Urban aboriginal advocates are weighing in on an NDP election promise to develop an urban aboriginal strategy.

In their platform, the party is proposing to develop the plan “in partnership with Aboriginal and First Nations organizations". It is also vowing to increase support for services provided by Aboriginal Friendship Centres.

Scott Clark, executive director of the Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement (ALIVE) society, said he wants to see a proposal that would build aboriginal strategies into the broader community, such as libraries, schools, and community centres.

“We need to start focusing resources where aboriginal people live, as opposed to telling us we have to go out of our community into one agency and expect to be serviced through those segregated agencies,” he told the Straight by phone.

"What I read on the urban side of that platform is they’re looking at organizational, segregated-based strategies, and we’re saying that as a citizen-based, aboriginal agency, we want to see the provincial government, the municipal [government], the school boards, the park board, start to create an urban aboriginal strategy in all communities."

Lynda Gray, executive director of the Urban Native Youth Association, said that regardless of which party is elected next week, she wants to see the leadership of each urban centre consulted in a provincial strategy. She noted that locally, organizations are working together as part of the Metro Vancouver Aboriginal Executive Council to advocate for and deliver services for off-reserve, urban aboriginal people.

“It’s really important for them not to just focus on working with the B.C. Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres," she said in a phone interview. "In Vancouver there’s 25 organizations that are representing the community and working together on a council. So they really need to meet the needs of each community.”

Gray noted the B.C. government has worked with both the friendship centres and the Metro Vancouver committee as part of the Off-Reserve Aboriginal Action Plan (ORAAP).

“I think whatever government gets in, there should be meaningful implementation of ORAAP,” she said. “It should be well-funded, it should be a continuation of what we just did, and it should be directly talking to urban people.”

Scott Fraser, who was the B.C. NDP critic for aboriginal relations in the last legislative session, said the strategy the party is proposing would also involve other urban aboriginal organizations, but noted friendship centres would “play a key role”.

“Aboriginal friendship centres, with that young population, many coming off reserve—they’re a key lifeline to getting on the right track,” he told the Straight by phone. “They can often have the chance to meet with elders and still maintain their culture and have that link that keeps them strong, and the centres often help with job training opportunities.”

Fraser noted the B.C. NDP is vowing to provide $3 million annually to support aboriginal friendship centres, which he said are currently "woefully underfunded". He added that he wants to see a “holistic approach” to delivering services for urban aboriginal people as part of a provincial strategy.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, the president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, called the funding promise for aboriginal friendship centres "good news".

"Without question, the B.C. Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres…in spite of capacity and resource challenges has done an exemplary job of addressing the needs of urban aboriginal people over many, many years," he said in a phone interview.

Phillip said off-reserve people turn to the centres for help with housing, employment opportunities, and medical services.

"The friendship centre movement has filled that gap to be able to provide and refer urban aboriginal people to the services that they require," he said. "They’ve done a tremendous job in filling the gap. Definitely for aboriginal people that move to the urban setting, it’s probably the first agency that they seek out."

The NDP's platform also includes pledges to “move forward with the devolution of child and family services and child protection to First Nations and Aboriginal communities,” and to “extend to all Woodlands School survivors the opportunity to apply for redress".