Canada: Indigenous organization will take over leadership of Hamilton’s urban farm
Project manager Adam Watson said the farm has become a ‘point of pride’ in the area
By Aura Carreño Rosas
CBC News
Mar 25, 2022
Excerpt:
Adam Watson, project manager for the farm, told CBC Hamilton that the project was never supposed to be city run, so Niwasa was the “perfect organization” for a partnership.
“It was important to fulfil the community’s wishes that [the urban farm] be a community farm … and that it’d become a part of an organization that was already in the neighbourhood and already sustainable, so [Niwasa] was a perfect fit.”
Watson said the McQuesten farm has become a “point of pride” in the area.
“We’ve taken this roughly four-acre parcel of unused land, and we’ve transformed it into a functioning farm that grows thousands of pounds of food every year.”
“There’s nothing like it around.”
Niwasa operates a child-care centre and food bank in the McQuesten area, and regularly partners on community events on the farm. A city report says the organization is working toward securing funding to build an Indigenous regional health-care centre.
