Hay River (Apr 21/03) - For the past three years, Vern Jones has been the executive director of Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre in Hay River.

His connection with friendship centres goes back to 1975, when he was hired as executive director of a friendship centre in Peace River, Alta., when he was just 20 years old.

Jones also represents the seven NWT centres on the National Association of Friendship Centres.

News/North: How did you become involved in friendship centres?

Vern Jones: I got involved back in the '70s. I was the executive director of a friendship centre when I was 20 years old. That was in Alberta, and I was involved with the Alberta association. Back then, there was an elder who was involved with the friendship centre. I guess she believed in me and what I was able to do, and offered me an opportunity. It just went from there.

N/N: What exactly is a friendship centre?

VJ: Friendship centres started off under the Migrating Native People's Program. That program was for aboriginal people who were moving from isolated communities and reserves into an urban setting. It was providing them with a resource within that community. So when they would come into an urban setting, they would come to friendship centre programming.

Friendship centres provided temporary housing programs, food banks, educational programs, recreational programs and cultural programs. We now have friendship centres that are into economic development across the country. Some of them have their own housing projects. Some of them have their own restaurants, art galleries, hostels, detox programs, alcohol and drug programs, and mental health and social services programs.

N/N: How long have friendship centres existed?

VJ: It's been over 40 years. And we've come a long ways. Friendship centres are probably one of the oldest surviving aboriginal organizations in Canada. Friendship centres are also non-political and non-sectarian. I think what's helped us survive is we're not a political organization. We don't align ourselves with any political parties.

N/N: Has the purpose changed over the years?

VJ: From being called the Migrating Native People's Program, it's now evolved into other areas. They were still called friendship centres, but it was under that program ... Now it's funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The basics are still there. It's still providing services to the isolated communities and acting as a resource for people moving to an urban setting. But there are also the other programs that have been taken on. Back then we didn't have the programs that we have today. We have the education programs. We have the cultural programs. Those have all been enhanced ...

Some of them have their own schools or their own daycare, pre-school programs, kindergarten programs and basic adult education programs ... The program was set up originally as an aboriginal program, but it doesn't mean that if you're non-aboriginal you can't come to a friendship centre to get help. We don't turn anybody away.

N/N: How do you divide your two roles of running a local friendship centre and being a territorial representative to a national organization?

VJ: My two roles are both important. But as far as this friendship centre itself goes, I administer the day-to-day operations of the Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre and the programs. With the territorial role, it's representing the NWT Council of Friendship Centres on the board of the National Association of Friendship Centre, which represents 120 centres across Canada.

N/N: Why do you think the work of friendship centres is so important?

VJ: It's the resources that we have and it's the services we provide ... Today, we are spending more time listening to the youth than we did back then. The friendship centres have always been stepping stones for people. I remember Matthew Coon Come was at one of our meetings. It was one of the first AGMs that I was at, in 1976 in Winnipeg, and Matthew Coon Come was there as a youth delegate. So we've had a lot of people who have used friendship centres as a stepping stone to get to where they are today.

N/N: Is there one issue that all the friendship centres in the NWT have in common?

VJ: Survival and the lack of funding. We'd like to see more funding. We'd like to look at more programs. I guess where we're sort of caught is when you talk to the federal government about federal initiatives, they say talk to the government of the territories because they're getting the money. When you talk to the government of the Northwest Territories, they say you fall under a federal program. So you're caught in the middle and you're getting ping-ponged back and forth. The feds say you're GNWT and the GNWT say your feds. It's back and forth. Where do we belong?

Because our core funding comes from the federal government, that doesn't mean that we automatically fall under federal programs.

N/N: Do you think the general public has a good understanding of what friendship centres do?

VJ: No, actually. We've been finding that out. I guess we assumed they did, but in talking to a lot of people, I guess if you've never used the services, or had a reason to use the services, then you wouldn't know anything about it.

We're finding in talking to people that they've never been here because they either didn't need the service. They just sort of know that the building is there, but what goes on inside the building they're not sure.

And then there are a lot of people -- especially the non-aboriginal people -- who figure friendship centres are for aboriginal people only. They don't think they're welcome. So we tell them, "You're more than welcome." Everybody's welcome. We don't shut the door on anybody. Then when they come in to find out what's going on, they're amazed.

N/N: What do you see for the future of friendship centres?

VJ: I think it will be involved with the client as it has always done. There's always room for growth. There's room for expansion. Community needs are going to change and individual needs are going to change. I think we will just continue to develop programs around those needs, and change with the times ... We're trying to meet the needs of the community. I think the mandate of friendship centres is not simply for one area. It's such a broad mandate we could offer any kind of program. We don't have to stick to one area.