April 2023 Village Vibe

Fernwood school will be given new Lekwungen name

New name will replace ‘George Jay,’ who was a segregationist school board member

›› Mila Czemerys

Fernwood’s elementary school will have a new name in the coming years and it will be a Lekwungen name—in the language of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

In 2019, the Parents Advisory Committee of George Jay Elementary School created a petition to change the name of the school. The school’s current namesake, George Jay, was a part of creating Chinese segregation in the Victoria public school system and other racist policies in the early 1900s.

In 2020, the School District convened a committee to review the name of George Jay Elementary following public consultation where the community expressed great interest in renaming the school.

The committee reviewed research and listened to the voices of community members, including George Jay staff and an Elders Advisory Council. The School District reached out to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations to see if they would be interested in renaming the school with a Lekwungen name. Both Nations expressed support and interest.

“The Songhees and Esquimalt Nations look forward to participating in the renaming of George Jay Elementary. By joining this project and sharing a piece of Lekwungen culture, the children, students, and residents of Victoria can experience a part of our traditional ways,” said Karen Dick-Tunkara, Councillor of the Songhees Nation.

“The vulnerability of this work requires trust and time on behalf of both Nations. By taking the time to rename an institution, we can begin a healing process for our children

and families, who must deal with many barriers in a colonial education system on a day-to-day basis.”

“Language is the foundation of our culture. Our children and the children of others who learn and hear our language develop a strong identity and connection to our way of life. The renaming of George Jay Elementary is an important step to realizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action to preserve and revitalize our language,” shared Esquimalt Nation Chief Robert Thomas.

“During the era of residential schools, children were forbidden to speak their

home language and if they did, they were subjected to punishment. The renaming of George Jay Elementary in Lekwugen is our way to honor those children whose voices were silenced and is the first step toward revitalizing our culture, our history, and our Sacred Trust.”

This name change is a welcomed step forward.

“Grace Wong Sneddon, chair of the Victoria Chinatown Museum Society, says the renaming honours the Chinese students who were excluded from Victoria schools in the 1920s.

She said acknowledging the wrongs of

the past helps us know where we come from, and that by speaking up and calling for change, students will learn to take responsibility and do better.

And this is the piece I see that is happening,” she said, “that the renaming of George Jay Elementary School is all the voices together of all our communities, all the diverse communities making noise to have a better change. And that’s why I’m so excited.”*

Currently, the Nations have selected representatives who will be working with the School District to co-create the processes around renaming protocols. The work is anticipated to begin in the Spring of 2023.

A new name for the school is expected to take shape in the 2023/24 school year.

*Marlow, Kathryn “School in Greater Victoria will get new Lekwungen name.” CBC [Victoria], March 8, 2023

After receiving feedback from community members, School District 61 has approved a name change for Fernwood’s elementary school. The new name will be a Lekwungen name. Photo: Mila Czemerys

“...An important step to realizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action...” - Esquimalt Nation Chief Robert Thomas

village vibe

Published by Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group

Editorial Committee

Chantille Viaud Mila Czemerys

Shonna Bell

Founding Editor Lisa Helps

Contributors

Mila Czemerys Jesse Wallis

Marianne Unger Stacey Nowark

Kayla Siefried

Art Mila Czemerys Rob Antill

Laurel Green of Yarrow Collective

Axel

Production Mila Czemerys

Contact us

1240 Gladstone Ave, Victoria, BC V8T 1G6

T 250.381.1552 F 250.381.1509 info@fernwoodnrg.ca | villagevibe.ca

To advertise, contact ads@fernwoodnrg.ca

The views expressed in the Village Vibe do not necessarily reflect the views of Fernwood NRG.

We gratefully acknowledge that Fernwood, our community where we live, work, and play resides on the territory of the Lekwungen peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations.

declaration of principles & values

›› We are committed to creating a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable neighbourhood;

›› We are committed to ensuring neighbourhood control or ownership of neighbourhood institutions and assets;

›› We are committed to using our resources prudently and to becoming financially self-reliant;

›› We are committed to the creation and support of neighbourhood employment;

›› We are committed to engaging the dreams, resources, and talents of our neighbours and to fostering new links between them;

›› We are committed to taking action in response to neighbourhood issues, ideas, and initiatives;

›› We are committed to governing our organization and serving our neighbourhood democratically with a maximum of openness, inclusivity and kindness;

›› We are committed to developing the skills, capacity, self-worth, and excellence of our neighbours and ourselves;

›› We are committed to focusing on the future while preserving our neighbourhood’s heritage and diversity;

›› We are committed to creating neighbourhood places that are vibrant, beautiful, healthy, and alive;

›› and, most of all, We are committed to having fun!

New Food Security Coordinator

›› Jesse Wallis

Hi, I’m Jesse (she/they), the new Food Security Coordinator at Fernwood NRG! I am a queer white settler living as an uninvited guest on Lekwungen territory. You can find me stewarding the community gardens and orchards, coordinating work parties and events, and juggling vegetables while I oversee the operations of the Good Food Box.

Food is the heart of what we do, who we are, and how we thrive. Prior to this role, I have been growing, distributing, cooking, and mentoring about food for the last decade, in the hope to reconnect communities with the land they live on and where their food comes from. Over the last two years I have been running a smallscale, regenerative farm using a sliding-scale Community Supported Agriculture model during the pandemic, where I partnered with local food initiative Iye Creative to reduce barriers for BIPOC to accessing local food. I believe that good food is a human right and am determined to build strong, interdependent relationships between farm-

ers and their communities, especially with an uncertain future of food ahead of us. My work is driven by a love of community connection and the desire for freedom from the systems of oppression which stand in the way of good food for many people.

If you’re interested in hearing more about food security programming at Fernwood NRG, you can contact me at jesse@fernwoodnrg.ca

Spring Garden Events

Save the date—Get Growing Victoria Seedling Distribution day is back! On Thursday, May 25, Fernwood NRG will be distributing flower and vegetable seedlings grown by the City of Victoria.

Plant varieties include: tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, collard greens, chard, kale, lettuce, basil, chives, nasturtiums, calendula, and shiso.

Join us from 1:00pm to 3:00pm to collect your plant babies! You can also ask any soil and gardening related questions to Kayla from the Compost Education Centre who will also be there.

Interested in volunteering at the event? Contact jesse@fernwoodnrg.ca for info!

Call out for Garden Volunteers!

We are looking for regular garden volunteers for stewarding the gardens at Fernwood Community Centre, which involves the upkeep of the perennial beds, pollinator garden, kitchen gardens, community orchards, and native plant gardens! If you are interested in practising or learning new gardening skills and supporting green spaces in your community, we would love to meet you! Tasks would involve weeding, mulching, planting seedlings, building, and fi xing infrastructure. Snacks and drinks always provided. Contact jesse@fernwoodnrg. ca for more info.

Camosun Street Play Streets 2023

Fab free family fun monthly, May through September

›› Marianne Unger

Mark your calendars for Play Streets on Camosun Street. The last Sunday afternoon of every month 12:30pm to 3:00pm, May through September, the 1600 block of Camosun Street will be closed to cars and open to PLAY.

Play Streets on Camosun is a recurring block party for all Fernwoodians. We started it two years ago by closing off the street to cars once a month so the kids (and adults!) could run around freely and play. We set out games; folks would bring guitars and we’d sing together. And then it grew. Last year we had a DIY day of making and repair cafes, a costume party, explored a fire truck, and together we built a beauti-

ful boulevard pollinator garden for Indigenous bees. This year we’ll keep the crowd favourites (pollinator gardens! fire truck!), and have even more planned for you:

May 28 - Pollinator love

Make a mini-meadow with Yarrow Collective. Learn to identify Indigenous plants and bees as we create a petite pollinator habitat.

June 25 - Keeping things out of the landfill day

Repair cafes, a makers space, a garage sale, and free stuff

J uly 30 - Cool Trucks and Pop-up theatre with Theatre SKAM

Victoria Fire Fighters will bring a fire truck to Camosun Street for us to explore. Also, some great music and a show by Theatre SKAM.

August 27 - Home Ec

Household food security: learn about preserving food, window-sill herbs, sprouting, making cheap and healthy

meals, fermenting food, worm composting, accessible bulk buying, and more.

September 24 - Stone soup and S’mores around the fire Make a big pot of soup together and then share it. Say our goodbyes to summer, give our gratitude, and welcome in the fall.

Come to the Farm Stand at 1619 Camosun Street, Thursdays to Saturdays, for more information.

Fun at Camosun Street Play Streets.

Photo: Laurel Green of Yarrow Collective

Jesse Wallis, Fernwood NRG’s new Food Security Coordinator.

Photo: Rob Antill

How to grow to the max in a small space mark your calendar:

Market coming to Fernwood Square

Let’s be friends!

›› Stacey Nowark

We are CREAM, your local corner shop nestled in the heart of the Fernwood Square and we just celebrated our 2-year birthday! CREAM was born out of a deep appreciation for all things vintage and locally made. We are a small two-women team working hard to curate beautiful vintage and locally made goods for our community! In our shop, you’ll find a range of treasures from vintage glassware to greeting cards to jewelry and so much more.

Along with selling beautiful, intentional pieces we also believe in the huge power of community and as long-standing members of Fernwood (16 years), we are committed to creating a welcoming, creative, and fun vibe!  In the last year we have started hosting workshops in the evenings some of which have included; bracelet making, collage, breathwork and we even hosted a book club!

Our newest venture that we are super excited about is bring a market to the Square, stay tuned for CREAM Bazaar

featuring tarot reading, live music, local artists, vendors, and more! Part of the proceeds from this fun event will be donated to Fernwood NRG’s Good Food Box program which we love & believe in. Please feel free to pop in anytime and say hello, we usually have the tea on and love to make new friends! If you are interested in staying up to date on what’s happening at your local artisan shop, you can check out creamlifeandstyle.ca or follow along the journey at @creamlifeandstyle

›› Kayla Siefried

Recently I was reading a newsletter from a gardening teacher, author, and writer that I’ve been following for years, and I found his tips about “small space gardening hacks” really useful. Perhaps you are a renter like me and have a limited ability to modify the landscape around you or maybe you have a small yard or no yard at all; Steven Biggs’s tips are fantastic for maximizing your harvest out of a small garden. I’ve had plenty of experience small space gardening as a renter and urban dweller, and so I offer you some insight here into ways to maximize that space:

1. Plant things closer together then the package says—if you’ve been amending your soil with plenty of compost, chances are good that the soil can handle lettuces and beets that are closer together, and you can thin and eat them as you go.

2. Plant fast growing crops closely with slower growing crops. For example, plant radishes which grow quickly closely with carrots that grow slower. The radishes will be harvested by the time the carrots need more space to mature. You could do the same with a

canopy of tomatoes and some low light lettuces underneath.

3. Plan for successions; have no soil without edible crops growing! For example, grow quick growing lettuces in the bed where you plan to plant out your tomatoes in mid-May. You can even plant tomato transplants into that bed while the lettuces are still there.

4. Grow in containers. That extra driveway space might be prime tomato growing zone!

5. Grow vertical! Set up trellises or grow along house walls, up railings and fences. Choose vegetable varieties that are climbers (peas, beans, winter squash, and cucumbers all come to mind here). You could even train climbing veggies to climb up onto a roof or into a tree!

6. Pathways take up a lot of space. Consider if your pathways could be smaller or if by growing in blocks (i.e. broadcasting seed) rather than in rows, you could expand the useable growing space.

For more knowledge about gardening, check out the Compost Education Centre’s variety of composting, waste reduction, gardening, and food workshops.

Stacey Nowark, owner of CREAM.