New Indigenous garden now open at OPG’s Saunders visitor centre
At a glance
- A newly expanded Indigenous-inspired garden is open to the public at OPG’s Saunders Hydro Dam Visitor Centre in Cornwall.
- The new garden includes many plants, flora, as well as unique interpretive features that are of cultural significance to the Haudenosaunee people.
- The educational experience directly supports OPG’s Reconciliation Action Plan and was constructed in partnership with the Mohawks of Akwesasne.
Visitors to OPG’s Saunders Hydro Dam Visitor Centre in Cornwall can now immerse themselves in a new Indigenous garden experience.
The popular visitor centre’s expanded landscape includes new gardens featuring plants and flora important to Indigenous people. Attendees will also get to take in a variety of Indigenous-inspired interpretive features – including a drying shed and medicine garden, overlook shelter, a Mother Earth/Great Tree of Peace feature and more.
The new experience officially launched to the public on June 6 with an afternoon celebration attended by representatives from the Mohawks of Akwesasne, City of Cornwall, and OPG’s contract partner for the installation, the Iroquois-Sullivan Joint Venture.
“We are thrilled to unveil the expanded gardens at the Saunders Hydro Dam Visitor Centre Gardens,” said Bruce Robertson, OPG’s Vice-President of Eastern Operations. “These new garden features create space for the Akwesasne, Cornwall, and other surrounding communities, and tourists abroad to interact with nature and obtain knowledge about the local Indigenous culture, as well as many types of flora. Whether you are an educator, researcher, or simply a plant enthusiast, the gardens offer something for anyone to learn from and enjoy.”
These new garden features create space for the Akwesasne, Cornwall, and other surrounding communities, and tourists abroad to interact with nature and obtain knowledge about the local Indigenous culture, as well as many types of flora.Bruce RobertsonOPG’s Vice-President of Eastern Operations
Along with enhancing the biodiversity of the site, the new garden will serve as a platform for education, research, and community involvement opportunities promoting the knowledge of Indigenous and sustainable plants.
It also represents another positive step in OPG’s relationship with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. In 2008, the two parties signed a Final Settlement Agreement for damages incurred on the Akwesasne community by OPG’s predecessor company, Ontario Hydro, during the construction of the R.H. Saunders Generating Station.
| OPG’s R.H. Saunders GS has been a part of the Cornwall community in eastern Ontario for 66 years. The station is Ontario’s second-largest hydro facility by generating capacity. |
The garden project directly supports OPG’s Reconciliation Action Plan, which aims to grow the company’s economic impact on Indigenous communities and businesses over the next decade. The project was executed by a joint venture between Iroquois Consulting Group, an Akwesasne-owned business, and M. Sullivan and Son Limited, with a large portion of work completed by local Indigenous subcontractors, such as Northern Landscapes and Akwesasne Earth Movers.
Since its opening, the new garden is already helping educate visitors. Prior to the launch event, more than 100 students from the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk Board of Education and the Catholic District School Board had the opportunity to tour and learn about the gardens from Indigenous cultural educators.
“In planning this project, we consulted with the Akwesasne community on different plant species and how they’re used today and 100 years ago to make sure our garden is representative of Indigenous culture and practices,” said Codie Lonsberry, Project Site Manager at OPG’s nearby R.H. Saunders Generating Station. “We want to take visitors back to the St. Lawrence River area of the late 1800s as far as Indigenous plants and medicines go.”
The Saunders Hydro Dam Visitor Centre is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., May 21 through Aug. 30. Admission is free.
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