Laval special ed students grow skills and confidence through urban agriculture project

Students in a Laval special education program are learning entrepreneurship, woodworking, and teamwork by building and selling wooden garden boxes.

Laval students are learning valuable life skills through involvement in a spring activity.

“We build a model called the Grizzlies,” says instructor and program lead Mathieu Aubin.

In a matter of hours, wooden planks are transformed into 24-inch-tall Grizzly garden boxes. Each box can be used to grow flowers, leafy greens and more.

At the Centre de qualification professionnelle et d’entrepreneuriat de Laval (CQPEL), they’re being used to sew the next generation of entrepreneurs. It’s part of a special education program called Coop Micro Fraîcheur.

“[Students] learn how to manage business. They learn how to work with woods, with the tools, but safely. They learn all the restoration skills,” Aubin says.

He adds that “during COVID, our students were wanting to go out of the classes. So, we built our own community garden in front of the school, but then we thought of a bigger project.”

The project blossomed into the urban agriculture co-op. Over the years, students in the special education program have built garden beds for elementary and high schools.

Aubin is now guiding 18-year-old Malak Shublaq and others as they build wood garden boxes, which they’ll soon sell.

“Before I had absolutely no interest in plants and all that, but now I do,” Shublaq said.

As the group’s student vice-president, she recommends the experience to everyone. For her the reward has been a feeling of pride.

In less than a week, the Grizzly boxes will be available at Pépinière Jasmin. Sophie Jasmin, who owns the gardening centre is glad to see younger ones embracing the practice - and its full benefits.

“It’s helping a lot for the students who have learning difficulties [...] some students, they’re not well in the schools and learning from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. So, they have to use their two hands to create something,” Jasmin says.

Students will soon reap the fruits of their labour. Aubin says proceeds will be reinvested into the school’s programs.

Meanwhile, the co-op is eager to see their Grizzlies in full bloom.