Tourism project gets go ahead

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Findings from a provincially funded study support the formation of Tourism Sliammon, an organization that will establish tourism partnerships in the region. The project was given the green light after the $40,000 study recognized the region's potential as a marine and backcountry destination.

Sliammon First Nation Chief Councillor L. Maynard Harry hopes that this project, which comes as part of Siammon's treaty negotiation process, will offer more career training opportunities for the community and possibly 20 new jobs.

"It's a very exciting area. It's new to Sliammon because we are basically a forestry- and fishery-based community," said Harry.

"We've done a bit of work on Tourism Sliammon and it's a concept that is still developing. We recognize the importance of tourism, not only in the area of profit, but also the importance of creating opportunities for community band members to start up small businesses or to enter management positions. Employment, training and profit is all important."

The challenge lies in creating and maintaining partnerships within and outside of the Sliammon community.

"I think we need to go outside the community and work with other operators. I think it's part of the marketing strategy to identify the competition and work with them, because I think they need us as much we need them," said Harry.

"We need to establish, build and maintain those relationships with our non-Native neighbours. The region needs to work together to enhance the opportunity in this area. Sliammon can't do it alone. We can't just throw money into the problem, I think we've done that too many times in the past. We need to throw capacity at the opportunity. That's money, talent and experience. It's just being in a position to handle the challenges in an effective manner."

One way Harry believes that this can be done is by putting Sliammon members in leadership roles.

"I think our younger people are quite a bright generation and we need to find the bright lights and put them in management positions. (But) part of the opportunity is the culture-a lot of the young people don't have the language or as much knowledge about the land or resources as the Elders do. We need to move away from the situation where we have non-Native managers and I think that's the ultimate goal."

Tourism Sliammon will be a first step in creating an industry that will minimize bad effects on the environment.

"The more less-travelled, the less impact there is on archaeological sites and cultural heritage resources. In the backcountry there is less physical evidence in those areas and it's easier for us to provide conditional approvals as opposed to forestry-related developments that decimate areas that are quite large," explained Harry.

Tourism Sliammon will also have close ties to the Lund Hotel purchased by the First Nation in 1999.

"It is a $4 million establishment that's going to form the hub of tourism activities, commercial recreation tenures, small business development and also other areas in hospitality development," explained Harry.

"In regards to studies that establish Tourism Sliammon or commercial recreation tenures, I think the benefits will come in a later point. But right now, in the area of hospitality and tourism, we are already reaping some of the benefits."

In addition to the Sliammon project, the Upper Similkameen Indian Band has also received $303,000 for a number of other economic development projects, including the establishment of a tourist attraction at the historic Mascot Mine site in Hedley. This project is expected to create 18 to 24 new jobs.

"Right now we are preparing the site to bring tourists up from Hedley where they will be visiting this incredible mine site, with historic mine buildings hanging 5,000 to 6,000 feet above the valley floor. As part of the project, we intend to build an interpretation centre that explains the relationships between people and rocks. Or people have used minerals such as ochre, and we want to look at the use of these minerals throughout," said Phillppe Batani, manager for the Upper Similkameen Indian Band.

"Hopefully it will be a major source of tourism revenue. It will take many years, but there is always going to be a lot work to be done. We are trying to develop the tourism industry to diversify away from the forestry business-not that we want to move away from that, because it is growing for us too, but we don't want to put all our eggs in one basket."

The province has allocated $26 million towards 124 economic development projects that promote First Nations participation in shellfish, aquaculture, tourism, forestry and oil and gas sectors, as well as the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.