Nishnawbe-Gamik Friendship Centre

The Nishnawbe-Gamik Native Friendship Centre (NNFC) was incorporated on August 4, 1971 and became a member of the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres (OFIFC) in 1973.

In the late 1960’s two different groups of people of more than 200 miles apart came up with the same idea – the Rotary Club in Sioux Lookout and leaders of the First Nations in the north. The Rotarians thought Native people residing in or visiting the town should have a drop-in centre. The Native leaders also wanted to have a place to get together when they were in Sioux Lookout – the transportation, administrative, and social services centre for remote Northwestern Ontario.

Native leaders had another concern – that Northern First Nations communities should have a communication system through which they could contact Sioux Lookout and also communicate with each other in their own language. These two groups got together in the summer of 1970 to discuss their mutual interests. Out of that 1970 meeting, the Sioux Lookout Fellowship and Community Centre was born.