Carolinian Canada & Yotuni Social Enterprise

For generations, Indigenous communities have been forced away from their land, culture and traditions – and continue to experience the trauma of ongoing and historical injustices. That’s why Yotuni Social Enterprise, a youth-led organization providing a diverse array of programming and services to Indigenous youth and Carolinian Canada, a network of leaders dedicated to the conservation of Canada’s Carolinian Zone, have partnered to create space for healing and reconnection.

With help from a $200,000 Community Vitality Grant, Yotuni Social Enterprise and Carolinian Canada will partner to create Tsi’thotuhutsya:te (The Creators Land) Community Healing Gardens Project, a social enterprise that will employ Indigenous youth to create gardening kits to be sold to community members, enabling land-based wellness and learning at home with Indigenous food and plants.

“When our children were taken away from our communities; their culture, their language, their hair – everything was taken from them. And that stuff is still missing from our communities today,” says Amanda Kennedy, founder of Yotuni Social Enterprise. “The Healing Gardens project is all about reconnecting us with our land, reconnecting us with our culture, and being proud of who we are as Haudenosaunee Indigenous people and the first people of the lands.”

As a social enterprise, the Healing Gardens will be able to work towards self-sustainability while having a positive impact on the community and allow for more opportunities to align the business with Indigenous culture and values – something Carolinian Canada feels strongly about supporting.

“We see growing native plants as being the greenest industry on Earth – by just growing one native plant, you are starting to reverse two centuries of habitat loss,” says Michelle Kanter, Executive Director of Carolinian Canada. ““This partnership is amazing because we can start the conversation about how to best support Indigenous communities in growing healing gardens while creating intentional space and time for people to reflect on truth and reconciliation.”

And that’s what Tsi’thotuhutsya:te (The Creators Land) Community Healing Garden Project is all about – creating a space that can rekindle a connection with the land and foster a better and brighter future for everyone.

“It’s our responsibility as the people standing on this land today to be mindful of the generations ahead of us,” says Amanda. “All we can do is do the best that we can and hope that they can continue that change, that healing, that learning, and that growth.”