A garden to ponder is on James Ravenscroft's mind.
The United Church reverend is seeking a place in St. Albert to create a healing garden.
The garden would offer a quiet refuge, and serve as a reminder of the city's history with residential schools, he said.
"A place to stop and sit and ponder within the city of St. Albert as a way to acknowledge the history of that broken relationship but also as a way to move on as well in the spirit of healing and reconciliation," he said.
The healing garden is the brainchild of Maggie Hodgson, former CEO of the Nechi Institute near St. Albert and founder of the National Day of Healing and Reconciliation.
Ravenscroft said Hodgson, an acquaintance, approached him a few months ago about creating the garden for those First Nations who live and have lived in the city.
He since spent his time speaking with different groups in the city, such as the Arts and Heritage Foundation, to discuss possible locations, and funding for the project, he said.
He said he hopes to have the garden built along a public parkway.
"Sometimes these kind of projects, they get tucked away in a space, nobody really knows where they are, and they get forgotten and they lose their purpose," he said. "The closer to downtown the better in my mind."
St. Albert was once home to two residential schools.
The Grey Nuns ran one out of a two-storey brick building in St. Albert, according to historians, while the Methodist and United churches ran another at what is now Poundmaker's Lodge near Campbell Business Park.
Both buildings have since been destroyed.
Ravenscroft said the garden would likely have healing plants installed there, as well as benches and information on the city's residential schools.
He hopes the garden may also serve as a meeting place for different groups in the community.
"We have both a commitment to address the harms that were done but also we have a role to play within the wider community of just raising awareness about ongoing issues," he said.
"We can listen to people, we can be aware of ongoing circumstances of hurt and injustice."
Ravenscroft said he walked the length of St. Albert's Founder's Walk, seeking out possible locations for the garden.
He is now looking to consult with Hodgson before submitting his plans to the city. His hope is to fund the garden through donations and government grants.
Year of truth and reconciliation
Mayor Nolan Crouse read a proclamation earlier this year, supporting the city of Wetaskiwin in naming 2014 to 2015 a year of truth and reconciliation.
Among its statements, the proclamation acknowledges that aboriginal peoples have been subject to the residential school system.
It also reads that reconciliation depends on the collective learning about aboriginal history, and Wetaskiwin's leadership role in helping to eliminate all forms of discrimination.
Crouse said the proclamation was a political statement to show that St. Albert recognizes that the city and the province have an important role to play in reconciliation.
As of yet, city council has not discussed other projects connected to reconciliation, he said.
But the city would likely support projects such as the healing garden, he said. Not-for-profit organizations can also apply for community capital grants to fund such projects, he said.
"I'm sure the city would support something that was grass-roots driven," he said. "In terms of the city taking a lead on it, we would take a follower position."
