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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4308750_web1_230711-South-Osborne-Community-Garden-0048.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
A recent report suggests community gardens should be recognized as more than just spaces to pursue a hobby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re meant to address things like food security, public health, community infrastructure\u2026. They\u2019re a real way that communities get their food, where they spend time with one another, where they learn things,\u201d said Haji Hussein.<\/p>\n
She and Tiana Klippenstein produced the report as part of Pro Bono Students Canada, which provides free legal information and services to community organizations. The two authors are University of Manitoba law students.<\/p>\n
The report recommends the city take the following actions to protect urban farms and community gardens:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Manage land through leases for city-owned land, possibly lasting one to five years and remove the ability for land to be taken back with 30 days\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Create low-cost annual business licences for urban farms, which would allow the city to better track them and support farmers seeking insurance or financing.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Encourage mobile gardens in raised planters and containers that can be moved to new locations, so gardens removed to make space for land to take on a different use can continue growing.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Follow a \u201cno loss\u201d principle that ensures a new community garden is added near each one on city land that shuts down.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Update the city\u2019s overarching development plan, OurWinnipeg 2045, to recognize community gardens as critical food infrastructure and include them in community development policies to help reduce food insecurity.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Amend Winnipeg zoning bylaws to list community gardens as protected or prioritized uses in key zones, require redevelopment proposals to consider retaining the gardens and set minimum garden-protection timelines.<\/p>\n
The report says the current warning period required before replacing a community garden isn\u2019t conducive to longer-term projects, which is why longer leases are suggested.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we really want people to be investing in community gardens and caring about community gardens, they need to know that it\u2019s not going to be taken away on 30 days\u2019 notice. Just offering the longer-term leases allows people to feel more comfortable with putting their time and their effort and their money into community gardens,\u201d said Klippenstein.<\/p>\n
The call to focus on more \u201cmobile gardens\u201d reflects the fact cities must consider multiple uses for land, such as housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps with the stability of community gardens because it ensures that even when the land is used for redevelopment\u2026 people aren\u2019t starting from zero (with the relocated gardens),\u201d said Klippenstein.<\/p>\n
Haji Hussein said the series of proposed changes to OurWinnipeg aim to build on existing policies that support food access across income levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get the community involved in creating that healthy food\u2026. It\u2019s making sure that gardening isn\u2019t only accessible to people who have land and backyards,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Haji Hussein hopes the variety of options helps ensure some changes can protect more gardens soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that there are competing interests at all times, in terms of needing affordable housing and commercial land,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Coun. Emma-Durand Wood, chairwoman of the Winnipeg Food Council, said it\u2019s too early to say whether the council will propose recommendations from the report for city council to consider, since the report marks the \u201cvery beginning stages\u201d of that process.<\/p>\n
Durand-Wood (Elmwood-East Kildonan) said the food council\u2019s co-ordinators referred all questions to her, as chairwoman, on Friday.<\/p>\n
Coun. Brian Mayes, a former Winnipeg Food Council chairman, said the ideas are promising.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity gardens are an important environmental (program). We\u2019re trying to reduce our carbon output and growing more food locally is an important part of that,\u201d said Mayes (St. Vital).<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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The councillor said adding business licences, allowing longer term use of land plots, updating zoning bylaws and encouraging mobile gardens should all be considered.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Mobile gardens are) creative\u2026. That\u2019s different and it\u2019s not super pricey, so I think that could be feasible,\u201d said Mayes.<\/p>\n
In 2020, the food council said there were at least 60 community gardens in Winnipeg managed by various groups, while the city rented out plots at another 11 garden allotment sites. An updated number was not available by deadline Friday.<\/p>\n
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
X :@joyanne_pursaga<\/p>\n
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Joyanne Pursaga Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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