Double Sorrow at Indian Centre

The Christian Reformed Church in North America’s Indian Family Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, suffered a double blow this past autumn when the community lost both its executive director and her administrator to cancer just one month apart from each other.

In white cap: Brenda MacLean; in yellow shirt: Jeanet Sybenga.

The Indian Family Centre has been a mainstay and a haven for many of the residents of the area, especially those who lived along or hung out on Selkirk Avenue, a street known as much for violence and substance abuse as for its long history as a starting place for immigrants new to Canada and Aboriginal people moving from the reserve to the city.

“The Centre has always been about presence,” says Henk DeBruyn, the founding pastor and director. “In this area, anyone can find free clothes or a hot meal, but what people need is the gift of presence, a willingness to simply be.”

People come to the Centre in search of a phone, a cup of tea, a listening ear. And, with the help of both Jeanet Sybenga and Brenda MacLean, they found a gentle spirit, a welcoming atmosphere, and the still, small voice of God offering love and compassion. That welcoming atmosphere still exists at the centre, but an element of loss and sorrow has touched the place as well.

Both Sybenga and MacLean offered their love and presence without reserve. Jeanet first came to the Indian Family Centre over 10 years ago after serving at another inner-city organization in Winnipeg. Tremendously gifted as a pastor and shepherd, her gentleness allowed people to open up and find hope and healing.

At her memorial service, Chief Justice Murray Sinclair, who is leading Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission looking into the abuses suffered by Aboriginal people in residential schools, said that the Indian Family Centre embodied the work of the commission, and was in fact a place of truth and reconciliation.

MacLean was a direct descendant of Joseph Brant, a famous Mohawk leader and British military officer during the American Revolution, and also traced her history from the African slaves in the U.S.She had worked at the Centre for just over four years. She was an excellent counterpart to Jeanet. Her outspoken manner and her passion for the community she lived in were evident to everyone who came through the doors. Brenda never minced words or put something delicately. She told it like it was, and called people to live to their fullest potential as they were intended to by God.

Both women served on various community groups and embodied the proverb, “when the righteous flourish the city rejoices.” When they noticed that most of the celebrations for Canada’s National Aboriginal Day excluded the poorest and most troubled residents of their neighborhood, they spearheaded celebrations that included everyone regardless of their station in life.

In any community, the loss of two key leaders would be devastating, and this has been the case at the Indian Family Centre. It has been a time to mourn.

However, the community members recognize that both women would have wanted their work at the Centre to carry on. They remained vitally interested in the people and the events in the neighborhood right up until the end of their lives, and they called on others to take up the challenge so that life and hope could continue to flourish within the ministry of the Indian Family Centre.