By Kaylee Thompson
On August 1, the Canadian Caribbean Association of Halton (CCAH) is hosting a garden event in Oakville for the entire community, to officially open their Community and Harmony Garden at Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre, with the support of the Oakville Community Foundation. A dedication plaque will be unveiled at the event, which also serves as host to Mayor Rob Burton’s Emancipation Day proclamation.
This free event, taking place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., requires advance registration.
The Community and Harmony Garden allows the public to use free garden plots to grow any flowers, fruits, and vegetables that they please. This allows everyone the chance to have access to fresh, home-grown fruits and vegetables that they may otherwise be unable to enjoy. Currently, other organizations have plots that they make use of, such as the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, the Oakville Community Foundation, and the Oakville Hospital Foundation. Aside from those organizations, the other plots are community or summer camp plots.
One of CCAH’s goals for this garden is for it to be a gathering place for anyone in the community. Another goal is for the garden to become a place for reflection, where the community can connect with the land as Indigenous people have in the past and continue to do today. It is a place to remember all the Indigenous lives and ways of being that touched the land where the garden is located.
The plaque that will be on display is dedicated to two people who have driven CCAH forward: the founder of CCAH, Icilda Baily, and Veronica Tyrrell, the past president on the Board of Directors who has held her position for the past three decades.
Emancipation Day was first proclaimed as August 1 by the Government of Canada in 2021. It is a day used to mark the abolition of slavery in both Canada and throughout the British Empire. To celebrate it, the CCAH will also host Mayor Rob Burton’s Emancipation Day Proclamation.
