New sacred Indigenous fire space comes to Guelph's Royal City Park

The City of Guelph is looking to memorialize the legacy and traditions of its local Indigenous people.

This week, the city announced the completion of a new sacred fire space in Guelph's Royal City Park, set up to in collaboration withlocal Indigenous communities.

"That space has been designed [to] reflect the traditional ways of the original peoples of the land," Heather Flaherty, general manager for the city's parks and recreation department told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

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According to Flaherty,the project was initiated 18 months ago when city staff exchanged ideas on some of their individual traditions, and how they could reflect those traditions in the city's public spaces.

A sacred space

The group eventually chose Royal City Park as the site for the fire space due to its proximity to the merging Eramosa and Speed rivers a gathering place for Indigenous people and the presence of culturally significant maple and cedar trees.

"It was a place chosen to honour the traditions of many original peoples and a place that could be seen as an appropriate spot for gathering," Flaherty said.

The space is reserved exclusively for use by Indigenous people for spiritual gatherings, celebrations, prayers and other such activities.

"It's not for bonfires or marshmallow-roasting by members of the community," she said. "This is a sacred space."

The city says the new structure is a step in the right direction to building vital relationships in the Guelph community and beyond.