After 16 years in the same building, the Native Friendship Centre of Val d’Or is finally getting a new home.
The centre’s new building was publicly launched at a $125-a-plate fundraising banquet attended by 300 people on June 22. The banquet was also held to celebrate the Val d’Or centre’s 20th birthday. When it was created by a small group of Algonquins in 1974, the centre had just three staff. Now it has 12 permanent employees and 15 others working on contract.
Janet Mark, the Friendship Centre’s director of operations, was just eight when the centre first opened. She says it provides an important service to Val d’Or’s First Nations community, which numbers 300 to 400 people, and to natives from across Canada who are just passing through. “Val d’Or is a place where you have Algonquins all around and Crees travelling here. With the Native Friendship Centre, they can always come here and there’s always someone who can help them,” said Janet, who is from Mistissini.
She says the centre represents native concerns on many local and regional boards, including the welfare office, government training and job-development committees, and the youth protection office. After a year at the centre, Janet, 28, will be leaving soon to take a job as principal at the school in Ouje-Bougoumou.
The centre’s current building has room for up to 11 people to sleep over. The new building will have room for up to 29, and will have a new boutique selling native arts and crafts. Since there is no Algonquin store in Val d’Or and the Cree-owned Wachiya store recently closed its doors, the centre’s boutique will be the biggest seller of First Nations arts in the city, said Janet. The new $1.7-million building will also have a bigger dining area and a new drop-in centre where people can hang out. Construction will start this fall. In addition to moving, the centre is also getting ready to offer a course in Algonquin.
For more info call the centre at 819-825-6857.
