Tag Archives: Indigenous Tourism BC

Could shifting gears from forestry to tourism pay the bills?

By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Jordan River, B.C. – At the mouth of Jordan River in Pacheedaht First Nation territory on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, the tide is pushing. Heat from a February sun warms the face as sets of friendly waves roll in under the backdrop of the Olympic Mountains. Parking at the day-use area of this regional park is squeezed on this fine Friday away from the screen. 

A tugboat called Miss Jordan cruises by a bob of surfers, dragging a line of thick rope towards a raft of floating logs, otherwise known as a log boom. Some of the surfers catch a wave towards the cobble shoreline and exit the water.

“They’ll run right over us if we don’t get out of the way,” says a stand-up paddler. 

“But it is a nice day for it,” he concedes.

Continue reading Could shifting gears from forestry to tourism pay the bills?

Canada’s oceans provide billions in value beyond fish

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada’s healthy oceans are worth billions more than what can simply be extracted from them.

Oceans and coastal ecosystems generated at minimum $7.1 billion in benefits in 2023, new figures from Statistics Canada suggest. 

Continue reading Canada’s oceans provide billions in value beyond fish

Indigenous tourism sector banks on domestic tourists

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Many Indigenous tourism providers in B.C. are still in limbo waiting for more information from provincial health authorities before making any concrete decisions about whether they’ll open or operate this summer. But others are forging ahead and cautiously optimistic as they bank on domestic tourists to tide them over until borders shuttered by COVID-19 open again.

Continue reading Indigenous tourism sector banks on domestic tourists