Traplines and 'scat tours': Yukon communities talk cultural tourism

A program in Deline, N.W.T. is being discussed in Yukon this week as more First Nations entrepreneurs consider opportunities in "cultural tourism": a growing sector which lets tourists experience Indigenous culture and traditional ways.

Jackie Frederick is a founder of Destination Deline, which offers package trips in which visitors learn about traditional medicine, moose hide tanning, berry picking and more.

This week in Whitehorse she told delegates at an economic development conference that there's growing demand for cultural experiences — allowing tourists to "walk alongside, do what you do."

"People will pay to play bingo with you! Because they want to hear you speak the language, watch your kids speak the language and do what you do, which is 'foreign,'" Frederick said.  

She says cultural tourism in Canadian Indigenous communities is "the biggest-growing market segment in the world right now." 

Former Chief launches tourism business

The "Partnership for Prosperity" conference has attracted delegates from as far as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Vancouver Island. There are also many Yukoners there, some of whom have already launched tourism ventures of their own.

James Allen is a former chief of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. He's now a tour operator with Shakat Tun Adventures which offers tours near Kluane Lake.

Allen says the business has a 32-foot yurt, four cabins, a cook tent and smokehouse for a meeting place.  Last year he welcomed 151 people from China alone.

One tour involves checking his trapline. 

"I have a number of set-ups. I can show how I trap, but also some set-ups of traditional traps like the deadfall trap, the sinew snares for rabbits, the gopher snares," he said. 

Relatives help with moose hide tanning and a medicinal plants walking tour. There's even a "scat tour," where visitors learn to recognize animal droppings.

Allen says his business is responding to a changing market, where younger tourists want more "interactive" experiences.  

"When we started out just last year, I didn't realise that we were the product, how we lived. The thing we've done in our lives is the product, it's not just us giving them the tour," he said.

"Younger people are really looking at hands-on adventures — learning about culture, learning about how people live. To me, that's exciting because it opens a lot of doors to us."

Culture as commodity  

Reginald Clark, who represents the Teslin Development Corporation's economic development group, says there are benefits to cultural tourism, but communities must agree to place limits.

One example, he says, would be a limit on performing drum dances. 

"It's something people are always seeking. We can put a stop or start it whenever we want. It's all a debate on what the community really wants, I guess," he said. 

Jackie Frederick, from Destination Deline, says that community already sets limits, with tourist visits only happening a few times a year. 

"They don't want an invasion," she said.