A beautiful logo for the Whitecourt Indigenous Friends Society

Thanks to a recently held contest, the Whitecourt Indigenous Friends Society has a brand new logo. “It all stemmed from when I was signing thank you letters following the society’s Orange Shirt Day event and felt that we needed a logo. I brought it up at the next board meeting, and one of us came up with the idea to make it into a contest. We were going to open the contest up for everybody, but then someone suggested we make it just for the youth, to get them more involved,” explained society President Faye Myshyniuk.

She said they sent the invite to participate in the contest to area schools, and Hilltop High School responded. On Wednesday, February 9, Myshyniuk, Executive Director Nichole Brown, Board Director Jody Smith-Tomke, and the society’s Youth Representative Maddie von Stein presented the winners with certificates.

Student Ashley Brown created the winning logo. “I liked it because they are shaking hands, and you can see the difference in skin colour, and to me, that is for friendship and partnerships and collaboration. To get this friendship centre off the ground, we need those friendships and partnerships, and we need everybody to work together so that one stood out for me. It also included the medicine wheel in the background of the shaking hands, which was a nice touch,” explained Myshyniuk.

Another of the creations in the contest showed a similar design, with hands shaking, which Myshyniuk said stood out for the same reasons. She said that it had a nature-inspired setting as the background of the shaking hands, which featured trees and water. The circle was a dreamcatcher with feathers hanging down below. “We all voted, and then our elder, Everett Wolftail, made the final decision and his son, Everett Wolftail Jr. donated $100 for the first prize winner, Ashley Brown.”

Myshyniuk said the society is excited to start using the logo. “It’s nice to have and is more professional too, so we look forward to using it for different things. When we finally build our friendship centre, we will likely keep this logo and just change the wording,” she added. They also look to have apparel to purchase at some point in the future to help raise money.

Their ultimate goal is to open up space locally. “It’s important for us to be known so that we can encourage donations to the society. Alexander Safety has provided us with their boardroom anytime, and they also donated some office space for us to use up at their shop. That was huge. We can have our board meetings and committee meetings there and any small workshops,” said Myshyniuk. “At some point in the future, we are going to need space, a centre, where we can eventually start with programming and services. That will come further down the road.”

She said the society hopes to collaborate with Whitecourt and Woodlands County for future events like Indigenous People’s Day. She said that once they become registered as a charitable society, at the one-year mark (September), they will be able to give out tax receipts. “We are focusing on the Indigenous community to offer them services, help and bring back culture. There is really no culture around here. We want to have a place for people, which doesn’t have to only be Indigenous people either, to offer workshops to help with healing and to smudge and have roundhouses. It will be a place for people to meet and create new friendships and to access any services and programs that we will eventually be offering.”

Myshyniuk said seeing their logo on their Facebook page is wonderful and encourages people to message the page if they have any questions or want to donate towards their goals. They also share free supports often. She added that they were hoping to offer a Talking Stick Workshop and applied for a grant through the Town of Whitecourt. “It allows men to learn more about inter-generational trauma and the impacts of that and to help them learn through culture and ceremony so they can be more productive members of their families and community and heal. There really isn’t that much out there for men, especially Indigenous men. I think they would feel more comfortable if it came from an Indigenous elder that can teach all of this to them.” Myshyniuk said they would update their page (Whitecourt Indigenous Friends Society) once they get word on the grant.

“My dreams for the programs and services we will be offering one day are so huge. My son is a youth representative for the Red Deer Friendship Centre, and that’s where I get a lot of ideas. Red Deer’s a city, but all the programs and services they offer are what I want for Whitecourt. We all do as a board. That’s what we want. We want to see this grow, and we want the Indigenous community to get their culture back and celebrate it.”

Keeping the youth engaged, just like they did through the logo contest, will continue to be a focus for the society. “We have a youth representative already, and we want to keep planning things to engage the youth. We will have a Bannock station at Family Day at Rotary Park (February 21). Our Vice-Chair and her mom will teach how to cook Bannock over an open fire. I’m really looking forward to that,” said Myshyniuk.