Decorated Hearts for Residential School Survivors

Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams is a national initiative that encourages communities to engage in Truth and Reconciliation in tangible ways. Heart Gardens honour residential school survivors and their families, as well as the legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Each heart represents the memory of a child lost to the residential school system, and the act of planting represents that individual’s commitment to finding their place in reconciliation. 

In 2019, during Indigenous History Month, McDougall created a Heart Garden with perennial flowers in the four colours of the medicine wheel and decorated it with paper hearts. 

In 2020, we invited community and congregation members to decorate paper hearts and plant them in the garden. Come visit our garden on the East side of the church. See the beautifully decorated hearts.