden event

Posted on Friday, June 3rd, 2022

With a good mind and several green thumbs, Algonquin College President and CEO Claude Brulé and Vice President of Truth, Reconciliation and Indigenization Ron McLester marked the start of National Indigenous History Month with an event this morning in the College’s Three Sisters Garden.

Joined by students from the horticulture program and eager young visitors from the Early Learning Centre, McLester told the story of the Three Sisters; the significance of the crops of corn, bean and squash and how they feed and sustain the community. Students big and small joined in the planting after a ceremonial song, where everyone in attendance participated in the call and response.

The beds in the garden were prepared by the horticulture students, who planted today and will tend to the crops, adding additional plants over the coming weeks. They will weed and maintain the garden until fall when the crops will be harvested.

About the Three Sisters Garden

2019 saw the creation of a Three Sisters Garden of corn, beans and squash. The Sisters symbolize peace, friendship and respect. This traditional Haudenosaunee style community garden project quickly took on a life of its own. 

The Three Sisters Garden is an extension of the large Indigenous garden planted in the DARE District’s Ishkodewan courtyard. That ongoing project will see more than 100 species of flowers, shrubs and trees planted — from black-eyed susan and chokecherry to rosy sedge and yellow wood poppy. All of the plants are native to southern Ontario and many of them have cultural, ceremonial, or even medicinal significance for some Indigenous Peoples.


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