Community Action and Learning

About

Community Action and Learning offers programs and services to all residents of greater Victoria, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, with a focus on relationships and community building. These outcomes are achieved by offering locally developed programming that is interactive and culturally grounded, as well as networking opportunities for those looking to engage with reconciliation and the local urban Indigenous community more directly, whether an individual, agency, or a level of government; First Nations, municipal, regional, provincial, or federal.

Services

How to Reach Us

8:30am – 4:30pm
Monday to Friday

231 Regina Avenue
Victoria, BC
V8Z 1J6

Tel: (250) 384-3211
Fax: (250) 384-1586

Tanya Clarmont, Director
Email: tanya.c@vnfc.ca  

Events Calendar

Volunteer Program

The Volunteer Program provides opportunities for all community members to share their time and skills with the various departments of VNFC and help to enhance the capacity of programming and activities. We ensure all volunteers have a supported intake and strong onboarding process, which includes an online orientation webinar, screening processes, tour, and optional cultural safety training.

VURD (Victoria Urban Reconciliation Dialogue)

The Victoria Native Friendship Centre (VNFC) act’s as the host for the Victoria Urban Reconciliation Dialogue (VURD), handling the logistics and maintaining the records of the VURD Steering Committee (Committee). The Committee seeks to work with the community to examine the meaning and impact of reconciliation for the Victoria region from an urban Indigenous context while including perspectives that are diverse and cover a wide demographic of the region.

Three key areas of focus include:

  1. Supporting urban Indigenous voice.
  2. Enabling community engagement.
  3. Generating ideas for tangible actions.

The VNFC is a role model for Indigenous process’ in VURD meetings and champion the influence of Indigenous worldview in the design and approaches to all work mandated by the Committee. The VNFC is proactive in building relationships with those agencies and individuals identified by the Committee as being vital to the Reconciliation Dialogue and act’s as the liaison to community for those interested in engaging with the Committee.

Art of Reconciliation

The Art of Reconciliation program is for Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people ages 18-29 to build their confidence to engage in reconciliation dialogue and actions with their peers and community. Learning spaces are based in Indigenous ways of seeing the world and inclusive of experiential cultural sharing while exploring themes of reconciliation. Art making follows a series of workshops with final artwork and artist statements resulting in weeks of reflection, group discussion, and deep learning. Public exhibitions of participant artwork brings the broader community into the reconciliation dialogue.

 

 

Urban Indigenous Leadership

The VNFC hosts several initiatives focused on centering and uplifting urban Indigenous voices including the Greater Victoria Urban Indigenous Community Leadership Table, the BC Region Coalitions Network, Urban Indigenous Knowledge Transfer Ceremony, and the Provincial Urban Indigenous Leadership Gathering. While VNFC holds the space for this work, it is always guided by strategic community advisors, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers.

Community Learning Program

The Community Learning Program is a wholistic learning experience that offers an opportunity to learn with Indigenous people in a collaborative and experiential way. It is a grassroots Indigenous-led peer-based learning opportunity that incorporates thoughtful curriculum based in Indigenous ways of knowing and teaches cultural fluency in Indigenous history pre-contact to present. The program explores critical documents, and helps people draw connections between that learned information and the impacts Indigenous people experience at the individual, family and community level today, in contemporary life.

Funding source provided by

WAGE
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BC Arts Council
CRD Arts Council
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BC-NEIHR-logo_2-288x300
CanadianHeritage

Contact the Community Action and Learning Program today for more information

Contact Us

8:30am – 4:30pm
Monday to Friday

231 Regina Avenue
Victoria, BC
V8Z 1J6

Tel: (250) 384-3211
Fax: (250) 384-1586

Inquiry Form

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