A Rocha’s Boreal Ecology Centre (BEC) resides in Treaty 3 territory, where Anishinaabe people have lived for time immemorial.  

The community of East Braintree, where the BEC is located, is situated near an old trade route used first by Indigenous people and later developed by The Dominion of Canada. In 1905 the area was surveyed using the riverlot system, and the  riverlot farm on which the BEC is located was registered to a John Madzur in 1914.

In 1974 the old Madzur farm site was purchased by Walter and Elenor Loewen.  Walter and Elenor used the site as a weekend getaway, but quickly realized that the property was too wonderful to keep to themselves.  After exploring a number of different partnerships and possibilities the Loewens donated the site to A Rocha Canada in 2020.  

We look forward to establishing a learning, research, and retreat centre over the coming years. At the Boreal Ecology Centre, we are preserving habitats and motivating people of all ages as they experience the warmth and wildness of God. This beautiful place offers a unique combination of sensitive yet accessible wildlife habitat that makes it more than a showpiece; it is a critical part of connecting people and places.

Commons: The Boreal Ecology Centre is a shared space for both non-human and human community. By walking through and experiencing this place, you gain a sense of the interrelatedness of all things and a framework for abundant living for all creation.

Table: The Boreal Ecology Centre is a place of belonging and transformation. Through the sharing of meals, work together, and conversation you discover gratitude, patience, and the practise of sharing life.

Hearth: The Boreal Ecology Centre invites you to linger in the warmth, wonder and wildness of God and creation. Here you are welcome to pause, to reflect, and to share.