Strict financial policies linked to business success

It’s a shady drive along a leafy road from Quadra island ferry dock to Tsa-Kwa-Luten Lodge, a Native owned, nature-based lodge that includes gourmet food and Native art as part of a guest experience.

“In the early nineties when our commercial fishing, that had supported us for generations, declined, we looked to tourism as a new source of income. We built our lodge and became the first band in Canada to build, own and manage† a lodge,” Chief Rick David of the Cape Mudge band of We-Wai-Kai First Nation proudly explained.”
Philip Chang, an architect from Victoria came up with his exciting concept of adapting a Kwagiulth ‘Big House’ into their lodge’s main room design.

To achieve a mood of a traditional Big House he incorporated a vaulted cedar ceiling, cedar-lined walls and long poles of Douglas fir into his building plans.
A two-storey picture window fills the room with light. Chang’s design is such a success that adaptations have appeared in more recently built First Nation lodges across Canada.

They chose for a building site a spectacular piece of ancestral land referred to as Tsa-Kwa-Luten ‘the gathering place’, where their band members had once hunted and fished. Now their 30-room nature-based lodge rests on this cliff-top ‘gathering place’ on Quadra Island overlooking Discovery Strait in British Columbia.
After 20 years occupancy, Carol Ann Terreberry, their lodge manager, comments that their recent renovations give the lodge a more contemporary look.

Soft shades of terra cotta on its great room walls blend with the cedar woodwork and grays and taupes of slate tile floors. This muted color scheme continues two steps up into an airy dining room where every table has a small cedar sapling as a centre piece and a spectacular ocean view.

Historical photographs of band ancestors line the halls. A piece of Native art by Mark Henderson depicting a history of their band is a showpiece in the great room.

The inn’s original concept to provide a nature based holiday, comfort and gourmet meals for its guests has never varied. In and around the surrounding 1,100 acre forest and beach are well marked hiking trails.

The front desk provides booklets that combine description and sketches of plants and their historical uses by the local Native people.

For the band, their lodge provides job opportunities and a continuing source of income since start-up.

Comfort in the bedrooms include a private balcony with an ocean view, comfortable beds and pictures by Native artists.

“It does not include TV,” said Terreberry.

“It was a definite decision because our lodge is nature based. Guests comment how much they like the peace.” TV and Internet are available a few steps down from the main room.

Meals reflect the band’s close affinity with the ocean. On any day their gourmet menu might feature wild Pacific salmon, local scallops, red snapper, fish chowder, mussels and prawns.

Day to day operations are left to Terreberry, while governance is the responsibility of the band’s Board of Directors. Hiring is based on an applicant meeting a job’s criteria. Over 50 per cent of staff are band members or† status Indians living off reserve. Profits from Tsa Kwa Luten Lodge are turned back to their band to fund other ventures.

The Cape Mudge band of about 1,000 members looked to their resources to build their wealth. Originally dependant on fishing for their livelihood they still have a commercial fishing component which fishes for herring, salmon, prawns and harvests kelp. They own a scallop farm, the second largest in BC, “which is just now breaking even.” said Davis. Their Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre in Cape Mudge Village has a treasure trove of historical potlatch masks, cloaks and rattles.

We Wai Kai First Nation recently bought a Shell gas station with its accompanying convenience store. They own the Quinsan Hotel, a liquor store, a dock for cruise ships and a shipyard for repairs.

On Quadra Island their Kwagiulth Museum and Cultural Centre is a thriving tourist attraction. And, “We never have a vacancy during the summer in our RV campground,” said Davis.

Currently the We Wai Kai First Nation has a health clinic, school, learning centre, head start program, wellness centre, pre-school and day care, an economic development department, several other business and no social housing.

In describing his band’s continuous success, Chief Davis said that they have a council of elders that oversees their own council to make sure that everything goes well.
“We have an accountant. Our financial policies are strict and money earned from businesses is reinvested for the band. He added that the policy is “to look ahead as our ancestors did, to ensure success for seven generation.”

For the future, Chief Davis said, “Our current and most important goal is education for our youth.”