HHMI

pa

Maa
orth

——

   

Indigenous garden unveiled at

Photo by Analyn Cuarto

New Westminster campus

> Medicines to be planted in spring

Colten Kamlade
Staff Reporter

 

A garden bed was officially revealed
to students and staff at the New
Westminster campus on November 30.
Nothing is currently growing in
the garden, but in the spring it will be
seeded with plants that have special
significance to Indigenous cultures.
Amelia McComber, an Indigenous
elder, shared her knowledge during a
presentation and tour of the new garden.
“My talk today is about the
relationship between us, the people,
and the medicines. So we have four
sacred medicines that were given to

us, were gifted to us,” she said.
McComber described the importance
of tobacco—which will be planted in the
new garden—to indigenous cultures.
“Tobacco is the first [medicine, ]
and tobacco is the first according to
our people because after our creation
story [...] the creator blessed the whole
creation story by allowing tobacco to
come first. So, in our culture, and other
cultures, tobacco is given first before you
ask any spiritual elder or anyone to do
any customary spiritual work,” she said.
According to the creation story,
sage is the second medicine given
by the creator. McComber described
its use in traditional medicine.
“If someone has a negative

thought towards you, they just have to
think it about you and sometimes if
you're weak and if you aren't centered,
sometimes that negative energy will
attach to you and will somehow affect
you,” she said. “Sage is used primarily
to help detach those things.”

The third medicine McComber
discussed was cedar.

“The next is cedar, and of course
cedar comes from this territory,” she
said. “The cedar would travel down
to New Mexico, Albuquerque New
Mexico. That was the hub trading place
where everything was traded. Then it
would be distributed and again come
up the five trails of North America.”

The fourth medicine that will be

Study examines social isolation
in Metro Vancouver

> 30 per cent of young adults said they are ‘almost always’ alone

Jake Wray
News Editor

 

oung adults and people from

low-income households are more
susceptible to loneliness than other
demographics in Metro Vancouver,
according to a new study.

The Vancouver Foundation,

an organization that promotes
community engagement, recently
released its 2017 Connect and Engage
report—an online survey of 3,785
adults in Metro Vancouver that asked
questions about loneliness, community
participation, and digital socializing.

According to the report, 30 per cent of
survey respondents age 18 to 24 said they
are “almost always” or “often” alone, as
did 38 per cent of adults from households
with incomes under $20,000 per year,
compared to an average of 14 per cent of
respondents across all demographics.
Those two demographics are also more
likely to report spending more time alone
than they would like, according to data
from the survey. On the other hand, 57
per cent of respondents said they are
happy with the amount of time they
spend alone, while 18 per cent said they
would like to spend more time alone.

Kevin McCort, CEO and president

of the Vancouver Foundation, said in
a press release that while some people

feel loneliness more than others, the
report also found that people are willing
to engage with their communities.

“Our new findings show that while
everyone experiences the same barriers
to forging strong connections—work,
school, financial constraints, and time
pressure all play a role—some experience
this more acutely,” McCort said in the
press release. “But what’s encouraging
to see is how open residents are to
coming together as a community—even
more so among those who have lived
here for a shorter period of time.”

Approximately 75 per cent of
respondents attempt to better their
community with activities such as
shovelling snow and picking up litter.
Conversely, the study found a significant
decrease in participation with “traditional”
community activities, compared toa
similar study conducted by the Vancouver
Foundation in 2012. 58 per cent of
respondents in the 2017 survey said they
visited their local library, down from 83 per
cent in 2012. 22 per cent of respondents in
the 2017 survey said they attended religious
services, down from 40 per cent in 2012.

The study also examined how
people use digital tools to socialize.

60 per cent of participants said they
prefer socializing in person instead of
online, and 17 per cent said they spend
too much time online, to the detriment
of their in-person relationships.

 
    

Photo by Colten Kamlade

included in the Indigenous garden is
sweetgrass. McComber described the
symbolism surrounding the plant.

“Tt has an aroma and a fragrance that
is very unique, when it burns it smells
sweet, and when you hold it, it smells very
sweet as well,” she said. “The teaching
around sweetgrass is that it is to remind us
that life is good; life is sweet and we are to
accept that that sweetness is a part of us.”

The garden bed was built by Architek
at cost, and the funds were provided by
the Ministry of Advanced Education. In
the spring there may be opportunities for
students and staff to participate in the
planting of the garden, so keep an eye on
the Douglas College calendar of events.