Food-security group upset after city flattens community garden in Prince George

The City ofPrince Georgehas flattened a community garden in a municipal park, to the dismay of a local food-security advocacy group.

The city had removed some garden beds from Milburn Park last year, and on Thursday bulldozers cleared the remaining beds.

The plots were built by the Milburn Community Association in 1997, but the city says the association stopped renewing its licence in 2015.A city spokesperson says there have been no official agreements with any groups to use the site since then.

But Catharine Kendall, vice-president of the Local Food PG Society, says the Milburn Community Gardenwas being used by residents in the VLA neighbourhood to grow food for their own use,and the city's actions were insensitive to those struggling with food security.

"The [garden] beds are gone and the lawn is just bare dirt right now," Kendall told Sarah Penton, host of CBC's Radio West.

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Kendall says VLA is a low-income neighbourhood with a high crime rate and a substantial Indigenous population. She says the community garden tool shed was frequented by people living with homelessness, and the facility was often visited by university students to learn about Indigenous plants.

More than 35 varieties of perennial plants were destroyed by the bulldozers, she said.

In a written statement to CBC News, city spokesperson Michael Kellettsaid staff hadreceived complaints about safety concerns in the community gardenafter needles were found at the site and the garden tool shed was burned down several years ago.

"Public green spaces on city property are for all residents to enjoy," Kellettsaid.

He said the city initially planned to bulldoze the entire site last year but decided to postpone to allow people to harvest their planted food first.

In a letter to city council on Friday, Local Food PG Society said it had applied for a municipal grant in March to keepthe Milburn Community Garden running.

Kellett's statement didn't address the society's grant application. It said the city had intended to issuea licence last summerto a user of the community garden, but that member didn't co-sign an agreementwith a non-profit organization or a community associationas required by the city.

The society is demandingthe city provide the grant and a nearby location for building a new community garden.

"[The community garden] really was about bringing a community together, and that's really what the community gardens provide," Kendall said.

Tap the link below to hear Catharine Kendall's interview on Radio West: