LPS celebrates first harvest from the medicine garden

By Lethbridge Herald on October 8, 2025.

Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Lethbridge Police Service offers smudging kits to provide peace to those in the midst of crisis and decided to take it a step further by planting, cultivating and harvesting their own traditional Blackfoot medicines and herbs such as sage, sweet grass, mint and tobacco.

Cat Pooley, manager of Victim Services, believes LPS is the first police service to grow its own traditional herbs and says the idea came from Les Vonkemen, a retired police officer who thought it would be a more sustainable option.

She adds it’s not just more sustainable, it’s an opportunity for the police service to put reconciliation into action.

“What we loved about it was the opportunity to put some of our own intention into the medicines itself,” said Pooley. “We’re not just buying something and reducing a sacred object to a transactional object; we put our work into it.”

Trissly Blackwater, community engagement support worker for LPS, says it was an honour to have the opportunity to teach the members of LPS about the significance these plants have for Blackfoot people.

“It means a lot to me to bring these teaching to the Lethbridge Police Service and to service some of the members of why we use them.”

Plants such as sweetgrass and sage are often used as smudging, a sacred ritual in many Indigenous cultures which provides protection and healing.

The tobacco plant is used as an offering to elders for guidance, as well as to give thanks when harvesting plants.

Since July, the departments have taken turns tending to the garden boxes located on the rooftop of the police station. Pooley says she was born away by the number of people who stepped forward to participate.

“They really showed up beautifully and I think it’s just an example of the commitment our service is making to getting it right into looking at those Calls to Action and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and figuring out how we can invest our time and our into it.”

This year’s harvest will help meet the needs for the upcoming year. Come spring, LPS will replant more medicines to harvest next fall.