Aboriginal People and Other Canadians: Shaping New Relationships

Chapter 7 Icons, Flagships and Identities: Aboriginal Tourism in British Columbia

Chapter 7 Icons, Flagships and Identities: Aboriginal Tourism in British Columbia, Western Canada1 Heather Norris Nicholson Welcome to our world. Come share our pride.2 Catch the Native spirit.3 Introduction Across Canada, web-sites, brochures and billboards invite browsers and passers-by to enter the distinctive cultural worlds of Canada's First Nations. From luxury resort hotels and archaeological sites to whale watching and powwows, Aboriginal Canada has become increasingly visible to the tourist. The emergence of Aboriginal interest in tourism has brought new diversity and impetus to an industry long associated with mountains, moose, Mounties and pioneer history. The traditions and distinctive artistic heritage of indigenousmaterial culture seems to offer precisely the ingredients formerly lacking in Canada's tourism appeal. These Aboriginal tourist-scapes of Canada should not be dismissed as further expressions of commodified cultures and economic assimilation into mainstream society (Cohen, 1993). Undoubtedly, tourism activity uses culture as a purchasable commodity and its encounters legitimise forms of cultural voyeurism, but can it also fulfil other goals? When tourism initiatives are situated within indigenous struggles for political autonomy, economic self-sufficiency and culturalrecognition, their complex role within the negotiation of contemporary Aboriginal experiences and identities emerge. However, the elaborate government structure, which has 187 Heather Norris Nicholson evolved to promote indigenous tourism, still encodes other, more deep-rooted and problematic aspects of Canada's relationship with its First Nations. This discussion identifies some of the multi-layered messages offered by Aboriginal tourism with reference to Cowichan Native Village on Vancouver Island. This site is set within a consideration of indigenous tourism in British Columbia and the overall growth of Canada's tourism industry. Marketing policies testify to broader political and cultural processes and disclose significant shifts in how Aboriginal people define themselves and are defined. The conclusion relates Aboriginal tourism to some of the wider issues facing both mainstream society and First Nations, and comments on tourism in the light of recommendations set out in the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP, 1996c). Canadian Tourism and Indigenous Involvement According to the World Travel and Tourism Council in 1996, tourism employs approximately 10 percent of the world's workforce in 204 million jobs and is now claimed to be the world's largest industry. Although the industry's decidedly complex nature means that precise figures may be difficult to verify, its competitive and volatile nature is indisputable. Notwithstanding tourism's susceptibility to economic fluctuations at both domestic and international level, governments favour tourism as an engine to economic development or diversification. Canada is no exception and, although the industry is marked by sharp swings which synchronise with the highs and lows of economic and business cycles, over half a million Canadians were directly employed in tourism in 1997. Total tourism spending reached $44 billion in 1997 and pumped nearly $8.8 billion into the Canadian economy in the first quarter of 1998. Within British Columbia, tourism's contribution to the provincial economy was shown by the $8.5 million spent by 21million overnight visitors during 1997.4 Fears of losing its share of the global market through the 1990s prompted Canada's tourism industry—at federal and provincial level—to widenboth the image and appeal of all destinations. Changes in consumer tastes, leisure activities and tourists themselves—for instance, more mobile retirees and baby boomers with disposable income in search of speciality activities—placed growing emphasis 188 Icons, Flagships and Identities: Aboriginal Tourism in British Columbia, Western Canada upon nature, adventure tourism and cultural encounters ranging from historic places to lifestyles. Pragmatism and economic opportunism thus prompted both mainstream society and First Nations to greater involvement in tourism activity. Arguably, beyond its economic appeal, tourism offers a meeting ground within which new identities and aspirations may be negotiated. Yet tourism activity seems fraught with the potential for collision between conflicting values both within and beyond Aboriginal communities, the dangers of collusion between different interest groups and the potential for unacceptable forms of compromise. Notwithstanding the economic expediency evident at different political levels, indigenous tourism is also claimed as a means to community development and a means to achieve cross-cultural understanding. But might the present enthusiasm for indigenous tourism provoke commercial rivalries among adjacent communities or serve up specially constructed tourist versions of Aboriginal identity which will hinder rather than foster inter-cultural understanding? Are such concerns minor in comparison to tourism's...