About the NAFC
The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) was established in 1972 to represent, nationally, the growing number of Friendship Centres emerging across Canada. The NAFC represents over 100 Friendship Centres and Provincial/Territorial Associations (PTAs) from coast-to-coast-to-coast which make up the Friendship Centre Movement (FCM).
For a full list of Friendship Centres and PTAs, please visit the Friendship Centres section on our website.
What We Do
As the national body of the FCM, the NAFC is democratically governed, status inclusive, and accountable to its membership.
The NAFC seeks to be:
- a central, unifying body for the FCM
- to promote and advocate the concerns of our Member Friendship Centres and PTAs
- to provide important urban Indigenous perspectives to, municipal, provincial and federal governments, and non-Indigenous civil society organizations
Our Mission
To support Friendship Centres and PTAs in achieving their diverse missions and visions within their urban Indigenous communities.
Vision
Ascending to a future that remembers the past and is rooted in our cultures to improve the well-being of Indigenous people living in urban environments.
Strategic Plan 2020-2030
In 2019-2020, the NAFC Board of Directors led the development of this ten-year strategic plan as a major component of developing a new vision that advances the vital work of the FCM.
This plan affirms the NAFC’s goals for the next decade. The world can often be difficult and barrier-filled for Indigenous people living in urban and rural settings and the work of Friendship Centres has never been more necessary. With a renewed focus on our membership and the vitality and success of the FCM, the NAFC sees itself as the FCM’s fierce advocate, strong national partner, and a great amplifier of the work of the FCM.
Read the NAFC Strategic Plan 2020-2030 (Updated: May 2024).
The NAFC, Today
Today, over half a century after the initial development of Friendship Centres in Canada, the FCM continues to rapidly grow and expand their work, extending to include 125 active Friendship Centres and 7 PTAs. The Friendship Centre Movement (FCM) is Canada’s most significant national network of self-determined Indigenous owned and operated civil society community hubs offering programs, services and supports to Indigenous people living in urban, rural, and remote settings, and specifically for First Nations living off-reserve, Métis living outside of the Métis Homelands, and Inuit living in the south.
Our collective work reaches millions of points of contact in a year and hundreds of thousands of people every single day from coast to coast to coast. We are proud that our work is driven by the communities we serve, trusted by our community members, and rooted in the rich cultures and diverse traditions of Indigenous people that have called these lands, towns, and cities home since time immemorial. Friendship Centres embrace and operationalize these cultures and traditions every day in the work that we collectively do across the country.
Most recently, Friendship Centres demonstrated a heroic collective response when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Friendship Centres moved quickly to respond effectively to support both urban Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Refer to the COVID-19 Interim Report for more information.
Annual Reports