Alberta Health Services (AHS) has been working with the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association (ANFCA) since 2016. The health authority recently renewed its agreement with the ANFCA for three years.
As the name suggests, the ANFCA is a group that oversees Alberta’s 21 Friendship Centres across the province. You may be wondering what a Friendship Centre even is.
A Friendship Centre provides culturally relevant programs and services for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Some of these programs and services include daycares, employment programs, shelters, and life skills programs, to name just a few.
More importantly, Friendship Centres are a place for Canada’s Indigenous peoples to come together and share a sense of community.
In total, there are more than 100 Friendship Centres across the country. Including Alberta, there are a total of seven provincial and territorial associations working with the ANFCA.
“Friendship centres continue to provide a safe place and a voice to Indigenous clients, especially to those people living outside of traditional territories and settlements,” Mauro Chies, AHS interim president and CEO, told Global News.
AHS’s primary goal through its agreement with the ANFCA is to improve health outcomes for Alberta’s Indigenous peoples. In addition to health services, AHS agrees to share an equal partnership, mutual respect, shared learnings, and two-eyed seeing with the ANFCA.
Two-eyed seeing means to see through the perspective of both Indigenous knowledge and Western knowledge.
“We are confident that we can create partnerships that improve the health and wellness of Indigenous Peoples who reside in Alberta, and we can do it together,” said Jason Copping, Alberta’s health minister.
AHS and the ANFCA have worked together on multiple occasions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the AHS assisted the ANFCA in improving vaccine access to Alberta’s Indigenous peoples.
In 2016, when the ANFCA was first established, the AHS supported the association during the Grand Prairie floods and the Fort McMurray wildfires.
It’s important to remember that AHS hasn’t always done a good job, especially when it comes to treating Alberta’s Indigenous people right.
But for all its mistakes, AHS appears to be turning a new leaf or at least trying to. With the help of the ANFCA, AHS created the Indigenous Health Commitments: Roadmap to Wellness.
This roadmap outlines all of the steps AHS is taking to deliver on its goal of improving the health and wellness of Alberta’s Indigenous peoples.
But at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words. Alberta’s Indigenous peoples still face barriers like transportation, education, and availability when trying to access health services. There’s still plenty of work to be done.
