Cold Lake Native Friendship Centre - Cold Lake

Our Friendship Centre Started as a satellite of the Bonnyville Friendship Centre. In 1988, it was incorporated under the Society's Act and in 1999 became the Cold Lake Native Friendship Centre, (CLNFC).

The major accomplishments of this Friendship Centre starts with its survival as a non-core funded centre. We have had to rely on innovative programming, and in recent years our status to a core-funded centre has helped increase our effectiveness in the community.

The Cold Lake Native Friendship Centre is the only native organization in Cold Lake; a city of 12,000, with a Metis Settlement and several reserves near by. These communities add another 3,000 people of Indigenous decent to our programming needs. Another major aspect of our centre is the close proximity to several reserves in Saskatchewan. These people shop and move to the City of Cold Lake attracted by the oil and gas industry.

The first main service we provide is a place for Indigenous and non-indigenous people to meet. We have become a friendly, free coffee serving meeting place for people in the city for the day, or searching for services and places to live. We provide on-site counselling, career guidance, youth program, and weekly soup kitchen. Our staff assists people in need of everything from employment opportunities to emergency facilities that Cold Lake offers. In partnership with all of the provincial offices in the area, we have been able to streamline our clients needs.

We provide free services such as; copying, faxing, resume creation, and form filing such as income taxes. We have formalized the Community Temporary Work Agency that provides opportunities for temporary work for our clients, and provides employers with the man power they need to get jobs done. Our referral services have been taxed over the last couple years. Although a rich province, our client base are from a lower income bracket and need free services in order to accomplish their objectives. As the population grows, our Indigenous client base has been increasing every year.

For many years the Friendship Centre has been providing a free "Soup and Bannock Thursday", made possible by the United Way, and local volunteers. We provide this service to all ages and walks of life.

We have produced a book of stories from residential school survivors and helped revive cultural awareness  to schools and businesses.