National Association of Friendship Centres : The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) is a network of 117 Friendship Centres and seven Provincial/Territorial Associations (PTA's) nationwide that provide culturally enhanced programs and services to urban Aboriginal people. Aboriginal Friendship Centres are Canada's most significant off-reserve urban based Aboriginal infrastructures.
Aboriginal Friendship Centres have over fifty years of experience providing essential services to First Nations, Métis and Inuit people living in urban and surrounding areas. As the number of Aboriginal people moving into larger urban areas increased in the mid-1950s, Aboriginal agencies emerged out of a clear need for specialized services to aid Aboriginal newcomers to the city. These agencies would provide recommendations and counselling on matters of employment, housing, education, health and liaison with other community organizations.
In the late sixties, Friendship Centres began to organize into Provincial/Territorial Association's (PTA's) and a steering committee of Friendship Centres was formed in 1969 to examine the feasibility of establishing a national body to represent the growing number of Friendship Centres. The NAFC was officially established in 1972 when the Government of Canada formally recognized the viability of Friendship Centres and implemented the Migrating Native Peoples Program (MNPP).
In 1983, the NAFC and the Department of the Secretary of State (DSOS) successfully negotiated the evolution of the MNPP to an enriched Native Friendship Centre Program (NFCP). With a five year mandate, this program formally recognized "Friendship Centres as legitimate urban Native institutions responding to the needs of Native people." In 1988, the NFCP became the Aboriginal Friendship Centres Program (AFCP), which secured the status of permanent funding from DSOS.
The funding relationship fundamentally changed in 1996, when the administrative responsibility for the AFCP was transferred from the Department of Canadian Heritage to the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC). This new agreement meant that all operational funding for the AFCP would be administered by the NAFC to the local Friendship Centres and the PTAs.
The NAFC has been heavily involved in both lobbying and administering federal government program funding for urban Aboriginal programs such as: the Aboriginal Friendship Centre Program (formerly the Native Friendship Centre Program); the Aboriginal Urban Youth Summer Outreach Program; the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centres Initiative; and the Aboriginal Urban Initiative. The NAFC also participated in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) consultations, advocating for urban Aboriginal issues, through recommendations for increases in federal government funding, devolution of federal programs to the NAFC and other urban Aboriginal groups, and the development of a NAFC-run Urban Aboriginal Cultural Education program.
The NAFC is a not-for-profit organization which mission is: "to improve the quality of life for Aboriginal peoples in an urban environment by supporting self-determined activities which encourage equal access to, and participation in, Canadian Society; and which respect and strengthen the increasing emphasis on Aboriginal cultural distinctiveness".
The primary objectives of the NAFC are: to act as a central unifying body for the Friendship Centre Movement, to promote and advocate the concerns of Aboriginal Peoples, and to represent the needs of local friendship centres across the country top the federal government and to the public in general.
The NAFC also aims to promote self-recognition and recognition by community at large of identity, culture, and heritage of Aboriginal peoples; to maintain liaison with representatives of Aboriginal peoples and all other organizations involved with Aboriginal peoples; and to encourage the assistance of service agencies, voluntary organizations, private industry, and all levels of government in advancing and maintaining the wellbeing of the constituent friendship centres and the Aboriginal peoples of Canada as a whole.
The NAFC has played an active role in monitoring the activities and programs of various federal government departments which have a mandate to provide either funding or services to urban Aboriginal peoples. The NAFC further acts as the central communications information body and facilitates external liaisons for both the Friendship Centres and the PTA's. This function ensures that the membership has timely access to information which may impact on their operations. The NAFC is also active on a number of external committees and associations which are related to urban Aboriginal people in areas such as: literacy, racism, AIDS, employment equity, economic development and justice to name a few.
(source: NAFC website, July 2011).
