Home Garden Program

Métis Way of Life

Hunting, fishing, trapping, and being on the land have been important to many Métis peoples’ way of life throughout history and remain important to Métis culture and identity today.

To continue providing some level of food security for Métis households in the face of climate change and other emergent crisis, the goal of the Home Garden Program is to help participants access nutritious food and give them a chance to connect or re-connect with nature.

Its first iteration was considered a pilot project for 50 Métis households. The initial application process was such a success that further funding was added to double the capacity to a total of 100 applicants for 2021. Households were provided with a $200 grant to purchase gardening supplies as well as seeds of 12 different vegetables and flowers.
Given the success of the pilot project, a Home Garden Program was also offered to Métis Citizens in 2022 with a further expansion in size to 150 Métis households and a total of 14 different vegetable and flower seeds. In 2022, participants were also provided with a $200 grant to purchase gardening supplies. In addition to the seeds and grant, MNBC’s Gardening Manual and a newsletter were created to support participants in their gardening journey.
The Home Garden Program is back in 2025 with a few changes. We’ve expanded the program to accept applications for 350 households! The big change from previous years is that we will be offering unique online gift codes of a value up to $75 so that households may choose their preferred seeds.
Applications will be accepted in the order they are received. You will find out if you are a successful applicant by the end of January and receive the gift card in February. There is a waitlist, and you will be automatically added to it in case additional funding opens up in the spring.
If you require help during the application process, please contact environment@mnbc.ca.
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Métis food sovereignty [is] the interconnectedness of food and culture

Devonn Drossel - host of the podcast Our Foods: Chatting about Métis Food Sovereignty produced by The Rupertsland Centre for Métis Research