DCHP-2

native friendship centre Native Friendship Centre, native friendship center, Native Friendship Center DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Aboriginal, especially First Nations

  a centre offering services for Aboriginal people, usually in cities.

  Type: 1. Origin — Native friendship centres are Canadian in origin, as is the term. The earliest known use of native friendship centre refers to the Canadian Native Friendship Centre in Edmonton (see the 1963 quotation). However, the first Indian and Metis Friendship Centre opened in Winnipeg in 1959 (Langford 2016). As of 2016, 118 native friendship centres are part of the National Association of Friendship Centres (see NAFC reference). The term is nearly exclusive to Canada (see Charts 1 and 2), even when the less common spelling center is included (see Chart 2).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "native friendship centre", which is marked "Cdn", and OED-3, s.v. "native friendship centre", which is marked "Canad.".

  See also: friendship centre