BCBusiness

COURTESY Of INDIGENOUS TOURISm BC jULY/AUGUST 2018 BCBusiness 103 I N D I G E N O U S T O U R I S M band Together Tourism businesses run by B.C.'s First Nations have grown into a $700- million industry. Those involved note that it's been a bumpy road at times I t's been just over 20 years since ocial eorts to ignite Indigenous tourism in B.C. started in earnest. In 1997, Indigenous Tourism BC (ItBC)— called the Aboriginal Tourism Association of Brit- ish Columbia until this year—started out as a non-proƒt tasked with growing and promoting the industry. In its early days, the group had just two employees. Their job was far from simple: in some corners, the view was that Indigenous people would rather be left alone than persuaded or forced to share their culture and heritage with the world. Although that notion holds true for some mem- bers of the province's large Indigenous population— about 6 percent of British Columbians classiˆied themselves as Aboriginal in the 2016 census—it isn't a majority opinion. Today, ItBC has eight full-time sta, and Indig- enous tourism in B.C. represents about $700 million in annual customer spending while employing some 7,000 people. The agency helps power about 200 busi- nesses throughout the province, from cultural centres and wilderness tour outƒts to hotels and resorts. "For some of those Indigenous communities, it's about what part of that culture can they share and what part of the culture do they want to protect?" says Tracy Eyssens, CEO of ItBC. "We emphasize that it's not about selling your culture or selling out. It's really an opportunity for communities to come together and have a discussion." Trevor Cootes has seen that debate develop and change over time. An elected councillor for the Huu-ay-aht First Nation (HFN) on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island who also leads the band's economic development ƒle, he notes that HFN has been active in tourism for almost as long as ItBC. "One of the hidden gems of Vancouver Island is our campground, which has been around for ƒve decades," Cootes explains. "When we renovated it in 1998, we put more structure to it, put more manpower into it to better position ourselves in tourism and pro- vide job opportunities, and now we've kind of reached that position of How do we invest and be a better role player in tourism?" Cootes, who prides himself on staying con- nected with fellow HFN members, says they support such development eorts. He points to his nation's 2016 purchase of 11 properties— including a pub, a restaurant, a general store and a couple of ƒshing lodges—in the community of Bamƒeld to encourage local tourism. "Because we're a treaty nation, with our laws and regulations we had to go to our people and get it approved," Cootes recalls. "So we said, We're buying this land for $4.5 million, partly for tourism, and what we heard from the people was that they wanted us to do that. "There's deƒnitely been some bumps and bruises," Cootes adds. "But [band members] got to a point last year where they participated in an event in the area and it rekindled ener¡y, not only for Huu-ay-aht citi- zens but for the Bamƒeld area, which has been kind of deprived for the last 15 years." Eyssens expects tourism to play a big role in Indige- nous relations. "We see it as an opportunity for recon- ciliation, but for communities it's really up to them what that means," she says. "Our opportunity is to amplify those Indigenous stories and change the story of Indigenous people in the province of B.C." –N.C. MOvING AHeAD Councillor Trevor Cootes (second fromright) aims to make his nation a bigger tourism player

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