Good to Know

  Residential Schools Response I recently received an email that argued that Indigenous people should be grateful for having the opportunity to go to Boarding school s where they received room, board, and received a much needed education all for FREE! Below is my response. In 1894 attending residential schools for all Indigenous children was made compulsory. The parents were given no options or explanations as to why their kids could not attend day -schools like non-indigenous youngsters. They were never given the freedom to decide if this was in the best interest of their children. These residential schools operated for over 100 years until 1996.    The purpose of the schools was to remove the Indigenous children from the influence of their own special culture and assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. The majority of residential schools were operated by the Catholic Church. One would have expected to carry out the Government’s mandate that ...

HOW TO ENHANCE FOOD SOURCES FOR OUR PRECIOUS POLLINATORS Barrie will be celebrating Pollinator Week from June 19-June 25 to help raise awareness of the incredibly important role played by pollinators. The City of Barrie has supported the initiatives outlined in the Pollinator Partnership Canada guide such as reducing the number of mowing cycles per summer,   increasing the number of naturalized spaces, replacing  planting areas with native species, supporting  the planting of native trees as bees need resin from coniferous trees,   r estoring and enhancing  the shoreline restoration, and creating an in-house native flower-enhanced seed mix.                                                                                        ...

  Hello Mr. Downey, We connected at Lampman’s Garden Party. I was quite pleased to see that you took the time to participate in this annual  community event. At the time I mentioned to you my profound concern about the global decline of our  precious pollinators. It   is hard to fathom that our health, well being, and our future existence here on Earth  is dependent on tiny insignificant- looking, sometimes annoying insects, flitting from flower to flower.  These pollinators and others have a special niche and a specialized role to play.    They are all connected with all other species in the fragile web of life.   The value and importance of each strand may not be obvious until it is destroyed.   The extinction of one species can ripple right through the web of life and negatively  impact the health and well being of all of  us. We need those pollinators as they pollinate one third mouthful of all the food we eat, including me...

  PLANTS THAT ATTRACT BIRDS AND POLLINATORS   H ere in Barrie we will celebrate Pollinator Week from June 19-June 25. Since our precious pollinators are declining at an alarming rate, we all need to provide as many food sources for pollinators as possible. “ WITHOUT POLLINATORS, THE HUMAN RACE AND ALL OF THE EARTH’S TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS WOULD NOT  SURVIVE.” NATIVE FLOWERS THAT ATTRACT POLLINATORS Native plants have had 1000’s of years to adapt to their surroundings and therefore are very hardy, drought, and pest resistant, and can grow in all kinds of soil conditions. black-eyed Susan, rubberneck, purple cone flower, iron weed, bee balm, cup plant, silver weed (ground cover), butterfly weed, blue vervain, coreopsis, cardinal flower. NON-N...