ATHABASCA – It’s been a busy summer for the women in charge of the Athabasca Native Friendship Centre (ANFC), with healthy living programs and family camps taking up much of their time.
Now, as the leaves start to turn, the centre is gearing up to add a new slate of education-focused programming, thanks — in part — to a provincial grant that gives friendship centres across the province an extra $100,000 a year.
“We’re seeing what we can do to bring Indigenous culture into the schools while also supporting those individual students,” said Sarah Byrtus, ANFC’s education coordinator.
So far, the exact nature of the programming is still up in the air; Byrtus is working on recruiting tutors for after-school sessions, and the centre recently added Calling Lake School to its partnership
In Athabasca, ANFC has worked with Aspen View to bring in cultural teachers and lecturers on a variety of subjects, including a presentation on hunting and trapping to Edwin Parr Composite students that was well received.
“Students of all ages really liked that; they got to touch the furs, they got to lay on the furs, it was a very interactive presentation,” said Alma Swan, Aspen View’s First Nations, Metis, and Inuit family liaison.
Swan said she was incredibly thankful for the work the Friendship Centre had done so far and was excited for the partnership to continue.
“We, (at) Aspen View, really value our partnership with the Friendship Centre because they’ve been so good at supporting different initiatives in our schools. It’s extremely important,” she said. “Education about the beauty of our culture, education of how we as Indigenous people shared our culture — there’s a need for it in society as a whole.”
The student-support programming will tie into the centre’s larger mandate, which executive director Agnes Finney said focuses heavily on the lessons learned from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action.
“A lot of people don’t realize that we’re not here to serve the Indigenous community. We’re here serving all of Athabasca. When we offer programming, we’re inviting everybody, it’s a lot of non-Indigenous people as well and this is where they’re learning the cultural component,” said Finney.
The centre offers a variety of Indigenous art programs, including moccasin making, beading, and ribbon skirt workshops, and events on days like Truth and Reconciliation Day, Red Dress Day, and Orange Shirt Day.
On Sept. 30, the centre will be hosting a walk and talk through the Muskeg Creek trails, followed by some informative displays — and complimentary refreshments — at the centre itself.
“A big portion of the calls to action is having everyone come and learn, and having those difficult conversations,” said Kendra Pritchard, ANFC’s program coordinator. “That’s a big part of reconciliation and our centre, we tailor it to that. Everyone is welcome to our programming, and it’s a big part of reconciling what happened.”
