The initiative for a friendship centre and gathering place in 100 Mile House was presented at a recent meeting with the Canim Lake Band and other interested community members.
Facilitator Dave MacLeod summarized the proposal put forward for a Community Action Initiative (CAI) convening grant, entitled Stemetewiy: A Gathering Place in 100 Mile House, for which the Canim Lake Band is the lead proponent.
A few days later, the band was notified the grant submission to CAI last December was not successful, says South Cariboo Community Planning Council (SCCPC) executive co-ordinator Lea Smirfitt.
“Despite disappointment at this news, there was a clear message at the gathering at Eliza Archie Memorial School on March 3, and at all the previous events, that there is strong support for a safe gathering place in 100 Mile no matter the outcome of the CAI proposal.”
The SCCPC is very supportive of Canim Lake Band in attaining the goal of a safe and welcoming Gathering Place in 100 Mile, Smirfitt says, adding there are numerous other community partners on board.
Some of the related goals and ideas from steering committee meetings and consultation cafes held last year were covered in the presentation and were well received by those who attended.
These goals include securing a location in 100 Mile House for all people, particularly those of First Nations, in a welcoming and safe environment.
The plan also involves providing another route to health and wellness services, workshops and programs from a partner service providers as well as being a place for celebrating First Nations cultural heritage.
Increased safety for all community members, improving equality of access to healthy living and wellness programs and linking supports and resources with those who need them was another goal.
On a basic level, the Gathering Place is also intended to provide a safe, warm, dry and accessible place for people to meet within the district limits.
Members of the band, as well as the community at large at the meeting, also expressed their thoughts and visions for a Gathering Place.
Many recalled friendship centres they had visited in past years, right back to the 1960s.
Mary Thomas spoke about her experiences working at the Cariboo Friendship Society in Williams Lake, and recalls a time when there was a Canim Lake Band friendship centre in 100 Mile where she was one of the managers who took turns working different shifts.
“I have to smile about that because I was the only one. I made the coffee, I swept the floors, and I greeted the people, so it was just a little tiny building.”
She told anecdotes about when Eliza “Granny” Archie would stop there to have tea, as well as remembering sometimes they only had a few supplies to put together a soup to share.
“That just goes to show that you can do what you can with what you have, and I think that’s kind of the way the friendship centre here will start.”
Thomas said she expects the Gathering Place will start with a building and people and grow from there, such as she has seen at the Cariboo Friendship Society.
“The Cariboo Friendship Society [Friendship Centre] started as a little building on a corner lot and it grew from there, with Irene and Sammy Peters running it, to a huge 12-member board now and about 90 staff and many programs.”
Smirfitt said the steering committee is continuing to meet on a regular basis to identify resources and continue to further the initiative.
