Victoria community garden becomes permanent fixture in honour of Dr. Bonnie Henry

Huntingdon Manor Hotel created 12 community garden plots on its land for nearby residents in May 2020, and has since expanded to 25 spots as a permanent landmark called the 'Dr. Bonnie Henry Commemorative Community Garden.' (CTV News)

A Victoria community garden born during the COVID-19 pandemic has not only doubled in size, it’s been declared a new permanent fixture in James Bay – garnering calls to action from others to do the same.

“It’s a challenge to other businesses,” said Wayne Shillington of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association. “Think about the concept of a private business taking some of their precious property in downtown Victoria and creating a public space for the neighbourhood for people to garden and grow food themselves.”

Huntingdon Manor Hotel created 12 community garden plots on its land for nearby residents in May 2020, and has since expanded to 25 spots as a permanent landmark called the 'Dr. Bonnie Henry Commemorative Community Garden.'

“As [with] many other businesses, the pandemic really hit us like a ton of bricks,” said the Inner Harbour hotel’s director of sales and marketing, Julia Canton. “Being an active member of the community, we wanted to do something to support everybody in this time of need so that’s when the idea of creating a community garden emerged.”

“It’s been quite great,” said one of the plot’s gardeners, Tanya Chavez.

Another resident, who’s also held a plot since the garden’s beginning, said its helped him address food security and thinks the community can do more.

“We have all this space where it’s just dead grass,” said Byron Dwyer. “We [have to] look at it and see how we can go in there and spread this all over so we can start producing more food.”

You don’t need to be struggling with food security to qualify for a plot on the site, but experts agree the space can still help address the overall issue along with food sustainability.

“We’ve seen these types of programs cropping up all over the place and despite all of that, because of rapid food inflation and the fact that wages are not increasing commensurate with that rising inflation – we’re just seeing people increasingly unable to afford to feed themselves and their families to a sufficient degree,” said Matthew Little, an assistant professor in public health and social policy at the University of Victoria.

He says community gardens are helpful in addressing the need, but the most important way of making change is for government to strengthen income supports for people who are struggling.

Huntingdon Manor Hotel and James Bay Neighbourhood Association say it’s Victoria’s first public garden on private property – and they hope it won’t be the last.

There are three plots reserved for gardeners with mobility issues. To qualify for a space, people need to be a resident of Victoria.

On top of being a vital resource to grow food, hotel staff also see it as a commitment to mental well-being, forging deeper connections with nature.