The Aboriginal Newspaper of British
Columbia & Yukon
Top News - May - 2003
Published May 12, 2003
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Opportunities for Aboriginal tourism increasing
Hockey players put in effort
School transformedThis is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the May 2003 issue of Raven's Eye. If you are not receiving your own copy of Raven's Eye, then you have missed out on a lot.
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Opportunities for Aboriginal tourism increasing
Joan Taillon, Raven's Eye Writer, WinnipegThe fifth annual National Aboriginal Tourism Conference and Tradeshow was held in Winnipeg April 23 to 25 at the Radisson Hotel downtown. British Columbia's First Nations were prominent among the attendees at the event hosted by Aboriginal Tourism Team Canada, an organization comprised of government and First Nations members.
In a conference packed with workshops, craftspeople and entrepreneurs, and showcasing a large cultural delegation of singers and dancers, one of the highlights on the business side was the presentation of findings from a national study on Aboriginal Tourism. Dwayne Hounsell, board chairman of Aboriginal Tourism Team Canada (ATTC), presented the key elements. The $155,000 study completed by BearingPoint (formerly KPMG) and Goss Gilroy & Associates touched on the trends, troubles and triumphs in all aspects of Aboriginal tourism.
It drew its conclusions in part from a telephone survey of 249 Aboriginal businesses in 2001. The remainder of the study was based on a literature review, case studies, interviews with tour companies, tourism associations and others, and surveys of Aboriginal tourism operators.
The study found that Aboriginal tourism generates more economic activity than was previously believed.
In 2001, economic activity resulting from Aboriginal tourism, including casinos, totalled $4.9 billion, of which $2.9 billion, or 59 per cent of the total, resulted from tourism expenditures.
Aboriginal tourism businesses' direct contribution to the GDP is $290 million, and if casinos are included it is $596 million.
The survey also reveals Aboriginal tourism results in about 13,000 jobs, based on full-time equivalents.
Dwayne Hounsell's speech pointed up the need for predominantly small Aboriginal tourism businesses to partner with their non-Aboriginal counterparts. This would help solve some of the problems or weaknesses identified by the study. The areas needing continued effort are capacity building and tourism awareness; increasing the number of market-ready products; accessing markets and financing; and entrepreneurial skills training in business, hospitality, product packaging and marketing.
The study supported the popular perception that there is a growing demand for ecotourism, adventure and cultural tourism, which is the focus of many First Nations economic development initiatives now. In addition, product development opportunities exist for restaurants and accommodations, outdoor cultural tours and interpretive centres. Finally, the study points up an interest on the part of tourism operators to offer short (up to a day) urban-based tourist attractions that are easily accessible to city dwellers.
Hounsell said a final report of the findings will be available this spring, and the results will be used by ATTC to formulate a three-year strategy on Aboriginal tourism development.
Hockey players put in effort
Sam Laskaris, Raven's Eye Writer, AkwesasneChalk it up as a great learning experience. That's how members of the British Columbia boys' entry felt following their participation at this year's National Aboriginal Hockey Championships.
The second annual Canadian tournament for Native players was staged April 27 through May 3 in Akwesasne.
But this marked the first year a British Columbia squad took part. And unlike several other provinces, British Columbia opted to send just a boys' club to the national tourney.
The boys' division featured eight clubs. Six other teams participated in the girls' category.
On the ice, the British Columbia squad did not get the results it would have hoped for, winning just one of its five games.
"I wouldn't say I'm happy (with the scores) but I'm proud of how the team came together," said Lennie Adolph, a Dog Creek resident who served as the head coach.
Adolph said the majority of the team players didn't know one another before the tournament began.
There was also another obstacle to overcome. "It took a while to get them used to the time difference," Adolph said of his players. "And we had all morning games."
Thus, when team members woke up at 6 a.m. to prepare for their matches, some of the players' bodies were telling them it was only 3 a.m. on the West Coast.
"We don't have any excuses, though, for the way we played," Adolph said. "The boys did as well as they could."
The team lost all three of its round-robin matches. British Columbia was downed 4-2 by New Brunswick, 10-4 by Ontario North (there was also an Ontario South club), and 9-7 by Manitoba.
The British Columbia side was then edged 4-3 by Saskatchewan, the eventual gold medallists, in its quarter-final match-up.
The British Columbia boys played one game after that. They hammered Nova Scotia 11-4 in a match that decided seventh and eighth place at the tourney.
British Columbia captain Amedee Marshall admitted it was tough playing the last game. That's because a moment of silence was held beforehand for the father of Nova Scotia netminder Rod Christmas. The elder Christmas, who attended the tourney, died of a heart attack the day before.
"We decided to go and play it out," Marshall said of the match against Nova Scotia. "But there was really no hitting in the game."
Marshall added it was evident the Nova Scotia players had their thoughts elsewhere.
"They really didn't have their hearts into it," he said. "You could tell that."
Despite its lopsided victory over Nova Scotia, Marshall, a 17-year-old centre, said his team's tournament highlight came in the quarter-finals against Saskatchewan.
"I thought we were going to upset them," said Marshall, a Hazelton resident.
British Columbia overcame an early 3-0 deficit to make a close game of their battle with their Western Canadian counterparts.
Saskatchewan went on to edge Manitoba 3-2 in overtime in the gold-medal game.
Marshall added his teammates were pleased they also had a relatively close game against Manitoba, the other finalist.
"We're a little disappointed because we knew by the end how well we could have done," Marshall said.
Although their team didn't win any hardware, two British Columbia players were honored for their efforts. Both Marhall and Chris Desjarlais were among 17 individuals named to the tournament's all-star team.
All the all-stars also received invitations to attend a free Aboriginal high-performance training camp, which will be staged July 14 to 20 in Ottawa.
Meanwhile, although no official announcement has been made, it is expected that next year's national tournament will be held in Prince George.
If that's the case, British Columbia is expected to ice both girls' and boys' teams.
"It's going to be great," Adolph said of the anticipated 2004 tourney. "Just by going there this year we learned a lot. And we plan on doing this a little bit differently, but not too much differently."
So do those possible changes include having later start times for games involving British Columbia squads?
"We'll see," Adolph said. "We've got all year to figure that one out."
School transformed
Matt Ross, Raven's Eye Writer, CranbrookAfter sitting vacant for more than 30 years, a former residential school has been resurrected on the St. Mary's Indian Band reserve near Cranbrook.
While significant refurbishing was completed to turn the residential school into a four-star resort, certain features were kept to serve as a reminder of the building's previous use. The stone façade, containing crosses on all four sides, and the thousands of bricks inside are as sturdy today as when they were formed during the original construction in 1910. Along the main hallway that separates the dining room and the lounge are three dozen black and white photographs portraying the former school's activities.
The highlight of the historical renovation, however, will be the completion this spring of the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Interpretive Centre. As the only Aboriginally operated museum in the Kootenays, the centre will house two art galleries.
Overseeing the entire project is Chief Sophie Pierre of the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal Council, which owns the resort. St. Eugene's was one of the few residential schools that was spared the wrecking ball, and although there was some initial hesitation by the community towards turning this piece of tragic history into a tourism site, Pierre said that destroying the building would not have healed the wounds.
"That wouldn't have been a type of healing because it wouldn't have addressed what the individuals were feeling," said Pierre, herself a student at St. Eugene's Mission School for nine years.
The new hotel is magnificent, with the Rocky Mountains encircling St. Mary's reserve.
St. Eugene's Mission School closed its doors 1970 but on Jan. 10, 2003 the building reopened, completing the third and final phase of a $40 million tourism project. With 125 rooms, including 25 premium suites, the Delta St. Eugene Mission is now welcoming the public into this century-old building.
Tours are conducted by Isaac Birdstone. One of about 30 graduates of the last class in 1970, Birdstone never envisioned that St. Eugene's would become a place of hospitality.
"I never thought I'd see the day that there would be elevators, and cement under the floor," he said.