A Friendship Centre for Whitecourt is that much closer to reality thanks to a new Whitecourtian

On Friday, August 20, roughly 70 people came together at Rotary Park to celebrate the beginnings of a project. “This has been a dream of mine for a long time. I’ve just procrastinated about it and never did anything about it,” explained Faye Myshyniuk. She said everything changed when she met Nichole Brown.

Brown moved to Whitecourt in March of last year, having moved from Edmonton, and said she noticed quickly that resources for Indigenous people were hard to find. “In Edmonton, there were organizations that I was able to access any day. I could talk to an elder, attend a ceremony or a smudge, and as soon as I got here, I noticed there was nothing.”

Knowing how important it is to have supports in place, Brown immediately got to work to figure out how she could be the difference and bring a Friendship Centre to town. “It’s important to have a place for the Indigenous community to come together and share cultures and traditions. It’s a way for someone to feel connected to their community, to themselves and to have that spirituality. It will help the community thrive in the future.”

Her first steps included reaching out to her Indigenous community. “I was in search of elders. With the recovery of the graves, more awareness and more funds are being announced. I think right now is a perfect time to bring this project forward,” smiled Brown. Fay Arcand, her contact at the Town of Whitecourt, said the project is exciting. “The Town of Whitecourt is always willing and able to help with these initiatives, and I am part of the Steering Committee to do anything the Town can do to get it off the ground.”

Arcand said that as a parent of Metis children, the project is also special to her personally. “As an individual myself, apart from the Town of Whitecourt, I’m excited. It’ll be nice to have this connection for our family and the greater good of the community, to see Indigenous cultures blooming here for all the youth to come to see and learn.”

With Arcand’s help, Brown met others who felt like she did, including Michelle Jones at Community Futures Yellowhead East, who joins Arcand on the Friendship Centre’s Steering Committee. “Nichole came to me to develop a business plan around the idea of starting a Friendship Centre. I, too, like Fay, have recognized the need for this in our community for many years.” Jones said she was involved with a committee a year and a half ago that wanted to work with the Indigenous community and raise awareness of the culture. “When Nichole came forward, it was just the perfect opportunity to include the town and ourselves in, and ever since, Nichole has just been running with it, and here we are today.”

Friendship Centres are non-profit organizations that provide various services to Indigenous members, such as cultural programming, health-related services, and spiritual guidance. Centres offer Indigenous people a safe, inclusive space to talk about any issues that affect them and receive support for those who understand what they are dealing with, which is especially important for youths.

Steering Committee member Velma Rae, with Mental Health through Alberta Health Services, said she would be bridging available resources. “Accessing mental health resources and making it more accessible to those who are used to a lot of stigmas approaching mental health will be my role.”

The project is near and dear for Ken Galliot, who works with youths as Student Services Advisor at Ecole St. Joseph School. “Working in the school system, we don’t have too many individuals that we can reach out to, so it’s hard to build that connection. With a Friendship Centre, there’s a central location that will provide those resources when needed. I think it’s a really good thing that’s happening.” Galliot is also an elder and said that having someone like Brown step up to spearhead the project is remarkable, especially given her recent move. “This will provide a lot of access to different opportunities for our Indigenous community members but also our non-Indigenous members too.”

Friday’s pipe ceremony and feast was something Brown wanted to put together to celebrate the creation of the Steering Committee. “This is to honour the start of a friendship. I wanted to have this for them to thank them for stepping up. The pipe ceremony is for the community, too, because there are prayers that need to be sent. It’s a very good day.”

For Rae, Galliot, Jones, Arcand, Myshyniuk, Everett Wolftail Sr., and Brown, the members of the Steering Committee, their next step is to develop the society so they can get into fundraising and grant applications. “It is very grassroots right now. The Steering Committee has to create bylaws and policies and then find a location where they can start gathering and doing programming,” explained Jones.

Myshyniuk said that Whitecourt’s Friendship Centre would help bring out more Indigenous members of the community. “I think it makes Indigenous people more comfortable to go somewhere where they have Indigenous people supporting them. Some people might be too shy or maybe too timid. I’m beyond excited for this project.”

At the centre of it all, Brown said she is excited to see what the future brings. “This will make more leadership for our youth. With the education of residential schools and the intention of what it came to do to Canada and what it did to our culture and our people, the youth will help future generations. They can help the elders too,” spoke Brown. Thanks to her dedication and drive, Brown is that much closer to making her dream a reality.