Saskatchewan’s government offers a robust financial injection of over $223,000, renewing a triennial agreement in support of the Île-à-la-Crosse Friendship Centre’s Community Support program – an initiative designed with a keen focus on youth development.
The Île-à-la-Crosse Friendship Centre serves as a community haven, warmly embracing young people and fostering unity through shared traditions and cultural nuances. It also functions as a springboard for exploring and seizing new community-based prospects. Investing in adolescence, as aptly pointed out by MLA Jim Lemaigre, represents a long-term investment in the vigor and promise of Saskatchewan’s families and communities. On behalf of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre, he pays tribute to the tremendous societal value and potential return on investing in youth.
Targeting their continued educational engagements, the Community Support program introduces youth to various educational and vocational opportunities within the community, fostering a supportive platform for their sustained success. It also curates an assortment of structured, supervised pursuits driven by their interests and inputs while waiting for suitable employment or educational placement.
Such activities include compelling undertakings such as cooking and beading classes, fishing expeditions, illuminating medicine walks and crucial mental health workshops. Based on the community’s youth interest and input, the program also accommodates annual cultural programming and activities for an expected eighty young participants, instilling a deep love and understanding of their radiant cultural heritage.
The Île-à-la-Crosse Friendship Centre boasts of additional resourceful facilities, highlighting its provision of access to industry-advancing initiatives including Aboriginal Head Start, Canada Prenatal Nutrition, Kids First North, Honouring Her Spark and the Reaching Home programs. It further warms hearts with its offer of a community pantry, a lunch kitchen, and empathetic, transitional housing within the community confines.
Founded in 1992, the Île-à-la-Crosse Friendship Centre continues to make a huge difference, carving out a welcoming and supportive space for Saskatchewan’s young population.
The 2023-24 budget generously includes $32,000 designated to North Sask Victim Services in Île-à-la-Crosse. Renowned for its culturally sensitive approach, the service focuses on victims of crime, offering much-needed support and guidance through the intricacies of the criminal justice system.
