Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), (Vancouver, BC) – The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) wants to address recent misinformation circulating that may have reached its national membership. ITAC has concerns about ongoing efforts by Indigenous Tourism Ontario (ITO) and Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC) to undermine and dismantle ITAC’s national strategy – working towards a goal of making Canada the world leader in Indigenous tourism by 2030. These actions have created dissension and mistrust and have tarnished ITAC’s reputation.
Our Vision and Achievements
ITAC was founded on a vision for a new national Indigenous tourism model and continues to collaborate with the federal government’s tourism growth strategy. Research from 2015 highlighted the need to take a coordinated approach to Indigenous tourism – this included a need to develop a network of provincial and territorial Indigenous tourism organizations to coordinate the national Indigenous tourism strategy. Since 2020, ITAC has delivered more than $2.9 million in direct financial support to Indigenous provincial and territorial tourism organizations.
In 2015, there were only three Indigenous tourism bodies: ITBC, Yukon First Nations Cultural & Tourism Association, and Indigenous Tourism Quebec. Today, thanks to ITAC’s investments and support through various fundraising efforts, there are now eight additional Indigenous-led tourism industry organizations plus the establishment of the Indigenous Culinary of Associated Nations (ICAN).
ITAC focuses on creating partnerships between associations, organizations, government departments and industry leaders from across Canada to support the growth of Indigenous tourism in Canada. ITAC is also the national voice for authentic Indigenous tourism, leadership, partnerships, marketing and development.
Misleading Actions about the ITDF
ITBC has been misleading its board and members in British Columbia about the Indigenous Tourism Destination Fund (ITDF) in its first year, falsely claiming that the ITDF was solely to fund ITAC staff and core costs. ITAC has recently received correspondence where ITBC claims that they were not recipients of ITDF – which ITAC has clarified that they were in fact recipients of the fund through their provincial allocation, something ITBC did not ask for clarification on before making this statement. The total amount received by ITBC was $29,126 in 2023-24.
In its inaugural year, the ITDF funds were allocated through provincial and territorial partnerships reaching $232,000, facilitating development and direct contribution support across various initiatives. This included investments to the provincial and territorial Indigenous tourism organizations through direct investment to their operating costs or support for programming to members.
Each province and territory is unique, and if ITBC truly cared about a strong national voice, its staff and leaders would cease creating tension with federal partners and within the Indigenous tourism network. ITBC’s actions harm the overall vision for other provinces and territories. This behaviour has continued by emails forwarded to ITAC on July 11th.
Issues with Funding Administration
ITO and ITBC collaborated with ISED to ensure an additional $10 million of the new Signature Indigenous Tourism Experiences Stream (SITES) would be administered through the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA), which would provide administrative support. The new SITES program is funded as part of Federal Budget 2022 with the Indigenous Tourism Fund announcement of $20 million, which was advocated for by ITAC originally. The Government of Canada has taken more than 2 years to advance this funding. The SITES funds should have been allocated fairly to benefit the entire Indigenous tourism industry from coast to coast to coast. This was the original vision of ITAC to implement the Indigenous Tourism Fund originally named the Stabilization Investment Program. Instead, Canada has delayed this funding for years and now ITO and ITBC are leveraging the new SITES opportunity to select a handful of projects in Canada, with no open application process or transparency for Indigenous tourism projects to apply.
Efforts for Collaboration
Despite ITO’s behaviour, ITAC has continually encouraged ITO to engage at the national table since 2020. ITAC has attempted to resolve the issues via email with offers and no response from ITO leadership. ITAC has continued to update members on the progress with key updates including a direct email to members on November 2,2020 and another update November 2023 ITAC also invited ITO to be a partner of the 2024 International Indigenous Tourism Conference in Ottawa. Unfortunately, ITO advised its industry and members not to attend.
In the absence of a functional relationship, ITAC has contracted project support to insure that Ontario Indigenous tourism businesses are supported.
A Call for Unity
ITAC’s national board and management remain committed to supporting Indigenous tourism growth and success from coast to coast to coast. Since 2015, the association has worked tirelessly to lead a professional Indigenous-led tourism industry focused on marketing, development, leadership, and partnerships. This has resulted in $24.3 million in Indigenous tourism funding from numerous funding partners, committed to the growth of the Indigenous tourism industry in Canada.
Now, more than ever, we need to unite and ensure a single, strong voice to address the needs of Indigenous tourism in Canada. We encourage Indigenous tourism members and provincial territorial Indigenous tourism organizations to come together to make Canada the world leader in Indigenous tourism by 2030. This can only be done if we all work together. This includes a call to action to the Government of Canada to align with this approach by streamlining long term, sustainable and predictable funding for the Indigenous tourism industry through ITAC and the tourism industry at large to support the ITDF.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication to Indigenous tourism
How Can You Support ITAC
- Complete the member template letter provided here.
- Sign up for the ITDF
- Register and Sponsor the 2025 International Indigenous Tourism Conference
If you have any questions, please email Sheldon McRae, ITAC Corporate Communications Manager at: Sheldon@IndigenousTourism.ca