With support from TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, Pine is grateful to have continued and expanded our partnership with Native Child & Family Services of Toronto this year.
Together, children, families, and mentors spent time outdoors building curiosity, confidence, and connection to the land. Through regular gatherings in local green spaces around Mount Dennis, participants explored, played, learned new skills, and strengthened relationships with each other and the natural world around them.
Children in NCFST’s school-age drop-in program explored nearby parks in all seasons. They built shelters from branches and natural materials, listened closely for bird calls, examined animal skulls and tracks, and practiced moving quietly through the forest at dusk. During winter gatherings, participants worked together to learn fire by friction using cattail fluff, milkweed fibres, cedar bark, and goldenrod, building patience, teamwork, and confidence along the way.
This year, TD FEF’s support also helped expand programming to include Culture Night gatherings for community members. Over several sessions, participants worked together through the many stages of tanning deer hides: soaking, stretching, softening, and smoking the hides before using them to sew medicine pouches with handmade cordage crafted from processed milkweed fibres. Along the way, participants shared stories and teachings, reflected on native plants and natural materials, and had opportunities to receive medicine teachings from members of the NCFST culture team as they chose medicines to place inside their pouches.
We’re deeply grateful to Native Child & Family Services of Toronto for their ongoing collaboration, and to TD Friends of the Environment Foundation for helping make this programming possible. Together, we are supporting meaningful opportunities for connection to land, community, culture, and nature for Indigenous families in Toronto.