Manotick, ON Established in 2018 The Misiwe Ni Relations Healing Lodge in Manotick, Ontario brings people together for the purpose of healing and harmony and to remind us that we are all interconnected. The lodge offers a treatment program for Indigenous foster youth that uses land-based healing, including medicine walks and traditional ceremonies. The lodge established a Healing Forest in 2018, dedicated as a place to find solace and comfort for residential school survivors. A heart garden was created in ceremony with local elders, children, and community members. It contains 150 stones in a heart-shaped garden that honours the 150,000 children who attended residential schools.

Ottawa, ON Established in 2019 In the summer of 2019, the All Saint’s Sunday School program sparked the dream of establishing a Healing Forest on Richmond Road in Ottawa’s Westboro community. The children met on the property of All Saints’ Anglican Church and designed their Healing Forest. Together with community members and parents and staff from All Saints and First United Church, the dream became a reality. That fall, a one-tonne ‘Grandmother Rock’ was added, plus a pathway and descriptive signage. In October 2018, the congregations of All Saints’ and First United gathered and welcomed Grandmother Francine, who explained the meaning of the smudging and drumming ceremony and expressed her hope that this small Healing Forest would be a benefit to the community at large.

Ajax Pickering Hospital, Ajax, Ontario Established in 2022 In 2022, the Ajax Pickering Hospital created an Indigenous Community & Healing Garden on its site, including native trees and shrubs, a wildflower meadow and circular raised-bed vegetable garden. The donor-funded garden is run by the Ajax Pickering Hospital Foundation and community volunteers and will provide a tranquil space for patients, visitors and staff to relax and heal. Partners: Ajax Pickering Hospital Foundation, Lakeridge Health, Ajax Mayor’s Gala, Miinikaan Innovation & Design, local Elder, We Grow Foods.

Gloucester, Ontario Proposed in 2022 Indigenous and non-Indigenous community volunteers are collaborating to develop a Healing Forest in a stand of birch trees located at Just Food Community Farm, in Blackburn Hamlet, just outside Ottawa, Ontario. Partners: Just Food Community Farm, Root in Nature, Forêt Capitale Forest

M’Chigeeng, Ontario Proposed in 2022 The kinoo wiiya minoyaa (place where everyone becomes well in mind and spirit) Healing Forest is proposed for the schoolyard of Manitoulin Secondary School, which has 40 per cent Indigenous students. Partners: Manitoulin Secondary School, MSS Ecoschool Team, M’Chigeeng First Nation, local companies

Prince Edward County, Ontario Proposed in 2022 The proposed Waupoos Healing Forest will be located in a private forest within the traditional territory of the Tyendinaga Mohawk (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte). A local company and local groups are aiming to create a trail and garden with native plants, trees and shrubs. Partners: Marcatus QED, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte

Perth, ON Established in 2018 The Perth Healing Forest was established on September 30, 2018. Located in Last Duel Park in Perth, Ontario, it includes a memorial rock installation dedicated to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. A National Healing Forest display panel includes text written in Anishinabemowin and English. A healing circle was added in 2022. Each year, hundreds of community members gather for ceremonies and events, including National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Toronto, ON Estabished in 2021 Stewarded by members of the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Group at St. Matthew’s United Church in Toronto, the Noojimo’iwewin Gitigaan Healing Forest is a small green space, home to dozens of species of native plants. Both the land and the water are acknowledged in signage that situates the garden between the “lost rivers” of Taddle and Garrison Creeks, and identifies the four sacred medicines – tobacco, sweetgrass, sage, and cedar – that grow there. A core group of 20 community members steward the urban greenspace. The Healing Forest’s name was given by Elder Peduhbun Migizi Kwe/Catherine Brooks (Nipissing FN), who had heard about the All Saints Healing Forest project in Ottawa and encouraged the IPSG to join the National Healing Forests Initiative. The site includes a winding commemorative pathway and moon-shaped rain gardens designed by Anishinaabe artist Bert Whitecrow and gardener Olivia Dziwak.

Farabout Peninsula, Northwestern Ontario Established in 2022 Eagle Lake First Nation and the Eagle Lake Farabout Peninsula Coalition have declared Farabout Peninsula a “Healing Forest.” The designated meeting place for the Healing Forest is on the isthmus portage path at the base of Farabout Peninsula, a roadless wilderness area near Dryden in Northwestern Ontario. Partners: Eagle Lake First Nation, Eagle Lake Farabout Peninsula Coalition

Mindemoya, Ontario Proposed in 2022 Staff and students at Central Manitoulin Public School in Mindemoya, Ontario, propose to establish a Wellness Orchard in their schoolyard. The orchard will include a fruit orchard and garden and will provide opportunities for students, including many from the M’Chigeeng First Nation, to connect with nature. The orchard will include cedar-lined paths to explore. Students at Central Manitoulin Public School and Lakeview Public School in M'Chigeeng will work together to create kindness rocks which will collect in the center to create a medicine wheel. Partners: Central Manitoulin Public School, Rainbow District School Board

Navan, Ontario Proposed in 2022 The Navan Community Association is proposing a Healing Forest be established at a municipal park in Navan, near Ottawa, Ontario. It will serve as a space to contemplate, meditate and educate about the history of residential schools, honour the victims and celebrate survivors, as well as to bring some light to the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. A place to pay respect by planting a seed to reconciliation and respect all relations. Partners: Navan Community Association, Friends of Mer Blue, Women's Institute of Navan, Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), City of Ottawa and various community groups.