Financed by Major Community Grant

Indigenous Mural is Four Years Old

Our Indigenous mural along the back fence is a garden emblem nearly as iconic as the giant cedars towering over the shed.

Though now embedded in the garden’s visual palette, the mural is actually a recent addition, created only four years ago by artist Ts’xweyeqw of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

Also known as Ocean Hyland and Ocean Moon, Ts’xweyeqw is a great-granddaughter of North Vancouver’s Chief Dan George, an Oscar nominee and one of Canada’s most beloved 20th century actors.

The mural’s 2021 creation was organized during the dog days of Covid-19 by the garden’s Indigenous Art Mural Project.

The venture was funded by the Vancouver Park Board’s neighborhood grants program, with matching non-monetary contributions from garden members, including project management, oversight, administration, liaison and much more.

“The project exceeded our expectations,” organizers wrote on the grants program website. “The mural is stunning and has added beauty to the garden and is reflective of its location on traditional Tsleil-Waututh territory.”

The mural project was one of several Wall Street Community Garden initiatives supported by public grants over the years.

Other garden projects financed by grants include 2021’s Boulevard Garden Project, supported by the city’s urban agriculture upgrades grant, and the Circle of Eagles partnership to expand Indigenous access to the garden.

And without public funding, Wall Street Community Garden itself would never have achieved lift-off.

In our early beginnings in 1999, site construction in Cambridge Park was supported by the Wall Street Healthy Community Project and a major grant from VanCity Credit Union as well as smaller grants from other community agencies.

In 2025, we continue our tradition of organizing projects to enhance both the garden itself and our Forgotten Triangle community.

Currently the garden board is drawing up plans to finance, via grants, long-needed repairs to the fence, compost area and irrigation system.

In addition, talks are underway to develop a major project in support of our vision to enhance non-member gardening and provide free produce to low-income neighbors. The project would also improve our children’s play area, making it safer and more accessible.

Meanwhile, the board has already completed one of its main 2025 goals—weatherproofing the Indigenous mural to protect it from Vancouver’s cool and rainy winters.