The Dufferin County Cultural Resource Circle (DCCRC), with the help of donors such as the Rotary Club of Orangeville Highlands and the Rotary Club of Orangeville, constructed a medicine wheel garden in Orangeville’s Bravery Park. The garden was completed in November 2018; the grand opening took place in June 2019 after the gardens had been planted. The DCCRC was honoured when the Bravery Park Committee and the Town asked us about including an indigenous component in the Park. One of the objectives of establishing Bravery Park is to provide a quiet and reflective space for Canadian soldiers and their families. The medicine wheel garden meets this objective, as well as being a shared community space where people can learn about Indigenous traditions, walk the circle, smudge or simply enjoy the gardens.
A medicine wheel is a tool for people to learn about their place in the universe and their relationship to all things created. The wheel is divided into four quadrants which represent the 4 directions and their colours—east is yellow, south is red, west is black and north is white. The quadrants also represent the four seasons, the four elements, the four sacred plants and the four stages of life. The four directions of the medicine wheel remind us of how everything is connected and the need for balance in the world and in ourselves. The garden in Bravery Park has four raised beds that represent each of the four quadrants of the Medicine Wheel. Signs in each garden explain in both English and Ojibwe the important elements of each quadrant, such as colour, sacred plants, direction, season and so on. As well, the colour of the stone used in each of the garden walls matches the quadrant colour—yellow stone for the east quadrant, red for the south, black for the west and white for the north. The centerpiece of the garden is the table formed from the grandfather rock, brought in from Huntsville and weighing about 1200 lbs. It is used for smudging, for ceremonies and for teaching school and other visitor groups.
The Mino Kamik medicine wheel garden was an important project for the DCCRC, a not-for-profit, Indigenous-led community group whose mandate is to create a safe space for the restoration and revival of traditional Indigenous culture in the Dufferin County area. The Rotary Club of Orangeville Highlands, along with the Rotary Club of Orangeville, are the sponsors for the west quadrant of the medicine wheel garden, the quadrant that represents adulthood and harvest time.
To read more about the medicine wheel and its teachings please click here.