Meet Our Team
At Ooknakane Friendship Centre, we believe in the importance of community and mutual support. Our team is a diverse group of individuals who are all passionate about providing programs and services that speak directly to the needs of the Okanagan area. Get to know the team behind the center by exploring our site.
Candice Gabriel
Language & Culture Coordinator
Way’ iskwist Piya isema skwist Candice Gabriel, and I am the Cultural and Language Support Worker with the Ooknakane Friendship Centre. I work Monday to Thursday.
Culture and language are not separate from our lives — they are woven into everything we do. Over the past year, our program has been a space of learning, connection, and creativity. Together, we have harvested medicines, created pine needle baskets, visited with Elders, shared storytelling, and learned traditional skills such as cradleboard making, medicine salve making, and essential oil preparation. Drumming and singing have also been an important part of our time together, incorporating the arts while strengthening our cultural identity and teachings.
Language learning is supported through resources on and offline, helping us to reconnect, remember, and carry our words forward in meaningful ways, especially on the land. Each activity is an opportunity to practice language, honour teachings, and deepen our relationship with one another and with our land.
I also support the Wellbriety Program, which allows me to connect with individuals on their recovery journeys in a culturally grounded and supportive way. This work is close to my heart, as it brings together healing, culture, and community. I continue to work, play, and learn alongside our community, and I am grateful to support people in reconnecting with our tmxʷulaxʷ — our land — and the teachings that come from it.
Cricket Testawich
Youth & Elder Mental Health Clinician
Wai, I’m grateful to be joining the Friendship Centre as the Youth and Elder Clinician. I come from Cree territory in Northern Alberta and am registered with Duncan’s First Nation. For the past 17 years, I’ve had the honor of living on Okanagan territory, where I was also lovingly adopted into the family of the late Dorothy Ward. A relationship that continues to guide how I show up in community.
I’m a proud mom to a 14-year-old daughter who is involved in community life and an incredible softball pitcher. Both my personal and professional lives are rooted in relationship, listening, and respect. I believe healing and wellness grow through connection—between generations, within families, and across community—and I’m honoured to walk alongside youth and elders in this role.
Janeen Bouey
Outreach Support Worker
Crisis intervention and harm reduction.
Mobile outreach.
One on one advocacy meeting clients 'where they're at'
Connecting clients to resources in the area such as housing and income assistance and PWD as well as some legal .
Cultural safe Care ensuring all client interactions.
Honor indigenous history local nations tradition and holistic well-being.
Ojibway from Sakeeng first Nation Manitoba ( Fort Alexander) has worked in outreach for fifteen years
Andy Roberts
Outreach Support Worker
Tansi, meaning, "hello" or "how are you?"
As a First Nations outreach worker from Saskatchewan and a residential school survivor, I bring lived experience, cultural strength, and deep compassion to the people we support. Our work focuses on meeting unhoused individuals and First Nations community members with equal care, dignity, and safety, no matter their circumstances. In my role, I offer; snacks water, resources, guidance, and steady support, checking in on people’s wellbeing and making sure they feel seen, respected, and protected. Our presence builds trust, creates safer spaces, and ensures that every person we meet receives the same level of humanity and care.
peersupport2@friendshipcentre.ca
The Ooknakane Friendship Centre is an aboriginal not-for-profit society that is committed to providing holistic, culturally-driven programs and services designed to support, educate and strengthen people of all nations.
Meet Our Board of Directors
Bruce Manuel
President/Chair
Rhonda Stevenson
Board Member
Joanne Lafferty
Vice-President
Kenny Richter
Treasurer
Melissa Kruger
Board Member
The name, Penticton, is commonly believed to come from the name of one of the main villages of Okanagan First Nations people located on the East bank of Okanagan Lake. The name comes from, “SN’PINKTN” meaning “a place to live forever” or “a place to live year-round”.