On June 28th, we hosted our first workshop for the season in the Trout Lake Medicine Wheel Garden. We were pleased to have Leona Brown, an Indigenous Cultural Facilitator, teach us all about Indigenous traditional plants and guide us through how to connect them to our personal stories of growing.

The workshop introduced us to the healing properties, unique identifiable characteristics, and stories of the plants growing in the Medicine Wheel Garden. A few we identified included Pineapple Weed, St John’s Wart, Yarrow, Tobacco, Twin Berry and much more.

Thanks to Leona for a truly insightful hands-on experience that helped us all to connect with the land and harvest these plants with care.

Learn more about CGR’s Trout Lake Medicine Wheel Garden:

About the Facilitator

Leona Brown (she/her) is a Gitxsan and Nisga’a mother of 3 children, of the Fireweed House and the Killerwhale Clan. She became an Indigenous Independent Cultural Facilitator after gaining 3 years of training in Land and Lives around Indigenous Culture with the Resurfacing History Program Coordinated by Jolene Andrew.

This work has become a healing journey for Leona, her children and those she works with. The knowledge Leona shares connects participants with an understanding of who we are, 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, Leona has been facilitating land and water stewardship in Vancouver. She is an ambassador to the work Resurfacing History has taught her about Indigenous food and land systems in the city. Leona advocates for greater opportunities for Indigenous People to relearn culture on publicly managed lands and waterways and has advised on projects with Vancouver School Board, City of Vancouver, and Vancouver Parks Board to advance reconciliation in action.