How a sacred forest space is fostering healing and connection

Good morning, 

Nate with you today. Working as a reporter, it’s incredibly inspiring to see how people are taking on the challenges in their lives with courage and tenacity, and have the bravery to share their stories in a public way. 

I’ve been especially struck by this in the past week, with the resiliency and power of the human spirit coming through in different circumstances and conversations I’ve had lately.  

That’s particularly the case in today’s story, an emotional profile on how the intentional shaping of public space can contribute to personal healing and connection over in Champlain Heights.

It’s a neighbourhood that hasn’t gotten the type of coverage it deserves, though we’re working to change that. Sadly this is common in Vancouver, where out-of-the-way neighbourhoods are often ignored by bigger publications.

We also happen to be in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign right now. So, if you want to support our efforts to cover more news and stories in underserved neighbourhoods like Champlain Heights, become a member today.

Let’s get to it. 

— Nate Lewis, Vancity Lookout 

A note to readers, today’s story discusses residential schools and its impact on survivors.

PS - If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free. 

WEATHER

Friday: 16 🌡️ 11 | 🌧️

Saturday: 15 🌡️ 11 | 🌧️

Sunday: 17 🌡️ 13 | 🌧️

Monday: 19 🌡️ 13 | 🌤️

THE LOOKOUT RECOMMENDS

Go swim!: Vancouver sorely lacks outdoor pools compared to other major cities. Luckily one of the best ones is opening up this weekend — Kits pool finally reopens on Saturday. You don’t have to book advance tickets, but it’s a good way to ensure you can get in. You can book tickets here. 

Good to know: Wildfire smoke, the kind that blankets Vancouver, isn’t just a sight for sore eyes, and a nasty thing to breathe. The other types of damage to your body are much worse. Airborne pollutants from fires increase your risk of stroke, dementia and neurological disease. This story breaks it all down. 

A long weekend breakfast: I’m not a huge brunch fan, but I understand I’m in the minority. A few spots I’d recommend? Hideout Dinner for cheap food, Aiyaohno Cafe for its curated menu and unique drinks, Au Comptoir and Coquette Bistro for French food, Their There if you like lines and also great food, and the Red Accordian for a classic Vancouver spot.

PROFILE

How a sacred forest space is fostering healing and connection

On a trail in Champlain Heights near her home, Marge Wylie sits on one of several low, carved benches, which are arranged in a semi-circle amongst a stand of fir trees.    

“There are times where I come just about every day,” Wylie told Vancity Lookout, referring to the spot along Red Alder Trail where we’ve arranged to meet that day. 

Wylie is a member of the Tl’azt’en Nation, and grew up in Tachie, a village about 30 miles from Fort St. James in the central interior of B.C. Wylie is also a survivor of the residential school system, which she attended for five years from the ages of 5 to 10. 

The forested garden where we’re sitting is part of the National Healing Forest Initiative, a Canada-wide community-led project to create green spaces to honour residential school victims, survivors, and their families. 

“I survived the residential school. So for the first 30 years of my life, I was just surviving. Now I'm trying to just reconnect with what I was born and raised in, [being] one with the earth,” Wylie said.  

We’re in one section of the Douglas Fir Teaching Garden, an area that’s been rehabilitated and is being maintained by the ecological stewardship group Free the Fern, which Wylie is a part of. As part of its work in the area, Free the Fern created this sacred circle, commissioning Squamish carver John Spence, along with his apprentice son, Koda, to create carved cedar benches and a teacher’s chair for the space. 

It’s currently the only space publicly designated as a Healing Forest in all of Vancouver. It’s a place for everyone, whether Indigenous or non-Indigenous, to visit and use for reflection and healing.   

“This space was here, but [Free the Fern’s founder] Grace has turned it into this wonderful healing space. Up until recently, you had to go somewhere else, like over to the island or some small town to try to find it. So how wonderful that [it’s] almost in my backyard,” Wylie explained.

The folks behind the National Healing Forest Initiative, founded in 2015, emphasize that these spaces can take many different forms, led locally with the involvement of local Indigenous people and groups. 

“Each community decides for themselves what their Healing Forest will look like and how it will function. The only condition is that the forest is created and used in the spirit of reconciliation, healing, shared understanding and respect,” according to the initiative’s website. 

“It’s very important to me, because that's what I know this as. I'm not going to just sit here and do something else. It's about my work,” Wylie said, who shared that her mother also had to go to a residential school. 

“I think when you take somebody when you're that young, it's not an easy thing to get out of,” Wylie said.

“We didn't have a good childhood, because she drank to escape her memories and her pain,” Wylie shared, adding that her own daughter comes by the healing forest and that telling her daughter that she went to residential school has helped their relationship. 

“I do sit here and do some work about the residential school, because I know that I haven't done all my work surrounding that,” Wylie said, adding she’s also used therapy and silent retreats as other tools in her healing journey. 

Wylie, who is 73, has spent most of her life in Vancouver and has lived in co-op housing in Champlain Heights since 1990. She described how fortunate she feels to live in such a green, tree-filled part of the city, after living near Commercial Drive and around Knight and 41st Avenue earlier in her life.

Killarney, which includes Champlain Heights, stands out as the only neighbourhood in East Vancouver currently hitting the city’s goal of 30% tree canopy cover. That’s about double the tree coverage compared to neighbouring areas, and far more than areas like Strathcona (9%) and Downtown (13%).

Zoom in further and it’s clear the forests and green spaces in Champlain Heights are responsible for that figure, with most the community, including the area that’s home to the Healing Forest and the surrounding trail network, having more than 40% canopy cover.  

Wylie shared other circumstances where the space has been helpful for her, like when she lost a good friend just a few weeks ago, who was a big part of her healing journey. 

“She was like family to me… that's the first thing I did was I came down here. I feel like I'm closer to her here,” Wylie described, choking up with the rawness of her friend’s passing. 

“I think I've always known that I want to keep growing and healing until I stay one with everything. Because, unfortunately, even though I had reached that [and] I know what it is, you kind of drift off in life. That's what [the space] has done for me, Wylie said.

As we say goodbye, Wylie mentions she’s off to make jam — blackberry, blueberry, and rhubarb — to contribute, along with homemade bannock, for an upcoming Free the Fern event at the end of the month. The event is free and open to everyone.   

As the sacred circle and the garden have been established through communal effort, it’s only fitting that the space is also used to come together, share, and celebrate.

THE VANCOUVER NUMBER

630

The student capacity for the long-awaited elementary school project in Olympic Village. The project is gaining traction, with a rezoning application for the four-storey school submitted this week. The VSB’s current timeline is to get all the necessary permits and start construction by 2027, with the school opening in 2030. [Storeys, VSB]

THE AGENDA

🛑 After over a year, a simmering controversy at city council is over. The attempt by ABC councillors to temporarily suspend the work of the city’s integrity commissioner was dismissed by Mayor Ken Sim, who called the motion “frivolous and out of order.” There’s still a need for reform – which was the rationale for the suspension – but, importantly, a review called for the commissioner to have enhanced independence, including more protection from council interference. [CBC]  

📉 In prepping next year’s budget, city staff predicted a seven per cent tax increase to maintain current services. Mayor Ken Sim countered by asking them to reduce that to between 3.5 and one per cent, saying Vancouverites can’t bear the weight of further tax increases, and directed staff to find efficiencies instead. The lower tax increase, which would come in an election year, would require significant cuts somewhere, and the public deserves transparency about what those trade-offs would be, Coun. Rebecca Bligh said. ABC councillors voted down an amendment for council to receive more information about where the cuts would come from. [Vancouver Sun] 

Two new supervised consumption sites for people who smoke drugs are now able to open in the Downtown Eastside, after health bylaw changes were approved by council. The new indoor inhalation facilities will provide a safer environment for clients than the current outdoor sites.. One of the sites will be public, while the other will be a pilot program for residents of a supportive housing building. [CityNews]

👮 The Vancouver Police Board, which oversees the budget for the Vancouver Police Department, only learned about the $5 million plan for Task Force Barrage – which increased policing in the Downtown Eastside – through Mayor Ken Sim’s public announcement. According to the Police Act, the budget has to be approved by the board first. Sim responded by saying he “can’t comment on what people know and didn’t know.” [CTV]

🏊‍♀️ Both council and the park board have now approved a 25-metre, eight-lane pool to replace the Vancouver Aquatic Centre. The cost of the pool is set to be $175 million. Many in the community had called for a 50-metre pool, but it would’ve increased the costs of the project by $100 million. [Urbanized]

Outside Vancouver

🚨 The Abbotsford Canucks won game four of the Calder Cup Final last night to go up 3-1 in the series and get to within one win of American Hockey League championship. The Canucks will have a chance to win their first AHL title tomorrow night at home in Abby. [Sportsnet]

⛴️ A video of someone riding a Sea-Doo behind and underneath a ferry has drawn condemnation from BC Ferries, and an investigation by Sunshine Coast RCMP. It’s an extremely dangerous and illegal thing to do, the ferry operator said. [Instagram, CityNews]

WEEKEND EVENT GUIDE

Dragon Boat Festival | East False Creek near Science World | June 20-22 | More info (free)

Vancouver International Jazz Festival | Multiple venues across Vancouver, including Granville Island and David Lam Park | June 20–July 1, various times | Free and ticketed concerts across the city | Various prices

Great Grandview Garage Sale | June 21, 10 am - 2 pm | Stroll through Grandview-Woodland and find some treasures at garage sales happening all over the neighbourhood | More info

Scandinavian Midsummer Festival | Scandinavian Community Centre, 6540 Thomas St. (Burnaby) | June 21–22, 10 am | Viking village, wife-carrying contest, Nordic food and music | Tickets $10+

Bubble Fest | Capilano Mall, 935 Marine Dr., North Vancouver | June 21, 11 am | Free family event with Science World show, crafts, and bubble dome | Free

Welk’s 20th Anniversary Block Party | Main and 19th Ave | June 21, 10 am - 6 pm | Everyone’s favourite boutique homeware store is throwing a bday bash | Free 

Board Game Night! | Pizzeria Ludica, 189 Keefer Pl. | June 21, 7 pm | Board games, prizes, meet doc director | Free

Matariki Summer Picnic | Trout Lake Park | June 21, 11 am | Maori New Year BBQ, games & kites | Free

Corgi Con | Friendly Paws Club, 2125 W. 10th Ave. | June 21, 2 pm | Group photo, food, all corgis welcome | Free

Forest Bathing at VanDusen Botanical Garden | 5251 Oak St. | June 21, 10 am | Guided forest therapy walk | Tickets $25

National Indigenous Peoples Day at Kitsilano Showboat | 2300 Cornwall Ave. | June 21, 7 pm | Drum groups, storytelling, music | Free

National Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration | Grandview Park, 1657 Charles St. | June 21, noon | Parade, market, music, Indigenous artists | Free

St. Mary’s Parish Summer Fair | 5251 Joyce St. | June 22, 11 am | Games, food trucks, market, silent auction | Free

Greek Day on Broadway | Between Macdonald and Blenheim St | June 22, 11 am - 9 pm | Free

An Ideal Husband | Jericho Arts Centre, 1675 Discovery St | Now until June 22, various times | Oscar Wilde play on secrets and morality | Tickets $15–$35

Theatre Under the Stars | Stanley Park's Malkin Bowl | June 27 to August 16, 2025 | Theatre Under the Stars presents its 2025 season of sweet dreams and big schemes with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Legally Blonde | Tickets from $35

Eco-Art Fest | Douglas Fir Teaching Garden (Champlain Heights) | June 28, 10 am–2 pm | More info

Want to see your event here? You can purchase them through our self-service portal here.

RESTAURANT REVIEW

The undefinability of Niwa

Don’t call Niwa a Japanese restaurant. Don’t call it a Japanese fusion restaurant, either. In fact, maybe you shouldn’t try to describe it at all. Sometimes the best things are hard to define.

Yes, there will be chopsticks at your table. And sure, the “let us cook for you” option is called omakase (at least, if this article doesn’t inspire a change). And indeed, the name of the restaurant is a Japanese word meaning “garden.” But Niwa has its own charmingly unique little thing going on.

Read the review + subscribe to our free Vancouver restaurant review newsletter

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• We’re number one! Vancouver beat out this Albertan city to be Canada’s most livable city in the latest Global Livability Index. [CityNews]

• Sadly there’s been lots of closures this week, including Cowdog Brewery, Solly’s in Kitsilano and Ba Le on Kingsway

• Batch Kitsilano, a burger pop-up over at Kitsilano Beach, is getting everyone’s favourite chicken sandwich shop, Downlow Chicken. [Straight]

• TransLink has partnered with Patina Brewery to launch its own beer “Platform Pilsner.” And no, you cannot drink it legally on any TransLink bus or SkyTrain!

• Main has a new ice cream shop, Kobo Ice Cream, at 2541 Main St.

VANCOUVER GUESSER

Folks were split in last week’s Guesser between Mount Pleasant, China Creek South, and Strathcona, but the correct answer was China Creek South.

Side note: a reader recently sent us an ode to the old China Creek skatepark, written by their son and published in Thrasher Magazine. I don’t have a link to share, but I’m sorry to hear the new one doesn’t measure up for some people.

For this week, can you tell me which bumping beach this is?

STORIES THIS WEEK