New Conayt program opens to help youth

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The community celebrated as the newest Conayt Friendship Society-backed initiative, a centre that will provide services to First Nations youth, opened its doors in downtown Merritt.

The Spirit of the Youth centre will provide programs for young people looking to improve their education, looking for work, or looking to just play a game of pool and get together with one another, explained Conayt director, Dennis Francis.

"Our vision was to provide a place for youth in Merritt to get together, controlled by youth, a safe place," Francis told a collection of young people, Elders and representatives of First Nations and government gathered for the opening. "It's a place where youth can learn about their culture, seek support from our Elders, get information, or just have a meal with one another."

The site has been renovated and the program designed through the efforts of Conayt and the Aboriginal Youth Council, a group of young people working to provide services to their peers, Francis said.

Planning for the program began three years ago when the federal government made a commitment to provide financial assistance to urban First Nations people. Education, labor force participation, substance abuse and single-parent families were targeted, Francis recalled. Two years ago, the Conayt Friendship Society made an application for funding under that program and was turned down, so they improved the proposal, reapplied a year later and received the money they needed to succeed.

Involvement of the youth council was key in getting the program off the ground, said administrator Elmer Starr.

"The youth have great ideas for what to do here. This is their vision as well as that of the board of directors," he said. "The youth are our future. We all need to work to ensure that they can take on that big burden."

Starr will work with employment counsellor Bev Stacey and youth worker Dave Madore at the centre, and local Elders will likely spend time in the centre as well, working with the young people from age 14 to 24.

"Our youth need help, as all youth do, and we have Elders who have expressed their desire to help," said Conayt President Peter Hourie. "With those two groups getting involved here, I think we're on to a good thing."

"Three years ago, we first talked about having a youth centre to help urban youth," said Krisalena Antoine, one of the young people who helped get the centre off the ground. "Today is a good day for me and for my people. It's overwhelming that we got it this far."