Indigenous leaders honoured with King Charles Medals

A number of prominent figures with the Northwest Territories/Nunavut Council of Friendship Centres were recently nominated and awarded with the King Charles III Coronation Medals!

These medals honour those who have made significant contributions to either the country as a whole, or to a particular province, territory, region, or community.

This year saw four NWT residents chosen for the award. Abbie Crook, Bernice Furlong, and Aaron and Zackery McNab were chosen by their peers for displaying notable leadership and dedication to their respective communities and Friendship Centres.

CKLB was able to get in touch with three of the recipients to hear their thoughts about this incredible milestone.

Q: How did it feel to learn that you would be receiving this award?

Arron McNab: “Well, at first, I thought it was just a nomination, and I thought there’d be a process to go through it. I was really quite surprised that I was being nominated. I was very honored to be nominated, and pretty shocked when they said, “Oh, you’re gonna be getting it.””

Abbie Crook: “I was quite surprised, actually! I was at the National Meeting of Gathering of Friendship Centres in Ottawa. I was just leaving, and the Office Manager, she said, “Where you going?” I said, “I’m heading to the airport. I got to catch a flight at five.” She said “We can’t go.” I said, “Well, I have to.” It was only two o’clock, right? She said, “You can’t go because you’re getting an award!”

“That’s when I was first advised that I was getting an award, and I didn’t know what the award was for. It was quite a surprise and an honour to receive and to be recognized.”

Bernice Furlong: “Well I was kind of surprised and I was excited after they mentioned I would be getting this award, because I’m not the person to get these kinds of awards, even though I’m involved in the community a lot. So it was a really nice gesture for me!”

Q: What is some of the work you’ve done that lead to you being nominated for this award?

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McNab: “Well, I’ve been the Executive Director here at the Deh Cho Friendship Center for about 24 years already. I’ve also sat on the NTNU board for around 15 years. I’m not quite sure how long, but I’ve been acting as the Treasurer for the past, I don’t know, maybe 10 years or eight years, I’m not even sure how long. That’s just some of the work, and just providing guidance and providing admin assistance when needed to the NTNU office and stuff like that.”

Crook: “I used to work for the Friendship Centres as the Executive Director back in the 80’s, and then I became involved as an executive member of the National Association of Friendship Centres. In the North here, I had been involved on the Executive of the Council of Friendship Centres for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and in the last eight years, I have been elected President for the Council of Friendship Centres in Nunavut to represent them at any national meeting.

“Some of the things we do at the board meetings is bring our issues forth from the North, especially in regards to programming services, funding for services, cost of living, the high suicide rate, addictions, you name it. We’re in it, trying to address these things in our communities.”

Furlong: In the community of Inuvik, I work a lot with Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre, I’ve been with them for over thirty years, and I’ve also worked with other various groups such as the Muskrat Jamboree and the Inuvik Native Band as Sub Chief. I just volunteer wherever I can. I’m also on the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Friendship Centre Executive Board. I sit there as a Secretary. Here in Inuvik, I am the President of Ingamo Hall, and that’s where the nomination came from, so it’s many years for me of providing community volunteer work.”

Q: What inspired you to work with the Friendship Centres in the first place?

McNab: “Well the thing is, I’m from Saskatchewan, so I’m familiar with what they’ve done. I’ve been a part of the Saskatoon University Friendship Centre, and I knew the Executive Director there, so I’m very familiar with what they do. So, when the position came up here, I more or less just fell into place by applying for one position and slowly moving up after the first year and eventually into the Executive Director. I like it because it’s a variety of tasks I can do. I can do paperwork, I can work with the youth, I can work with other people and do finance work or go out and do different types of traditional activities on the land and so on.”

Crook: “I guess it’s a need to have a couce for the people that needed one, and to work as a team. Across most of Canada, including the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, we work as a team to try and address and come up with solutions for any social issues or justice issues. We try to find funding to help single families, elders, so we’re involved in all of that, and right now we’re involved with the impact of climate change that has had mental health challenges for our people in the North here, so we do things like that at the Territorial level as well as on the local level.”

Furlong: “I’ve been involved with sports all my life and throughout school. My family is a family who helps other people all the time. I just want to support any events that go on. I’m a real supporter of youth, and when I first moved to the community of Inuvik, I started volunteering with the Muskrat Jamboree. Then I moved on to Ingamo Hall because I know there was a lot of youth and a lot of things happening in the community. Volunteers were needed and I just stepped up, and I’ve been there, and I’m still doing the same things today.

“Inuvik is my home community now and I try to encourage my children and grandchildren to be a part of helping others in the community.”

Each of the recipients also added that they are feeling optimistic about their futures, and that they would like to see a greater push for community volunteers from younger generations.

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