Community wants to save one-of-a-kind Indigenous-Asian garden in Montreal

Several groups are hoping that an Asian-Indigenous garden in Montreal's Chinatown can become a permanent part of the neighbourhood.

Members of Montreal’s Indigenous and Asian communities have launched a petition to save a one-of-a-kind garden.

The Kahentaien garden across from the Montreal Chinese Hospital was originally intended as a transitional use of city-owned land, but its future is now in doubt.

For three years, it has transformed a once-vacant lot owned by the city into a place for growing food.

“People can bring plants, and whatever is grown here is fed to the residents or whoever needs it,” said Wendat Yvonne Lea Carpentier-Wheeler.

It has also become a place for growing community. Carpentier-Wheeler called the garden one-of-a-kind.

“Being able to garden here and learn and have these workshops with Indigenous leaders really helps me kind of like reconnect with that in a way,” she said.

The space is a partnership between Chinatown residents, Project Autochtones du Quebec and local youth.

To this day, it remains Montreal’s only Indigenous-Asian collective garden.

In addition to hosting events, it provides free vegetables to those in need.

Leaders, including Anna Can, say the future of the garden is in doubt.

“This was meant to be a temporary lease from the start, and it’s been up for sale by the city for off-market social housing,” she said.

According to Can, the garden’s lease with the city is set to expire in December. Organizers want to renew the lease and keep the space.

As of Saturday, more than 600 people have signed a petition to show their support.

“My hopes are at least we could keep a garden of some sort. There’s not much garden space in Montreal. There’s not a lot of greenery,” said Project Autochtones du Quebec’s Christina Apostolakis.

“When we first started this garden all the older senior citizens, they weren’t here,” said co-founder Janet Lumb. “And now they’re showing up and talking and, you know, coming and watering.”

The City of Montreal was non-committal about the garden’s future.

“There is no lease ending for the garden,” Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada’s office wrote in a statement. “Support has been renewed until a housing project moves forward.”

However, members of the community, who are responsible for signing the lease, insist they have yet to sign a document, and they are frustrated with the level of communication with the city.

“With the change in administration, I feel like it’s rebuilding those links that have been hard,” said Can.

As the garden opens for a third season, visitors hope it won’t be the last.