Celebrations held as friendship centre turns 35

For 35 years the Yorkton Friendship Centre has given Aboriginal people in the city a place to find friends and be part of a community. During that time span, it's attracted families and drawn leaders from at least three generations.

The Centre marked its birthday with a supper Friday night, Sept. 8, attended by Yorkton Mayor Phil DeVos and staff from a number of local Aboriginal organizations. The supper tables were filled with 86 honored guests and centre regulars who were all there to celebrate and be celebrated.
Following the meal, gifts were presented to Elders and a talent show was held in which all ages participated. The evening's celebrations wrapped up with a sober dance, which was again a family affair.

The festivities continued on Saturday, Sept. 9 and Sunday, Sept. 10 with a number of family events including slo-pitch at the York Lake Regional Park ball diamonds, three-on-three basketball at Dr. Brass school, horseshoe tossing at another park and bingo at the friendship centre.

The concept of friendship centres originated in the mid-1950s when a noticeable number of Aboriginal people were moving to the larger urban areas of Canada, primarily to seek an improved quality of life. To address the needs expressed by their communities, individuals began to push for the establishment of specialized agencies to provide these newcomers with referrals and offer counselling on matters of employment, housing, education and health and to liaison with other community organizations. Eventually, the centres began to evolve from the provision of referrals to the front line delivery of social services.

Until 1972, friendship centres were dependent, to a large degree, on individual volunteers and their ability to raise operating funds through various fundraising events, private donations and small grants from foundations and provincial and federal governments. That year the Canadian government formally recognized the viability of friendship centres and implemented the Migrating Native Peoples Program (MNPP). In 1983 the National Association of Friendship Centres and the department of the Secretary of State successfully negotiated the evolution of the MNPP to an enriched Native Friendship Centre Program. In 1988, the program morphed again, becoming the Aboriginal Friendship Centres Program, which secured permanent funding from the federal government.

The Yorkton Friendship Centre opened its doors in 1971 at 108 Myrtle St. and then moved to its current location at 139 Dominion Ave.

George Cote, a former president, said he began coming to the centre 20 years ago when his family moved to Yorkton from Cote First Nation.

"This is where I met people. It made a difference for me," he said.

His years as president of the centre involved some fighting and a lot of negotiations, he said. "We had programs coming in. We had programs lost. It's just that the dollars were cut back."

A current board member, Ivan Cote, also moved from Cote First Nation to Yorkton with his family. That was 32 years ago when he was 13. Illness brought the family here and it was quite a change from reserve life, he said.

"It's interesting when you're a kid. It's just a bigger place."

People moving from First Nation communities to Yorkton needed something to replace extended family on the reserve. They became regulars at the drop-in centre, Ivan Cote explained.

"It was the only place for Aboriginal people to hang around then. We used to play pool, play hockey. There was also boxing and dances." Ivan Cote has been on the board for years now. "I've always been here. I'm glad to see it's still around," he said.

Yvonne Pelletier is the current secretary-treasurer and is the second generation of her family to sit on the board. It's her tenth year of greater involvement with the friendship centre, third year on the board and first year in this position.

"My family's always been involved. My mom and dad were members. I was involved with it ever since I was a kid, like going to dances, Halloween parties, all that kind of stuff. Working with the board is great. It's helping my community," she said.

Pelletier said the centre currently runs a youth program, a family worker program and the fine option program through which those who are fined in the courts may work as payment for their fines.

Twenty-seven-year-old Rodney Brass, the friendship centre's current vice-president, grew up at the centre and is a third generation board member.

"I came here for summer camps and the after school program," he said. "Then as a teenager it was boxing."

The centre has been important to him, he said. "It's a really good thing."