Yellowknife (Apr 18/05) - The closure of six youth centres in the NWT may only be temporary.

The centres were forced to cease operations with the end of federal funding on March 31.

However, an official with the Department of Canadian Heritage says the program - the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centres - is still alive. "It's really a question of timing and not a question of the program ending, at all," says Allan Clarke, director-general of Aboriginal Affairs with the Canadian Heritage in Ottawa.

Clarke said the program's terms and conditions have to be renewed by Treasury Board.

"We anticipate the program being renewed by the end of this month," he says, noting that would mean funding would be available by June.

The affected youth programs in the NWT are operated by friendship centres in Hay River, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Yellowknife, Fort Simpson and Fort Providence.

Vern Jones, the executive director of Soaring Eagle Friendship Centre in Hay River, has not heard or seen anything official that funding will be renewed.

Jones, who represents the North on the National Association of Friendship Centres, says the national office has told him the program will be discussed at a cabinet meeting on April 20 and that Canadian Heritage is recommending it be renewed.

"We're still in the dark a little bit," he says, noting that, even if the program is renewed, there is still a question about funding levels.

At least 22 people lost their jobs in the NWT with the end of funding. The program provided more than $1 million in all to the NWT centres, and others in Whitehorse and Rankin Inlet.

Clarke says the delay was not wilful, but occurred because 13 programs for Aboriginal people were being renewed at the same time.

"We're going for a five-year renewal," he notes.

The $20-million program ran for seven year. Most of the money goes to friendship centres across Canada, while some also goes to national aboriginal organizations.