Nature Network Highlight: Growing Living Cities with Green Communities Canada
Three out of four Canadians live in cities with populations greater than 100,000 people. Yet major inequities persist for urban residents in terms of access to nature. As reports from Nature Canada and other sources show, these inequities often disadvantage racialized and lower income communities. Those residents most affected by the impacts of climate change (such as extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution) are also most likely to be excluded from urban decision-making and access to green space.
Green Communities Canada is participating in Nature on the Hill to advocate for support to address these inequities. We believe urban greening initiatives should involve more than planting trees and creating parks in cities. The 3-30-300 rule means that everyone should have at least 3 trees within view of their home, a minimum of 30 per cent canopy cover, and at least one greenspace within 300 metres of where they live.
How we do this matters. Lasting change comes from honouring, mobilizing, and empowering the knowledge and capacity found within local communities.
Through our Living Cities Canada Fund, Green Communities Canada is supporting local organizations in co-creating green spaces with and for marginalized communities. In 2024, we supported over 40 community-based projects in 26 cities across 8 provinces.
At Nature on the Hill, we will be sharing stories like these, from communities across Canada. We’re bringing local voices – like Mary’s, Veronica’s, and Josh’s (see below) – to Nature on the Hill and advocating for more support for the inclusive co-creation and implementation of green spaces in disadvantaged urban communities.
One City Peterborough
One City Peterborough is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to supporting those who have experienced homelessness, marginalization, and/or criminalization. One City Peterborough supports stability, well-being, and inclusion in the form of housing, employment opportunities, and support programs.
A planting event with One City Peterborough (photo: Green Communities Canada)
On September 10, 2024, One City Peterborough staff gathered with volunteers and clients to bring a long-awaited vision to life after over a year of collaborative planning.
The local environmental non-profit Peterborough GreenUP led One City in a robust engagement and co-design process to bring the community’s priorities and goals into focus. The plan included planting 20 trees and more than 94 plants, enhancing stormwater management and food security, and creating new shaded areas.
“The way people are working together as one unit. It’s lovely to see everybody cooperating and building relationships. If I could do anything to make the community a better place, a healthier place, I want to be a part of it.”
– Mary Kay, One City Volunteer, Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) Program. CoSA supports individuals in their re-integration journey during parole.
Hope Blooms (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Hope Blooms empowers youth to have a voice within their communities and drive change through inclusive, hands-on initiatives that tackle food security, education, and social inclusion. By building urban organic food gardens and using social entrepreneurship, Hope Blooms is working to create lasting community impact.
On National Tree Day in September 2024, Hope Blooms staff and youth came together at Uniacke Square at Murray Warrington Park in Halifax to plant trees and create a vibrant food garden. The event was part of their Green Labs program, a STEM-based initiative that engages children and youth in hands-on learning focused on environmental stewardship, renewable energy, health, and science in outdoor settings.
“The goal is to plant trees and make beautiful spaces. Living in beautiful spaces creates beautiful minds. This event is important because this community has been marginalized for way too long. Just making this space beautiful, just showing them we care, that things are happening here, that they are part of it – that is important.”
– Veronica Gutierrez, Director of Growth at Sustainability at Hope Blooms
This project in Halifax was supported by Green Communities Canada’s Living Cities Canada Fund and Tree Canada.
Pritchard Trail, Albion Falls (Hamilton, Ontario)
The Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton is a four-lane freeway that was built in the 2000s. The freeway follows the path of Red Hill Creek and the ecologically sensitive Niagara Escarpment (a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve) down to Lake Ontario.
Planting trees near Pritchard Trail, Hamilton (photo: Green Communities Canada)
On October 5, 2024, the City of Hamilton hosted a community-driven mini forest planting of 870 trees at Pritchard Trail, near where Red Hill Creek cascades over Albion Falls. This event was part of an ongoing effort to increase Hamilton’s urban forest canopy.
“This is a zero-cost event where you can do something that really matters and do something that makes a difference and you’re being around people who also want to make a difference.”
– Josh, volunteer
The planning in Hamilton was funded in part by Green Communities Canada’s Living Cities Canada Fund and in partnership with the Greenbelt Foundation.
We will be sharing stories like these at Nature on the Hill and advocating for support for urban planting projects and municipalities to advance equitable urban biodiversity and green infrastructure initiatives.
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YOU CAN HELP!
You can help Nature Canada and our Nature Network partners like Green Communities Canada, who are going to Nature on the Hill to halt and reverse nature loss. Please send a letter to your MP calling for the following:
- Fund the 2030 Nature Strategy and end nature-harming subsidies
- Protect nature by establishing new protected areas and funding Indigenous-led conservation programs
- Invest in nature restoration, including restoring habitats for culturally significant and at-risk species.
