MP Fillmore announces $28.8M federal investment for new Friendship Centre
Indigenous Peoples living in, or moving to urban centres are one of the fastest growing populations in Canada. To meet their needs, Indigenous service organizations like Friendship Centres play a crucial role in ensuring First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples have safe and accessible spaces and to high-quality culturally-relevant services.
The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre (MNFC) has been providing essential programs and services to Indigenous Peoples in downtown Halifax since 1972 and supporting First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals, families, children and seniors, in a holistic and culturally-appropriate way.
Currently, there are over 55 programs that are delivered by the Centre, ranging from early childhood education, training, employment, housing and homelessness, and justice to harm reduction of violence and supports for culture and languages. The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre’s current facility is facing significant limitations in serving a growing and diverse urban Indigenous clientele. To adequately meet the needs of the growing urban Indigenous population, the Centre has had to relocate three times since its opening.
Today, Andy Fillmore, Member of Parliament for Halifax on behalf of the Minister of Indigenous Services, Patty Hajdu, and Pam Glode-Desrochers, Executive Director of the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, announced $28.8 million to support the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre for the construction of a new building, allowing them to expand their services and operations.
“Today’s $28.8 million federal investment means the long time dream of building a new facility for the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre is finally coming true. The Friendship Centre is a place where urban Indigenous Peoples in Kjipuktuk-Halifax come together in celebration of their culture and history, and where they can receive culturally-relevant support when they need it. In an age of reconciliation, and through working in partnership, today’s federal investment represents a significant step forward in how we meet the needs of urban Indigenous peoples in Kjipuktuk-Halifax. ”
This funding comes from the Indigenous Community Infrastructure Fund, and builds on a $4 million investment announced earlier this year through the Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples (UPIP) funding stream. This funding will contribute to the construction of a new center to better serve and support over 7,000 Indigenous clients living in Halifax. It will help fill in critical infrastructures gaps and support economic, social and health outcomes.
“I believe this support will initiate an unparalleled turning point in the progress Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are making toward Reconciliation. Ensuring that our ever-expanding population has the resources necessary to address the intergenerational and systemic barriers we encounter on a daily basis has necessitated a broad expansion of our operations which has been insufficiently accommodated by our infrastructure to date. The announcement today is an acknowledgement and a clear understanding that when we work together we can dramatically change the quality of life for Indigenous people.”
