New mentorship program aimed at Indigenous tourism in N.W.T.

With tourism in the N.W.T. on the rise, the territorial government has unveiled a new program to help windfall profits end up in Indigenous hands.

The $50,000 Aboriginal Tourism Champions Program, announced this week, is meant to support entrepreneurs and tourism experts in communities across the territory who are willing to mentor others and help develop local tourism opportunities.

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"The program provides funding assistance, essentially to help people organize communities, meetings, the hard costs of actually getting people together to talk about and move forward on tourism projects," says Richard Zieba, the government's director of parks and tourism.

"We can see that people working for band councils may want to apply, people with a particular passion or vision for tourism, who can see the benefits of tourism to achieve those community goals and objectives," he adds.

Once someone is appointed as a champion, they'll be able to access up to $5,000 annually for expenses such as travel and meeting space.They'll also receive honoraria and training.

"Ideally there'd be a champion in every community," says Zieba, although he expects the program will attract between 10 to 15 people when it launches next year.

Local interest

Bobby Drygeese, who runs B Dene Adventures in Dettah, says there's significant interest among potential entrepreneurs, especially around Yellowknife, in cultural tourism.

"There's a lot of people asking for help, for where do they start, when can they set up, where can they go to, and which departments and government guys to talk to," says Drygeese.

He isn't well acquainted with the new program yet, but says there's definitely a need for "more workshops, more mentoring programs, more staff at [the Department Industry, Tourism and Investment], more staff at other places they can help out."

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Would he become a champion? Drygeese says he isn't sure yet, but he does have advice for other entrepreneurs.

"Don't be shy and just go get information and see what you have to fill out, this and that, and stayed focus on what you want to do, what the plan is, your idea, your vision and your business plan."