Aboriginal Food and Coffee Are Reshaping One of Montreal's Roughest Parks

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Aboriginal Food and Coffee Are Reshaping One of Montreal's Roughest Parks

The Roundhouse Café is focusing on hiring aboriginal employees and becoming a beacon for the park’s disproportionately high homeless aboriginal population.

"I used to be scared to come here. It was pretty rough, but it's a lot better now."

Shirley Dewind is an Ojibwe originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She works at the Roundhouse Cafe, a small coffee shop serving aboriginal fare in Cabot Square, a notoriously tough park in downtown Montreal.

"I applied at the Native Friendship Center and I ended up getting the job. I love working here, it's fun. I like serving coffee," she says.

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Shirley Dewind and Al Harrington. All photos by Nick Rose.L'Itinéraire

The Roundhouse Café has been open for just over a month and is focusing on hiring aboriginal employees like Shirley and serving as a kind of beacon for the park's disproportionately high homeless aboriginal population.

But Roundhouse also has broader goals. "The concept behind the name 'Roundhouse' is a gathering place," cafe manager Al Harrington says. "In the Ojibwe and the majority of the First Nations, we have a place of gathering like a round house or a long house. I'm Ojibwe from Northwestern Ontario and back in my territory, it's where we welcome everyone and everyone is equal."

The cafe is the result of a collaboration between the Cabot Square Project, the city of Montreal, and , a local magazine that highlights and employs the city's homeless population.

Harrington says that serving traditional aboriginal food was a no-brainer. "Food brings people together. At first, we thought about doing salad and sandwiches, but everyone does that. I started pushing towards a more First Nations cuisine and people are starting to like that because it's different and there's nothing like that around."

For the time being, the main offerings are coffee and scone dogs. A scone dog is a hot dog wiener wrapped in bannock—a traditional native bread. It's quick and affordable, but also reflects First Nations culinary history.

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Scone Dog and Coffee

"A lot of people enjoy the bannock here, it's a traditional First Nations bread. We got it from when the Europeans came here and gave us flour, and we integrated into our food. Our secret ingredient is maple syrup in the bread. At first, we used sugar before but maple syrup is more natural," Harrington says.

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But in a slight break with tradition, it's also baked instead of fried. "Diabetes is still on the rise in First Nations. And that's because of our diet, which has changed so much in the last 30 years—a lot of fast food. And we wanted something that a little more health conscious."

While I was eating my scone dog, Al tells me that I should speak to a woman named Cheryl who had just contributed to the cafe's "Pay it forward" program, which allows customers to leave extra cash so that those in need can eat or have coffee at the café. Cheryl used to live in the park.

"From 1990 to 1993, I was a street kid. And this park was kind of was a hub for us and we mixed in with the Native community at that time. They used to call it 'Drunk Park' or 'Pigeon Park.' It was mostly Native and Inuit and a few street kids like myself kind of mixed in. It was dirty, it was scary, it was hard to walk through. We were getting drunk, getting stoned in the park, but it was also still kind of a haven for us."

Cheryl has long since gotten off the streets but the park remains important to her and a safe haven for many aboriginal people in the city.

"When they closed Cabot Square for renovations last year, we thought they were going to gentrify the aboriginal population out of the park. But after I saw the Roundhouse project, I was clear that they are honoring the space and that they're turning it around in their own way. It educates and employs people. I love it. They're going to be the example and they're going to be the change."

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Moments later, a visibly drunk aboriginal woman walks into the Roundhouse to make a quick phone call. Rather than get yelled at, she is offered coffee and water. Shirley Dewind says it's not uncommon for local homeless people to stop in if they need something.

"Sometimes they come here, we give them water, they can use the phone, and we can give them coffee with the Pay it Forward program. It's just to help out, to sober up. If you're waking up with a hangover, you're going to need a really good coffee."

And the coffee is really good. It's bitter and aromatic and roasted on the Kanesatake Indian Reserve by a company called Moccasin Jo's which made it a natural fit for Roundhouse. "Moccasin Jo's coffee is from Kanesatake. We want it to have that First Nations feel to it. People like it because it's not one of those huge distributors," Harrington says.

Roundhouse is also hoping to extend its menu beyond coffee and scone dogs. "We're hoping to do Three Sisters Soup, which is a traditional First Nations stew with squash, beans and potatoes. We'd also like to do deer sausage, moose, and wild game. People are starting to come here and becoming regulars and they want to try different things."

Food aside, Harrington says that working at the cafe is a chance not only to set an example, but to really impact his community. "At one time in my life, I almost hit rock bottom but people around me gave me the benefit of the doubt, helped me as much as they could, and that turned my life right around."

Thanks to her job at Roundhouse, Shirley has been able to save up enough money to travel back home to Winnipeg.

"I just like serving coffee and making people happy. And they can come back and appreciate my happiness."