At Acsenda School of Management, learning goes beyond the classroom. As part of our commitment to experiential education and cultural awareness, students are regularly given the opportunity to engage with communities, traditions, and ideas that shape our world. One such experience took place on June 20, 2025, when faculty members Charlene Leon, Anna Tur, and Director Pomponia Martinez led a group of students on a transformative field trip to explore UBC’s Indigenous Gardens.
Fittingly, also the Summer Solstice, it was the perfect time to recognize and celebrate National Indigenous History Month. June 1st marks the beginning of a month designated by Canada for all Canadians to honour the cultures and contributions of First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
We are grateful to the stewards of this amazing Indigenous Garden, Eduardo, Alanna and Jason, for welcoming us and providing stories of the garden’s origins, and goals, including how fruit and vegetables are shared with the Musqueam First Nations. Charlene identified many of the traditional plants and broadened our understanding of the land, its abundance and its connection with Indigenous healing traditions.
UBC’s xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden—also known as the Indigenous Health, Research & Education Garden—located at UBC Farm, was established in 2007 on unceded Musqueam territory (indigenous.landfood.ubc.ca). The garden functions as a living classroom, integrating Indigenous knowledge, land-based teaching, and hands-on research. Its layout reflects Musqueam cultural designs, including a central spindle-whorl motif and quadrants aligned with the cardinal directions of the medicine wheel (cases.open.ubc.ca). The garden hosts over 50 plant species, primarily medicinal and food plants native to BC, used in traditional medicine (indigenous.landfood.ubc.ca). Guided by Eduardo, we were able to tour the shelter used to dry and store the variety of medicinal plants.
The Garden is guided by the principle “food is medicine”, and upheld by the 4 R’s: Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity, Responsibility (indigenous.landfood.ubc.ca). There are a number of projects at the Garden and one important connection to Acsenda, is the Culturally Relevant Urban Wellness (CRUW) project that invites urban Indigenous and newcomer youth for seasonal learning from March to October (indigenous.landfood.ubc.ca). Bernadette Spence, CEO of the Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, who has also guided Acsenda in its support of Indigenous reconciliation, was instrumental in creating this important project for Indigenous youth in Vancouver. In 2022, the Indigenous Garden was one of only 100 gardens inducted into Canada’s Garden Hall of Fame, highlighting its national significance (Indigenous Portal).
The Indigenous Garden allows learners to examine how Indigenous land-based wellness informs health, and it creates space for ethical dialogue and ways to support Indigenous traditions (livinglabs.ubc.ca). In all, xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden is a dynamic, culturally anchored space where Indigenous pedagogies, medicinal plants, and intergenerational learning converge. It fosters awareness of Indigenous practice and promotes wellness, research, and food sovereignty in our community
For Acsenda students, this field trip was more than an educational visit—it was a meaningful cultural immersion that fostered empathy, critical reflection, and a deeper respect for the Indigenous communities whose traditions enrich the land we learn on.
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