As the national friendship centre movement expands to support Canada’s growing urban Indigenous population, the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) is facing funding uncertainty that risks cutbacks to vital community services.
“We’re trying to show what friendship centres are contributing,” said new NAFC CEO Jennifer Rankin. “It’s repositioning ourselves as an economic partner by telling how many jobs we’re creating, infrastructure projects we’re involved in, the emergency response we’re providing.”
While the NAFC requested $65 million annually in long-term funding, the federal government has indicated that funding will be less than half of previous years, when it reached over $70 million. Core funding provided through the Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples (UPIP) program since 2017 is expiring after the March 31 fiscal year-end and moving to a new streamlined distribution model.
“We’re committed to the sustainability of these important organizations, which is why $27.5 million in ongoing funding for friendship centres is already guaranteed, and why friendship centres are now eligible for funding under the Local Food Infrastructure Fund for northern communities,” Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty told the Nation.
There are more than a million Indigenous people now living in urban areas, served by over 100 friendship centres across the country. Besides providing “wraparound supports” ranging from housing and shelter to childcare, transportation, adult learning, job training and much more, the centres are increasingly called upon during emergencies.
“With growing climate change pressures, we’ve stepped into emergency management more and more,” said Rankin. “We’ve stepped up when there were fires in British Columbia and when there have been floods to offer shelter and places of support for evacuees.”
In January, volunteers from Kingston’s friendship centre led cultural programming and other services for 200 evacuees from Kashechewan First Nation. As the country’s demographics evolve, some centres report a 30% jump in recent immigrants accessing their inclusive services while discovering Indigenous culture.
Over the past decade, UPIP funding enabled the NAFC to triple its staff, establish new centres and share knowledge at gatherings like December’s Urban Indigenous Summit in Ottawa. Quebec’s network expanded to Gatineau, Trois-Rivières and Baie-Comeau.
“Friendship centres do a unique job in providing a community structure,” said NAFC president Pam Glode-Desrochers. “It would cost billions of dollars to duplicate this social infrastructure. Certainly, the growth that Canada is looking to do around the economy can’t be done without us.”
Glode-Desrochers said that most centres experienced rapid growth since the Covid pandemic, when many were deemed essential services – providing food, housing and shelter support. While the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax that Glode-Desrochers manages recently had its entire budget slashed by the Nova Scotia government, Quebec’s friendship centre funding reflects a growing recognition of their contributions.
After securing substantial federal and provincial funding, the Val-d’Or Indigenous Friendship Centre is developing nearly $90 million worth of infrastructure projects. The inauguration of its expanded facility is planned for March 2027.
“We’re still in a hyperactive development of services even after 50 years,” said executive director Édith Cloutier. “It’s been an exciting time, meeting a true need for the Indigenous community.”
In a 10-year agreement with the Cree Health Board, the three upper floors of a new five-story pavilion constructed adjacent to its current building will include 48 rooms along with collective spaces reserved specifically for Cree patients and their caregivers.
The centre’s Minowé health clinic will move into a dedicated space on the pavilion’s second floor. Minowé has become a model for urban Indigenous healthcare, with similar clinics opening in other cities – more than doubling Indigenous clientele throughout Quebec since 2021.
Cloutier and other women involved with the centre were instrumental in instigating the Viens Commission, which highlighted systemic racism in the province’s public services and demonstrated the impact of culturally safe alternatives. When Quebec’s Superior Court upheld that report’s integrity last year, Cloutier affirmed that “the Centre has established itself as a key political and social player, engaged at the heart of the struggle for justice and dignity.”
Beyond the clinic, the friendship centre plans to promote land-based healing at a former Scouts Canada camp it owns on Lac Lemoine, about 15 km outside town. In the last year, there have been consultations with Elders, knowledge carriers, youth and families to structure diverse cultural, healing and reconciliation programming.
On July 1, the Anwatan-Miguam social housing project will open 22 transitional units for local Indigenous people struggling to secure housing stability. Cloutier said these units can support people coming out of detention or youth protection and women coming out of violent relationships or prostitution.
“Getting funding together to build infrastructure isn’t the hardest part,” Cloutier asserted. “The challenge is to remain relevant for our people. Getting services up and running, training our people and making sure we provide cultural connection.”
With construction creating 30 new jobs, the friendship centre will expand its employment program to train Indigenous people for careers in the hospitality industry. Their social entrepreneurship philosophy reinvests revenues into services, job creation and other capacity development.
“We provide a skills-development program for young Indigenous adults to participate in the economy by developing their own skills, self-esteem, reconnection to their identity and culture,” said Cloutier. “Then we bring them to visit mines, mills, businesses where they can see themselves. They can participate in internships at various places we have partnerships.”
The centre has investments from several sources, but federal funding forms the backbone of its budget. Cloutier quoted a study stating that, for every dollar received from the federal government, friendship centres can multiply it by nine by leveraging provincial funding, foundations, philanthropy or social economy initiatives.
With all levels of government constantly changing, friendship centres must continue making presentations and inviting politicians to better understand Indigenous realities.
“With any government, we’re always walking on eggshells,” said Cloutier. “Priorities change and we need to redo all our lobbying. We can never let our guard down, thinking that everybody understands what friendship centres do.”