To Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) members and partners,

Thank you to the ITAC members and partners who have sent letters of support to the Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism, the Honourable Rechie Valdez, since May. The ITAC letter of support campaign has been powerful, and its main objective is calling for ISED and the Government of Canada to stabilize investments for Indigenous tourism in Canada.

This remains a long-standing issue facing the current and future growth of Indigenous tourism in Canada. The non-Indigenous tourism industry’s growth and evolution was built on public investments that remain in place on an annual basis. Public taxpayer funding supports hundreds of non-Indigenous tourism organizations and thousands of staff, more than 99 per cent of them non-Indigenous, throughout Canada.

This network is important and effective, which is why ITAC was building a similar governance and operational strategy to keep growing Indigenous tourism and to ensure Canada would be the world-leading destination for it. Unfortunately, the Government of Canada and the network of provincial and federal tourism ministers do not yet understand the value of an Indigenous-led approach, and ITAC and several of our Indigenous members and partners are not provided the annual public funding to build our industry as effectively or in the same manner. This is an uncomfortable truth of the tourism industry in Canada and around the world.

The government has written back

This past week the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) began writing to the members and partners who sent letters of support. Click here to read an example of the ISED template letter.

Since last week ITAC has been inundated with members frustrated by these letters and seeking our guidance. We are therefore providing this letter of clarification so members and partners can better understand the overall situation, should they choose to continue raising their written concerns with ISED and the Government of Canada.

What the letters say

ISED has indicated two concerns as its justification for no ongoing sustainable support for ITAC.

The first is the outstanding Micro and Small Business Support (MSBS) project payments. We want to reassure ITAC members that we are complying with and supporting the audit process that has just been initiated. This is despite having no funding or resources to properly respond. This action by ISED continues to dismiss the reality of chronic underfunding, which created insolvency for ITAC after three years of major investment reductions. ITAC was created with the full support of the Government of Canada in 2015 and remains very reliant on federal funding as a core basis. ITAC has advocated for years, with strategies, research and specific needs to invest for Canada. These efforts were ignored, and our funding was left year to year, with the threat of no funding each year since 2015.

The second is ISED’s reference to $50 million in support over the last three years (2023 to 2026) for Indigenous tourism in Canada, implying that Canada has invested adequate and sustainable funding. These are important investments, but this general statement requires context and comparison.

Putting the $50 million in context

ITAC was not provided $50 million in direct investment. This figure references several federal investments that are not aligned, nor coordinated, through ITAC and a national Indigenous tourism strategy. Here are some key points.

ITAC was funded through three main federal funding streams worth an estimated $22 million over the last three years. That $22 million was reduced year over year, and there was a 100 per cent reduction in federal investment support as of April 1, 2026.

ISED directed and invested $16 million of the stated $50 million to the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association (NACCA) to deliver the Signature Indigenous Tourism Experiences Stream (SITES) program. ITAC was opposed to this approach and was disappointed that $16 million was redirected to NACCA in 2024.

Instead of ITAC leading and implementing this initiative, NACCA created a new “tourism” committee that was hand-selected. There have been a reported 17 projects funded, from $500,000 up to $1.25 million each, with no public application process. Several provinces and territories did not have Indigenous tourism representation on this committee, and questions remain about how projects were identified and selected. ITAC did not participate on this committee and raised concerns about the process on several occasions, because of its disconnection from the ITAC national Indigenous tourism strategy.

The SITES program did not have an open public application process, and the committee members’ connections with approved SITES projects raise serious questions about fairness, transparency and potential conflicts of interest.

This ISED approach in 2024, delivered through NACCA, created the genesis of the latest division in the Indigenous tourism industry. Key NACCA SITES committee members went on to create the Indigenous Coalition of Tourism Champions, which has been vocal in seeking the demise of ITAC for the last three years.

The remainder of the $50 million, which ITAC estimates at $12 million, was administered through the non-Indigenous regional development agencies, which benefits local Indigenous tourism businesses and partners. ITAC has no way to validate these investments.

The comparison that matters

Federal investment in the broader tourism industry did not decline at the same rate as the losses for Indigenous tourism. Several programs are still available that profess to support Indigenous tourism, but these initiatives are non-Indigenous-led, and ITAC is aware of their reduced success. The following are key examples of overall tourism investment by comparison.

Destination Canada was funded $463.8 million between 2023 and 2026, with only a 2 per cent reduction beginning in 2026.

ISED funded the Tourism Growth Fund with an additional $108 million distributed through its regional development agencies in 2024 to 2026. This program has been enhanced, and the regional development agencies have other complementary programs to support tourism businesses.

ISED and the non-Indigenous tourism industry also leverage other funding support with provincial and territorial partners through their ministries of tourism, finance and others. There is a revenue-generating tax system that sustains marketing and development initiatives through the major municipal and regional destination marketing organizations (DMOs) across Canada.

Every province and territory has one major DMO, with budgets ranging from $5 million to $60 million on average. There are an estimated 70 additional DMO organizations across several of Canada’s major cities. These DMOs are funded through local accommodation taxes, which are reinvested to support tourism, development and the marketing of their respective locations.

These annual taxes raised by the tourism industry, along with provincial and territorial funding, are estimated at over $500 million per year across Canada. This includes investment in core and administrative operations, marketing and important development work. It is also important to note that Indigenous communities and our various Indigenous governments are not eligible for these tax programs.

Where this leaves us

ITAC does not want to debate with ISED or the Government of Canada, and ITAC is not trying to posture or vilify any of the federal political parties. However, ITAC wants members and partners to understand that the ISED letters are highly unfair and dismiss the systemic barriers, the unfair playing field and the challenges Indigenous tourism continues to face in Canada.

Indigenous tourism is important to the entire economy and has untapped potential to help grow tourism throughout Canada. Demand from domestic and international markets remains strong. However, Indigenous tourism must be Indigenous-led and must include sustainable investment for marketing, development, leadership and partnership. Canada is failing in this regard and is now doing its best to destroy ITAC under the guise of defending the prior use of public funding, even as ITAC became insolvent because of the massive investment reductions from 2023 to 2026. This change in policy will contribute to the loss of Indigenous tourism jobs and the direct and indirect economic benefits they generate throughout Canada.

ITAC needs solutions and leadership from the Honourable Rechie Valdez and ISED. Sadly, their current approach and strategy have the objective of removing ITAC. These negative results are already being realized, and there is currently no active Indigenous-led tourism strategy for Canada. There are no active international or domestic Indigenous tourism marketing campaigns this summer with the specific focus of increasing customers for ITAC members. Worse yet, there is no ongoing action to continue addressing branding and market readiness for the 2,750 Indigenous tourism businesses that research tells us are at the heart of consumer interest in authentic Indigenous tourism. The loss of The Original Original program and branding cannot be understated; this is a major issue for consumers.

By contrast, the non-Indigenous tourism industry has received consistent annual public investment from federal, provincial and territorial governments to sustain and maintain the marketing of Canada domestically and internationally. ITAC estimates these combined public investments totalled over $2 billion during the same period in which ISED identifies $50 million for Indigenous tourism.

Members and partners, ITAC hopes this insight conveys our collective deep frustration and disappointment with ISED and the Government of Canada. ITAC expected a fair relationship with Canada, but these letters sadly demonstrate the latest deflection and seek to create misinformation rather than solve problems.

ITAC thanks members and partners for your ongoing support. In closing: while ISED celebrates and vindicates its position to dismiss ITAC through $50 million in support for Indigenous tourism, the broader industry carried on with over $2 billion in support over the last three years, from federal, provincial, territorial and municipal investment and ongoing sustained programs, to ensure the stability of the non-Indigenous tourism industry. This is why Indigenous tourism in Canada faces such incredible hurdles.

This is systemic discrimination on display.

With gratitude,

Keith Henry President and CEO Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada