Voice of history
Saanich’s oral history project into third decade Page A3
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Healing and redemption in the garden Revolving door of justice system for mentally ill, drug addicted ends at a Blenkinsop Road plot Edward Hill News staff
At this garden, the guy picking beans might be working across from his former probation officer and the judge that sentenced him to jail. Everyone is equal when their hands are in the soil at Seven Oaks community garden Chris Lepage, 31, picks chard with quiet concentration, separating out the best leaves for sale. Many of his co-workers have been “sentenced” to Seven Oaks as court-ordered community service. Lepage volunteers his time to build work experience. “I do everything except prune tomatoes,” he said. “That’s one job that requires more patience than I have. I do a lot of the hard work that needs to be done. A lot of the heavy lifting.” Lepage lives at Cool Aid’s Swift House for people who have struggled with homelessness. Garden work gives him a bit of extra money, fresh vegetables and a new perspective – there is an entire world outside Victoria’s downtown core. “You can’t be mad when you go home from here. I’m always in a good mood out here, being outside. It’s not just the work, it’s the surroundings,” he said, amid farm fields and oak trees in Saanich’s Blenkinsop Valley. The 7,600 square foot garden exploding with vegetables is helping break the cycle of petty crime, arrests, court hearings and
Edward Hill/News staff
Gardening volunteer Chris Lepage hunts out ripe chard at the Seven Oaks community garden on Blenkinsop Road in Saanich. The Victoria Integrated Court often sends offenders with mental health and addiction issues to the garden to complete community service, to learn skills and as therapy. jail for people living with mental illness and drug addictions. Fresh air and nature beats lockup at Wilkinson Road any day of the week. Kevin, 44, spends the rainy morning washing carrots, beans and chard in preparation for packaging. He’s found his green thumb here since trading habitual drug use for organic gardening. “This gets me out of the inner city core. It’s fulfilling. I like doing something with my hands and have a product come out of it. Especially strawberries,” he said, smiling. “I got into the drug scene and it helps keep me out of the drug scene.” The community garden as a therapy tool is in its first full year of food production at Seven Oaks, a mental health facility run by the Vancouver Island Health Authority. Clients, usually about 10 per session, are
bused in from downtown, many of them completing community service handed down through the Victoria Integrated Court. At the garden, they’re under the watch of staff from the Assertive Community Treatment and Victoria Integrated Community Outreach Team (ACT-VICOT), teams of social workers, health professionals, police and probation officers. The Victoria Integrated Court and the ACT-VICOT teams work hand in glove to focus on repeat offenders who are usually drug-addicted, mentally ill and homeless or living in shelters. Provincial court Judge Ernie Quantz and Sharon Bristow, retired probation officer, haul wheelbarrows of soil, pick veggies and prune leaves alongside clients completing community service. Both were instrumental in establishing the Victoria Integrated
Court after witnessing the lineup of mentally ill people rotating through the justice system. They also realized that part of the solution was removing offenders from the downtown core and into constructive, therapeutic activities, like a garden. Quantz and garden co-ordinator David Stott approached Seven Oaks, which had an existing plot, and found support through the John Howard Society and the Blenkinsop Valley Community Association, to back its significant expansion. Two years later the garden produces enough veggies each week to sell to staff at Seven Oaks and the Ministry of Justice in the Sussex Building downtown. PlEASE SEE: Therapy garden, Page A6
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