40 years and counting for a leader in the city

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It may have just begun as a place where a guy could get out of the cold, warm up with a cup of coffee and a friendly chat and get some information on what was happening around the city, but it became much more than that. Much, much more.

This year the Canadian Native Friendship Centre celebrates 40 years of important service to the city of Edmonton and its people. During that 40 years, the centre has spawned some of the most valuable Aboriginal programming the province of Alberta has ever seen, sparked the beginnings of impressive and important political movements, and helped improve the way Aboriginal people are able to operate in an urban environment. Not bad for an organization that has barely reached middle age.

The forerunner of the Canadian Native Friendship Centre was the Canadian Native Society, which was formed in 1960. The first meeting took place at the home of Mrs. J.D. Sturrock, a society founder. The first executive and board of the society was comprised of Eddie Bellerose, chairman, William Thomas, secretary, and directors James, A. Ducharme, Daphne Ducharme, Don Sneddon, Mariella Sneddon, William Thomas and Alice Viviere.

The role of the society was to help ease the transition faced by Aboriginal people who were leaving the rural areas and flocking to the city to find work and in search of a better way of life for their families.

The group soon decided that if they were going to be an effective presence in the city, a place where people could meet and take part in society-run activities would have to be found.

They acquired a two-storey house to rent at 10218-108th St., and this would be the home of the Canadian Native Friendship Centre, a new name beginning in 1962, for the next 10 years.

The first director of the friendship centre was Phil Thompson from Assumption, Alta. He soon learned that without money to operate, the centre was doomed to failure. Hobbema and Enoch lent their support, and soon the city and province came on board as well.

In its first year of operation, about 18,000 people visited the centre. It offered some limited programming, including help with court proceedings (with offences often stemming from the city's vagrancy laws). As well, Eddie Bellecourt and volunteer Stan Shank offered counselling in an Alcoholics Anonymous program. Within a year, a Native version of AA was being offered. Called Tawow, the group became the predecessor of the current Nechi and Poundmaker programs found in the city.

"The friendship centre served a real purpose. I don't think people give the friendship centre movement enough credit," said Chester Cunningham.

Cunningham had been hired on at the centre in 1964 as program director. He became a court worker in the court worker program and in 1966 became the centre's executive director.

"I was hired on as program director and I just about quit after the first week, because when I went in and met with the executive director and some of the personnel committee, I said, 'What programs do I direct?' And they said you have to find them. And I turned around and I said, "OK, if I find the programs, where's the money coming from to operate them?' 'Well,' they said 'you have to find that too.'"

But Cunningham didn't quit. He rolled up his sleeves and set out on the fundraising trail, and found real support for the friendship centre in the community.

He worked to enhance the programs that were already in place, and set up others in response to the needs of the people coming into the city.

And there was always need. Families would arrive by the carload, said Cunningham, with no money, no job, no place to stay. Only with hope that the friendship centre could help them out.

"There was a real movement at that time for the Aboriginal people to move into the city. I felt sorry for some of the families, whose youngsters had come in with them, and ended up, the only place they were accepted was down on the drag and they'd get into trouble."

The centre became a catalyst for a great number of programs, including Native Counselling Services, a program spun off out of the centre's court worker program by Cunningham in the 1970s when it became apparent that there was a need for this work outside of the Edmonton city limits. Native Outreach, the Alberta Native Communications Society, the Indian Association of Alberta, the Metis Nation of Alberta, and other organizations all got either their start or help in their development at the centre.

The Canadian Native Friendship Centre had become a hive of activity with staff and volunteers working diligently to satisfy the social and practical needs of Edmonton's Aboriginal population.

The centre grew in popularity and with that popularity came a need for a bigger space. In 1969, the centre purchased the Robertson Wesley United Church at 117 St. and 102 Ave. and soon became more than the sum of its services.

It was a place where Aboriginal people could socialize over card games and checkers. Out of that atmosphere grew a wide variety of sports and recreational activities that the centre began to offer. English and Cree lessons were taught. Sewing groups met during the day. Traditional Indian and Metis dances were taught at night. Talent contests and sober dances were held.

A favorite activity of Ralph Bouvette, a long-time member, volunteer and supporter of the friendship centre, (he was president in 1979-1980 and was on the board of trustees for a whole bunch of years) was the boxing cards that were held there.

Bouvette said common sense and a desire to give something back to the community got him involved with the centre.

He said the volunteers would put in long hours and the staff would be at the centre long after their shifts ended. He has fond memories of a bunch of people that kept the centre humming, including Gordon Russell, Clarence Fiddler and Georgina Donald.

The Alberta Native Festival of Music and Dance began in 1963 and held contests each yea in fiddling, jiggling, and singing. The event was so popular, in fact, that larger facilities were sought out to house it.

Under the direction of recreation director Gordon Russell in the 1970s, the friendship centre's sports programs took shape. Volleyball, basketball, and floor hockey were played in the gymnasium. Softball teams were organized, including the Native Daughters, which captured the National Indian Athletic Association softball championship in 1981, 1982 and 1985.

Also operating out of the centre, and headed up by Hobbema's Willie Littlechild, was the Indian Sports Olympics (INSPOL), which initiated a wide range of activities.

The Canadian Native Friendship Centre sold the building in the late 1980s and the centre's activities were run out a variety of rented spaces in the city. The big move came when the friendship centre purchased its current space at 11205-101 St.

More on that next month in Alberta Sweetgrass.