Members on camera at RVC 2026, plus new letters of support and recent media coverage

To our members, partners and the Indigenous tourism community:

Rendez-vous Canada 2026 wrapped up last week in Toronto. For many years, ITAC’s Indigenous Pavilion and our on-site events and activations have been a highlight of RVC — a place where Indigenous operators from across the country could connect with travel trade buyers, where culture was at the centre of the show floor and where Canada’s national identity as a destination was reflected back authentically.

This year, with ITAC unfunded, none of that happened. The absence was felt by our members, by travel trade and by the broader industry, and many of them said so on the record.

Brenda Holder, ITAC Vice-Chair, was at RVC throughout the conference. Over the course of the event, Brenda gathered video testimonials from Indigenous tourism operators about what ITAC means to their businesses, what was missing from RVC without ITAC there and what the loss of ITAC would mean for Indigenous tourism in Canada.

The individual videos are linked below (a link to all the videos in a single compilation is at the bottom of this email). Every operator in this list took time out of a busy trade show to speak on camera about ITAC’s national role and what is at stake right now. We are grateful to each of them:

These are the voices of operators who have built their businesses with ITAC’s support and who are now being asked to navigate a moment of national uncertainty without that support in place. Their message is consistent: ITAC’s national role cannot be replaced by any other organization, and the loss of it is already being felt.

New letters of support

The letters keep coming. This week brought a further wave of support from Indigenous members, national partners and international peers. I want to feature one of them at length.

WestJet wrote to Minister Valdez on May 29 in support of ITAC and continued federal investment in Indigenous tourism. Jacqui McGillivray, WestJet’s Executive Vice-President and Chief People Officer, wrote:

“WestJet remains firmly committed to Indigenous tourism and to the partnerships that make these experiences possible, and we believe that continued federal investment in ITAC represents a high-impact strategy that advances economic growth, reconciliation, and the long-term strength of Canada’s visitor economy. We therefore respectfully urge the Government of Canada to restore stable, multi-year funding to ITAC so that Indigenous tourism can continue to thrive and contribute to a more inclusive and resilient tourism sector for all Canadians.”

Below is a sample of the new letters that members and partners have given us permission to share publicly. Many more are arriving each week.

All nine letters are also available as a single PDF: Letters of Support for ITAC (June 2, 2026).

Recent media coverage

Two travel-trade publications have covered ITAC’s situation in recent weeks: Travel Market Report on CATO’s letter of support and Travel Press on the May 8 update. The industry is paying attention.

Please keep writing

If you have not yet written to the Honourable Rechie Valdez, Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism, please do so this week. Every letter helps. If you have already written, please ask a colleague, a supplier or a partner to do the same. The letters arriving at ITAC and copied to the Minister’s office are what is keeping this case alive at the federal level, and we will continue to share them as they come in.

Standing with you,

Keith Henry
President and CEO
Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada

Watch the videos

Send your letter of support to:

The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)

House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

rechie.valdez@parl.gc.ca