Award-winning work that shows what Indigenous tourism can do, and what is at stake
To our members, partners and the Indigenous tourism community:
I want to begin this week with good news. At the 2026 National Magazine Awards: B2B, held in Toronto on June 5, ITAC’s Nations magazine was awarded the Silver medal for Best Issue.
The Best Issue award recognizes the best overall issue of a publication measured against its editorial mandate, and it is given for the general excellence of an entire editorial team in producing a single issue. Nations stood among the strongest titles in the country and came home with a national medal.
This matters far beyond a trophy. Nations is national, Indigenous-led storytelling of a kind no other organization in Canada is positioned to produce. It is researched, written and shaped by Indigenous contributors, and it carries Indigenous tourism to readers, buyers and partners with a quality that holds its own on a national stage. A juried panel of Canada’s magazine industry looked at the field and recognized that work. This is precisely what ITAC does for Indigenous tourism in Canada — work that is national in reach, Indigenous in voice and impossible to replicate from anywhere else.
It is also a clear illustration of what is at risk. Award-winning, Indigenous-led work like Nations does not appear on its own. It exists because ITAC exists. Without stable funding for ITAC, this is the kind of work that simply stops — not because the talent disappears, but because the national organization that convenes and sustains it is forced to go quiet. A Silver medal one year and silence the next is not a hypothetical. It is the choice in front of us.
Credit for this honour belongs to Zane Buchanan, editor of Nations, and to the team of Indigenous contributors who brought the issue to life. On behalf of ITAC, thank you. You have shown the country the standard Indigenous tourism sets for itself, and we could not be prouder to share this recognition with you.
Funding update
There is no significant change to report on the funding file this week. We are continuing our discussions with the social-impact funder, and we still expect those funds to begin flowing this month. I will share more the moment there is something firm to share.
New letters of support
The letters have not stopped arriving, and every one of them strengthens the case. This week brought a further wave from Indigenous operators across the country and from industry partners. One of them captured the stakes in a single line. James Marlowe, owner-operator of River’s East Arm Tours, who offers cultural tours in the Dene Nation in the Northwest Territories, wrote to Minister Valdez:
“I fear if we do not have ITAC to lead us, Indigenous tourism will become invisible once again.”
Below is a sample of the letters that arrived this week from members and partners who have given us permission to share their letters publicly:
- Cindy Wilgosh, North Thompson Aboriginal Cultural Centre Society, British Columbia
- Tim Mearns, Painted Warriors, Alberta
- Tracey Klettl, Painted Warriors, Alberta
- James Marlowe, River’s East Arm Tours, Northwest Territories
- Colleen Sweet, iTOTEM Analytics, British Columbia
All of this week’s letters are also available as a single PDF: Letters of Support for ITAC (June 10, 2026).
Please keep the letters coming
If you have not yet written, this is the week to do it. We have formally asked the federal government for a meeting to find a way forward together, and as of today that request has gone unanswered. The letters arriving at ITAC and copied to the Minister’s office are what keep this issue from being set aside — they are visible, they are on the record and they are working.
So I am asking again, in plain terms: write to the Honourable Rechie Valdez, Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism. Tell her what Indigenous tourism means to your community and what would be lost if ITAC cannot continue. If you have already written, pass this to a colleague, a supplier or a partner and ask them to add their voice. A national award shows what we are capable of together. Your letter helps make sure there is a next chapter to celebrate.
With pride and resolve,
Keith Henry
President and CEO
Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
Send your letter of support to:
The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)
House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6