By: Danielle Dufour
Freelance Journalist
Benita Moccasin, the executive director of the North West Friendship Centre in Meadow Lake, explains how the friendship centre supports the community.
“The friendship centre is basically a community-based Indigenous organization mainly for urban Indigenous people in the urban area,” said Moccasin.
The centre is a gathering place where Indigenous people can come and learn about their language, their culture, and their traditions while sharing with others.
“We support First Nations, Inuit, Metis people,” said Moccasin. “We provide them with culturally safe services, like mental health and wellness support, youth and elder programs, employment and skills training, referrals to housing and health services.”
Some of the yearly events for the centre include Orange Shirt Day and celebrating Indigenous Day.
On February 7th they will be having their fourth annual community healthy relations round dance.
The day will start out with a traditional feast followed by the round dance.
“It’s for the entire community, so we always encourage people to come out and learn,” said Moccasin.
The centre recognizes youth for their accomplishments throughout the year and has given them star blankets.
They will be hosting their fourth annual Pathway to Wellness conference, where they will have speakers sharing personal life journey testimonies.
This year they are focusing on family, violence, and abuse programs by providing hope, connection, and resilience to the community.
The centre is trying to get a better understanding of the needs of the community by working and navigating through systems of healthcare and education.
“We have a king and queen trapper event coming up this year,” said Moccasin. “It’s king, queen, junior, and senior, so trying to focus on the youth a little bit more and get them involved because the youth are our future generation of our future leaders.”
Roughly 30 people come into the centre daily.
The North West Friendship Centre aims to be a support and community hub for all walks of life in Meadow Lake.