Arviat Case Study email version

Arviat Community Ecotourism Case Study

Arviat Community Ecotourism Case Study Written by Mike Robbins the Tourism Company June 2015


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“Our guides were the real deal. At the apex of a thousand years of tradition of living off the land it showed. They were very generous with us, teachers by nature and by nuance. On many occasions travelling along at 40km/hr. our lead Inuit guide Jason would slow down and point at an owl, fox tracks or even a caribou in a landscape where we were all looking for the same things and notice nothing.” Mark Seth Lender, Professional photographer and frequent contributor to Living on Earth (Public Radio International)

Arviat Community Ecotourism Case Study Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Background: How ACE Came To Be .................................................................................................. 2 3. The Initial ACE Concept ......................................................................................................................... 7 4. The Development Process: The Importance of Momentum ....................................................... 11 5. The Business Model: Allowing Flexibility to Evolve .................................................................... 13

5.1 Organizational Structure ................................................................................................................... 13 5.2 Cultural Programs .............................................................................................................................. 17 5.3 Community Programs and Support Services ................................................................................ 18 5.4 Land Based Programs and Businesses ......................................................................................... 19 5.5 Marketing ............................................................................................................................................. 20 5.6 Funding Support ................................................................................................................................. 21

6. ACE Achievements to March 31st, 2014 ........................................................................................... 23 7. Lessons Learned: The Need for Sustained Tourism Development Resources and Support ............................................................................................................................................................ 27 Appendix ......................................................................................................................................................... 31

Year 1 (2009/10) – Planning for Tourism ................................................................................................ 31 Year 2 (2010/11) – The Program Takes Shape ..................................................................................... 32 Year 3 (2011/12) – The Evolving Business Model ................................................................................. 35 Year 4 (2012/13) – Capacity Building Continues ................................................................................... 40 Year 5 (2013/14) – Success and the End of CA IIBA Support ............................................................. 44


“I would highly recommend this trip to anyone interested in learning about Inuit culture, traditions and games. I learnt more about Inuit culture in this one-day tour than I would have by reading any textbook. The human interaction with both the Elders and the young people from the Arviat community was wonderful.” Sharyn Townsend, Australia, October 2011 (member of Australian tour group to Arviat)

Figure 1 Elder members of Qaggiqtiit


the Tourism Company

1. Introduction It is a story of passion, dedication and perseverance - of a remote Inuit community, with assistance from the Inuit land claim organization, determined to shape its future on its own terms. It is also a story of collaboration between Inuit, and specifically Arviarmiut (the people of Arviat), and non-Inuit tourism specialists working together with trust and mutual respect. This is the story of ACE - the Arviat Community Ecotourism Initiative. By March 31st 2014 after five years of work in planning and then developing market-ready products and experiences and capacity building within the community, Arviat was beginning to see results in the form of positive media coverage and prestigious awards, international tour operator relationships and tour group visits, all accomplished through a true community-based approach: tourism development with substantial control and involvement by the local community and with benefits largely remaining in the community. ACE was, and likely still is an initiative unprecedented in Nunavut from the perspective of comprehensive capacity building and training, and sustained application of resources over a five-year period. Tourism in the Canadian Arctic is still very much dominated by southern and non-Inuit owned and operated travel companies, resulting in high economic leakage out of the north. And yet the Inuit communities across the arctic urgently need new forms of income, employment and general economic development. Without the capacity for tourism (human resources, organizational structures and infrastructure) they are the least able to realize the full benefits offered in the fast growing tourism sector. It is the people and their culture, and the spectacular resources found within their traditional territories that are attracting the tourists that the southern companies are bringing north in growing numbers. This is certainly not to criticize the southern tour companies specialising in the north but it is simply to suggest that it is time to begin empowering the Inuit to take charge of their own tourism economy. The planning, development and initial operation of the Arviat Community Ecotourism program was funded largely through the Tourism Fund under the Conservation Areas Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement (CA IIBA) a land claim administered by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) which provided sustained resources for a period of five years. In April 2014 one month after the land claim funding ended ACE won one of the most prestigious prizes in the global tourism industry, the Tourism for Tomorrow Community Award through the World Travel and Tourism Council. Sadly, at around the same time, the ACE program ran into a major hurdle which brought the program to a standstill. As the initial five-year funding cycle was coming to a close it was recognized the ACE program needed further time to achieve financial sustainability. The contract for the consulting team assisting

“ACE has been a very big help to us. Before we were part of it we never planned that any of this that would happen in our life, but it has given us many opportunities and we have got to meet many new nice people – they always welcome in our home! ACE is always helping many Arviarmiut if they need help with making a business. It has given us and other people more pride and confidence to share other things now that we know people like these things.” Mark & Angie Eetak, ACE cooks and home visit hosts


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the ACE stakeholders ended on March 31, 2014. The Hamlet of Arviat had been engaged in the planning and development of the ACE program from the beginning and at this stage decided to take control of the program. Post March 2014 the Hamlet was unable to secure timely on going funding for the critical Tourism Coordinator position, a position directly reporting to the Economic Development Officer of the Hamlet since 2011. Key tourism deadlines like attendance at Canada’s premier trade show, Rendezvous Canada and other trade/consumer shows were missed and critical on-going communication with tour operator partners ended. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. the land claim organization had begun working towards a renegotiated land claim fund as early as January 2014 with a partial aim at least to allocate continuing funds to help sustain ACE as it was clearly recognised the program still needed on-going support for the Coordinator position and to help fund on-going training and marketing. More than a year passed without any commitment from the federal government on new funding through the CA IIBA. The gap in funding after March 2014 resulted in the loss of the individual who had been coordinating the program since 2011 and over the same period without any business and marketing support the two licensed outfitters affiliated with ACE let their business insurance and licenses lapse. These were critical pieces of the ACE program. The significant momentum that ACE had built over the years was lost. It remains to be seen whether the ACE program can be resurrected. This case study has been written in an effort to share the learning’s (both positive and negative) from the planning, development and eventual success of the Arviat Community Ecotourism program, and the unfortunate demise of the program in the spring of 2014.

2. Background: How ACE Came To Be In December 2008 the consulting team of David Pelly (Author, Researcher and Historian on the Arctic and Inuit) and Mike Robbins (the Tourism Company) was retained by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI, the Inuit land claims organization) and the three Regional Inuit Associations (RIA’s) to assist in developing a plan for a sum of money designated as the Inuit Tourism Providers Fund, received under the Conservation Areas Inuit Impact and Benefit Agreement (CA IIBA). Long term vision from those negotiating this land claim agreement resulted in a dedicated pool of money with an intended focus on tourism development in one or more of the 12 impacted communities (i.e. communities adjacent to the National Wildlife Preserves or Migratory Bird Sanctuaries). Following an initial assessment of the tourism prospects in all 12 communities the initial recommendation from the consultants was to focus the funds on several ‘best potential’ communities rather than distribute evenly amongst the 12 communities. With input and recommendations from the consultants, each of the three RIAs selected one ‘impacted’ community


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in their region to be the focus of the tourism development efforts. Some of the key considerations in selecting the communities are listed below:

o The current state of community tourism infrastructure; o Past experience with tourism; o Proximity and accessibility to market (i.e. travel distance, accessibility and cost); o Community interest and commitment to tourism; o Market awareness of community; o Strength of natural and cultural heritage resources/attractors.

The selected communities were felt to offer some of the more immediate tourism development opportunities in their respective region. In the Qikiqtani region Cape Dorset was selected on the strength of their Inuit arts presence and their expressed need for a Cultural Centre. In the Kitikmeot the community of Gjoa Haven was selected based on a growing cruise tourism sector and the fascinating history of the surrounding area in the heart of the Northwest Passage, combined with the community’s expressed interest in telling the NW Passage stories and realizing more local benefits from growing cruise tourism. In the Kivalliq Region the Hamlet of Arviat was selected based on world-class wildlife viewing opportunities combined with a rich cultural heritage and traditions, and a vibrant, living Inuit culture. There was also an expressed interest in community tourism. The overall objective of the assignment was then to identify tourism business opportunities in the three communities and outline a game plan to assist the communities in creating, marketing and selling market-ready tourism experiences over the following 5-year funding time frame. Incremental new tourism visitation was established as the major goal, while maximizing the local economic benefits. This article focuses on the Arviat tourism initiative. Arviat is a largely Inuit community accessible by air only (or boat in the summer months) situated on the west side of Hudson Bay with a population close to 3,000, 60% of whom are youth. There is little in the way of economic opportunity for most residents of Arviat, in a community plagued by social ills like poverty, low educational attainment levels, and unacceptably high youth suicide rates. The community was selected as a beneficiary for the tourism development funds for the following reasons:

Arviat is, or has: o One of the more traditional communities in Nunavut; o Excellent wildlife viewing opportunities; o Situated just north of Churchill Manitoba, a successful international tourism destination

that attracts close to 20,000 visitors every year; o One of the most southerly communities in Nunavut with good air access from

Winnipeg/Rankin Inlet or Winnipeg/Churchill;


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o Some past experience with tourism, and strong interest (identified as one of three priorities in Hamlet Economic Development Plan);

o Key individuals with entrepreneurial business ethic; o Urgent need for economic development and opportunities for youth.

Even in the early consultation stage there was widespread enthusiasm for the development of tourism and a supportive community-minded approach was evident from most everyone the consultants met in the community. Within the community it was generally recognized that Arviat had a lot of cultural value to offer visitors. Arviat primarily needed help in coordinating and packaging the many cultural attributes that could contribute to excellent tourism experiences such as music, throat-singing, drum-dancing, elders’ story-telling, traditional skills, local archaeological sites, National Historic Sites, local sewing, soapstone carving, working dog-teams, an existing but underutilized Visitor Centre/Cultural Centre, hotels and abundance of country foods. The two ideas coming from community residents which provided the main focus of discussion for attracting visitors seemed to be polar bear viewing in October/November, and witnessing the caribou migration in April/May. It was recognized by most that cultural tourism could be the heart of the program as Arviat is one of the most traditional Inuit communities.

Figure 2 ACE dog sledding experience



The following chart illustrates the consulting team assessment of key strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for tourism in Arviat.

Arviat SWOT Analysis Strengths Gaps & issues Opportunities

Traditional culture Restaurants suitable for tourists

Wildlife viewing – major attraction

Visitor centre Tourism hospitality skills Existing camp infrastructure Quality new hotel Coordinator/mentor to help

pull pieces together Padlei theme & Inuit/Dene overlap theme

Lots of performers, some with tourism experience

Interpretive facilities & materials

Year round opportunities

Two National Historic Sites Marketing skill & tools Potential to develop wide range of day & overnight experiences/excursions

Lots of opportunities for day & overnight experiences

Business entrepreneurship skills

Accessibility from northern Manitoba

Strong existing outfitter business

Licensed outfitters with interest in ecotourism

Proximity to Churchill & confirmed interest from some tourists to go further north to experience Inuit culture

Hudson Bay Quest event Signage for tourists Maguse River canoe route

Strong wildlife viewing Community map Local culture and traditions Source: the Tourism Company, 2009 It was recognized that ecotourism could represent a new economic sector in Arviat, an export service that could introduce new money into the community. Tourism at the time had been identified as one of the three new economic sectors recommended in the Arviat Community Economic Development Plan for 2008 – 2012 (mining and country food processing were also identified). It was felt ecotourism could provide a natural fit for Inuit who love to host and share their culture and land with outsiders.


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Figure 3 Guillaume Saladin working with Qaggiqtiit



3. The Initial ACE Concept In October 2009 the Tourism Company was retained by Nunavut Tunngavik, through a publically tendered contract, to assist in implementing the Arviat ecotourism concept through the establishment of a community-based tourism program. The team of tourism and hospitality specialists assembled by the Tourism Company were to focus on working with the community in turning their ideas into a compelling tourism offer while at the same time helping to develop the necessary capacity for tourism. The consulting team assisting Arviat in developing and marketing the ACE program were comprised of team members with expertise in:

o Inuit community affairs and community consultation; o Tourism product/experience development; o Business planning; o Tourism marketing; o Web presence development and design; o Cultural performance staging; o Ecoguide training; o Hospitality operations, including food services; o Facilities design and programming of tourism infrastructure; o Tourism support services like mapping and signage.

This team set out to implement a process that would involve and engage Arviarmiut in every stage of the development process: from the initial concept definition, through implementation, planning, training, and on to operations. ACE was conceived as true community-based tourism, owned and controlled by stakeholders in the community and open to all with an interest and commitment to learn hospitality and tourism business skills. Market research clearly pointed to significant unmet market demand for Inuit cultural experiences accessible from Churchill Manitoba, as well as huge growing demand for wildlife viewing experiences, particularly for large arctic mammals like polar bear and caribou, from both domestic and international tourists in Canada. In the competitive context it was recognized there were a growing number of naturalist, or eco-lodges, in northern Manitoba and elsewhere catering to the wildlife-viewing markets with a focus on polar bears, caribou and beluga whales. Where Arviat was seen to have a competitive advantage would be in combining Inuit culture with wildlife viewing in a slightly more northern but accessible location, and more specifically to experience the northern landscapes and wildlife through the eyes of the Inuit with their strong storytelling traditions. Early on it was recognized that the heart of the Arviat tourism product would be the community’s strong cultural heritage. The community is recognized as one of the most traditional communities in

Figure 4 Discussing ACE with grade 12 class


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Nunavut. Up until the 1920’s there was no sustained southern presence in the region, and encounters with whites was primarily through travel to trade furs at the Hudson Bay Company post in either Churchill or on Reindeer Lake at the Du Brochet post, both in northern Manitoba. At that point in time there were approximately seven different kinship groups of Inuit living off the land in a large region surrounding what is now known as the community of Arviat. These groups extended as far inland as the upper Kazan River, and north towards Repulse Bay and south to the Manitoba border, a region that encompasses what is today known as the Kivalliq Region. The community was not truly settled until the 1950’s when starvation was unfolding on the barrens (due to a change in the caribou migration pattern) and people were moving near to the HBC trading post for assistance at what was then known as Eskimo Point. Today the community of Arviat, named after the baby bowhead whale, numbers close to 3,000 people and Inuktitut is still the primary language. It is a community with a strong and vibrant Inuit culture. The Arviat tourism initiative was seen to represent an opportunity to develop an internationally competitive and unique wildlife viewing and Inuit cultural experience that did not exist in the marketplace. The project would provide maximum local involvement, employment, benefits and control. To help differentiate from existing sport hunting and fishing activity in and around the community this program was referred to as the Arviat ecotourism initiative. The intention of ACE would be to maximize socio-economic benefits, assist in preserving local culture, minimize environmental impacts and educate visitors, the four essential principles of ecotourism. At the heart of the ACE initiative would be a community cultural program, with a range of experiences (which could last for anything from one day to four days) including visits to a traditional camp, a couple of miles out of town, and the Kiluk sewing centre, cultural presentations (such as throat singing, traditional games, and drum dancing), story-telling by elders, cultural learning programs at the Margaret Aniksak Visitors’ Centre, interactions with students at the John Arnalukjuak High School, traditional foods, dog-sled rides, home visits, lectures, films, and other cultural demonstrations. The community program could be marketed and sold on its own to tour operators in Churchill and elsewhere who could benefit from a one to three day excursion to Arviat, essentially an add-on to their existing programs. The central idea would be to attach this community cultural program/experience to as many land-based and wildlife-viewing programs as possible to create week long, and possibly multi-week programs and packages. Land based programs could be day trips from the community, or lodge/camp-based programs out on the land. The market research that had been completed in the early stages found that a number of the existing wildlife viewing and sport fishing lodges in northern Manitoba, and out on the barrens in Nunavut, were interested in bringing their guests for a cultural

“The most interesting part of my job is being part of the Arviat Qaggiqtiit singers, storyteller and teach songs I know because I know a lot of songs and stories that I like to pass on to others. It is always fun to teach younger generation, it would be like us elders teaching students in school. Giving my knowledge or wisdom to young people by singing or telling stories would help keep our Inuit culture/tradition and songs alive.” Elizabeth Enowyak , Elder from Arviat and member of Qaggiqtiit



experience to Arviat. There seemed to be significant and growing domestic and international interest in Arctic expeditions as well. Local interest in non-consumptive nature-based tourism, or more specifically ecotourism, was increasingly evident in the community. Early in the process it was learned that a local Inuk entrepreneur was considering turning a polar bear sport hunting camp into a polar bear viewing camp or lodge. Based on consultation in the community there was initial discussion of the potential for a mobile camp set up to view the great caribou migration as they move northeast from below the treeline towards the calving grounds each May. And the local Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO) were contemplating developing a small lodge south of town near the McConnell River Bird Sanctuary for both wildlife viewing and HTO member uses. The wildlife viewing programs, with polar bears and caribou particularly, were recognized to be the major potential draw for the international markets. It was recognized that to be successful any of these camp or lodge concepts would need to be operated by fully trained and licensed operators and guides, ideally from the private sector to ensure a vested interest in making them work financially. They would need to be developed to market-ready standards, competitive with other successful wildlife viewing lodges in places like northern Manitoba. Significant capacity building was going to be required. Other key tourism assets in the area were identified as follows:

o Old Eskimo Point town site (Nuvuk); o Arvia’juaq and Qikiqtaarjuk National Historic sites; o A wealth of documented and undocumented archaeological and historical habitation

sites in the area; o McConnell River Migratory Bird Sanctuary for bird watching and wildlife viewing; o Maguse Lake for hiking, photography, wildlife viewing, and fishing; o Maguse River for canoeing and possibly rafting.

The stage was set for developing a unique community tourism program featuring world-class wildlife viewing complemented by Inuit cultural experiences and storytelling. Several rounds of meetings and interviews were completed with potential travel trade partners for the Arviat tourism program to test the initial concepts. In completing this work it became obvious there was significant market interest in Inuit cultural tourism programs in Arviat in addition to the wildlife viewing opportunities.

Figure 5 ACE Cook at work


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4. The Development Process: The Importance of Momentum Extensive community consultation was an integral part of the development of ACE starting back in 2009, and it was a continuing component of the work through 2014, to ensure new ideas and a broader range of stakeholders could be involved. ACE was to be community-based so it had to be an open process. A wide range of consultation techniques were used to engage the whole community, categorized below under the process headings of relationship building, planning and education/training.

Relationship building with the local Inuit o Held radio information shows; o Hosted community meetings; o Formal meetings with community groups and organizations; o Spent many evenings visiting people in their homes; o Participated in community events like music festivals and Hamlet Days; o Held open microphone sessions for musicians to help assess the musical

talent in the community; o Went out on the land with local people on weekends. Planning for tourism o Held radio talk-back shows, a popular means of soliciting ideas and

obtaining feedback; o Held individual meetings and drop-in sessions with those taking an interest

in tourism; o Hosted community group meetings to ensure all community groups ranging

from Hunters & Trappers to elders groups to the Historical Society were supportive and fully apprised of plans and progress.

Education and training o An ACE poster was designed, translated and placed in strategic locations throughout the

community; o Training workshops were held covering a range of skills from cooking to basic

bookkeeping; o Hosted performer auditions for traditional musicians, drum dancers and throat singers.

The Hamlet of Arviat was aware of and engaged in the process from the beginning and the Council decided to delegate the responsibility for monitoring progress of the program to the Economic

Figure 6 Traditional drum dance


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Development Committee of Council (and eventually to a Tourism Committee), and the Economic Development Officer. The process in planning and developing the ACE program was truly challenging and intricate with many unknown variables coming into play each year and either setting the program back or moving things forward. It was difficult to maintain consistent momentum due to the high travel costs to the community, meaning consulting team members were sometimes absent for extended periods. Some stakeholders in the community lost interest partway through the process leading to the recognition of the need for a pool of trained candidates under each required tourism position to ensure backup. And there were issues along the way with the consistency of wildlife viewing. Whether or not the result of climate change, the movement of animals appeared to be getting less predictable making it more difficult to develop the caribou migration program in particular with any degree of certainty. There were also some business stumbles along the way. There were many successes as well as failures in working to leverage the limited land claim funds with additional government, private sector and not-for-profit sector contributions to assist with capacity building, infrastructure development and marketing, another issue that complicated the plan to offer consistent and on going training programs and marketing over an extended period. Details of the progress made in each of the five years are provided in Appendix A.

Figure 7 ACE Ecoguide Graduates with Instructor Wes Werbowy



5. The Business Model: Allowing Flexibility to Evolve By March 31 2014 the ACE program was well developed as a community-based tourism program and functioning smoothly, but it was still a long way from achieving financial sustainability. It was to be honest not as far along as was envisioned back in the early planning and budgeting stages in 2010. However there were some very significant achievements that offered significant momentum to build from going forward. As of March 31, 2014 the ACE program was involving as many as 30 Arviarmiut through a variety of tourism performances and programs. The components of the program as of March 31st 2014 have been summarized below. In 2011 Arviat was awarded the Community Tourism award by Nunavut Tourism. Arviat and ACE was profiled on the ABC TV show ‘Born to Explore’ on February 18, 2012. The ACE initiative was a Finalist in 2013 in the Tourism Industry of Canada (TIAC) run Canadian Tourism Awards in the Best New Cultural Tourism Product category.

5.1 Organizational Structure Back in early 2010 when the consulting team began to assess the business model options for developing a community-based tourism enterprise it was felt that creating a company under the umbrella of the Arviat Economic Development Corporation would be a logical approach to consider. However Hamlet staff informed the consultants of the troubled past of the Economic Development Corporation, and explained the Corporation was no longer operational. The Hamlet expressed their preference to work with a private sector company. With the consulting teams’ assistance the Hamlet initiated a request for expressions of interest from local business interests to take on the Arviat tourism coordination role as the tourism program was being developed. Based on the responses received Kivalliq Land & Sea Resources (KL&SR) was selected to begin working with the consulting team in developing the Arviat ecotourism program. However within a couple of months KL&SR decided they were not prepared to make the investment required to get the tourism business developed and off the ground. The consultants went back to consult with the Hamlet and a decision was made to hire the Tourism Coordinator as a position of the Hamlet in the spring of 2011. The consultants assisted in securing pilot funding for three years through the Department of Economic Development and Transportation. As of March 31, 2014 the Tourism Coordinator position was being handled by Olivia Tagalik working on contract for the Hamlet since June 2011. By this time Olivia had developed her own private business called Inuit Cultural Expressions (ICE) and had secured her outfitting license. There were at the time 4 other licensed and insured outfitters in Arviat (3 of them offering services through ACE and the other focussed on sport hunting), and many individuals (from dog mushers to

“I believe one of the best moments working with the elders and youth, is when the show/performance is finished and the elders are smiling with pride. Working with the elders has been so rewarding, because I know they are proud we are preserving the culture. As we all know, they will eventually pass on (die) and we need to have the youth take on the responsibility of keeping traditions alive. Since the formation of Qaggiqtiit, the elders have taught the youth - passing down their knowledge. It has also alleviated the elders' longing for their old ways of celebration, drum dances, traditional songs and recollecting their lives, to remember and honour the dead.” Lois Suluk-Locke, Founding Leader of Arviat Qaggiqtiit


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carvers) and several cultural performance groups (Qaggiqtiit and Ukamaktit Tours) involved in providing services and experiences when tour groups were in town. The strategic approach for marketing ACE was purposely designed to work in partnership with the travel trade, including tour operators, wholesalers and receptive operators. Working through travel trade partners would enable ACE to determine in advance when groups were coming to Arviat, how many guests were coming and what their program interests were. This was an important consideration from the community’s perspective in order to be prepared for tourism visitation. ACE was not set up as a receptive tour operator, but it was always envisioned that over time the model could evolve to this when sufficient business warranted. Under the coordinator model selected travel trade partners were needed to book the airfares and to provide the tour leadership and group insurance coverage. Working with the travel trade was also determined to be the most effective means of taking the ACE programs to the markets, benefitting from the tour operator networks and marketing expertise. In the longer term it was recognised that ACE could begin to market directly to consumers but the business model would need to evolve to enable ACE to go direct to consumers and provide the requisite insurance coverage and book airfares (i.e. the receptive/local tour operator/agency model). This structure worked fine when dealing with tour operator partners (like Frontiers North or Arctic Kingdom) as they would hold the insurance coverage for the group tour and market/sell the packages and look to ACE simply to coordinate the local components. Under this business scenario ACE began charging a management services fee to coordinate the community program, and local businesses and individuals or groups would be hired to perform specific functions in the program. Any outfitters hired to take guests out on the land were required to have insurance coverage of their own. In the case of tour wholesalers like G Adventures the contractual relationships for the Arviat program needed to be signed with the local outfitter involved in providing the guiding. This approach was acceptable as well. The commercial structure for ACE was working well but with the NTI funding winding down on March 31st 2014 it was recognised there was a need to consider some mechanism to enable ACE to continue to build capacity and market ACE programs and packages. ACE never did have the ability to submit funding proposals, nor did it have the ability to accept philanthropic donations and provide tax receipts. The Hamlet provided this function for ACE from 2011 through 2014, helping to submit funding proposals and accepting any philanthropic donations through their Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) donee status (and charging a 9% administrative fee on any revenues flowing through).

Figure 8 Wildlife viewing lodge concept using sea cans



It was recognised there would be a continuing need for capacity building and training, business mentorship and start-up assistance, supporting infrastructure development, and marketing, activities that to this point in time were funded largely through NTI and supplemented by other sources. As noted NTI had begun to renegotiate with the federal government for a new cycle of the CA IIBA Tourism Fund, something that was allowed in the original agreement. But there would be no guarantees on the timing for renewed funding and furthermore no guarantee on the scale of allocation that would be targeted to the ACE program. To provide more independence for ACE (including independence from the Hamlet) a number of options were considered as follows:

o Create an enterprising non-profit society;

o Incorporate a non-profit corporation;

o Incorporate a for profit corporation owned by the community;

o Create a private for-profit corporation with some type of community-minded governance structure.

In January 2014 the consultants recommended that the Hamlet and participants in ACE consider the option of housing ACE within Tides Canada Initiatives (TCI). Tides Canada is a public Foundation with a mission to provide uncommon solutions for the common good by leading and supporting actions that foster a healthy environment and just Canadian society. Tides Canada Initiatives, a subsidiary of Tides, is a shared administrative platform available to relevant civic social and environmental initiatives that lack charitable status, such as ACE. Without disturbing the commercial structure of the ACE tourism program, ACE could have been set up as a project within TCI, a registered charity, enabling ACE to pursue their goal of community-based tourism development, with TCI providing critical back office support in the following areas:

o Governance; o Financial management and assistance in making funding submissions; o Compliance for charitable tax receipting; o Risk Management providing another layer of insurance coverage for ACE activities; o Human Resources assistance such as payroll, employment agreements, group benefits

and administration.

The cost to set ACE up within TCI and to access all the above benefits would have been 10% of all revenues that could be generated from funding applications for training, employment subsidisation, supporting infrastructure development and marketing. Commercial revenues from ACE activities

“I have become a more able and confident cook. More well rounded cook now. Inspired me to try to achieve my dream of opening a restaurant in my community. I have also got to travel and had some good job opportunities like cooking for TV film crews because of my involvement with ACE. Cooking for tourist and guides is interesting. I enjoy sharing Inuit culture and country food with southern tourists.” William Kopak, ACE Cooking Team


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would be excluded from this calculation. ACE would have had to commit to maintaining a minimum revenue stream of $100,000 per year from funding submissions. Following discussions with the Hamlet and the Tourism Coordinator in February 2014 regarding the TCI option it was decided that the Hamlet would take full control for ACE from March 31, 2014 onward. The participants in ACE did not feel comfortable to move into the fiscal sponsorship role with TCI at this stage and the Hamlet did not see the merit in this option at this stage. The Hamlet were proud that they were the only municipality in Nunavut with a dedicated Tourism Officer/Coordinator. It was decided the Arviat Tourism Coordinator would continue as a contract position with the Hamlet.

ACE Tourism Coordinator - The Tourism Coordinator was hired on contract by the Hamlet with 3 years of pilot funding to March 31, 2014. The job description developed and advertised by the Hamlet was outlined as follows: Under the direction of the EDO, he/she is responsible for

1. Coordinating tourism activities in and around Arviat. 2. Assisting tourism related businesses and organizations. 3. Promoting Arviat as a tourism destination to customers.

Major duties defined as follows: o Coordinate tourism-related events and facilitate bookings; o Answer phones and respond to information inquiries verbally and/or in written form; o Supervise Visitor’s Center Manager and other casual staff; o Direct Visitor’s Center Manager regarding facility usage and programming; o Keep current with Arviat tourism products and services; o Keep current with local information on operator services, events and activities; o Assist tourism businesses with licensing and other requirements; o Maintain Arviat tourism website; o Assist with special events and programming; o Facilitate regular Tourism Committee meetings.

Minor duties as follows: o Help to produce promotional material; o Conduct visitors surveys if and when required; o Other duties assigned from time to time by the supervisor.

Figure 9 Arviat Qaggiqtiit performing in Visitor Centre



The Hamlet had plans to pursue further funding to maintain this position beyond March 31 2014, but they were also counting on some continuing funding through NTI.

5.2 Cultural Programs There were three cultural programs that formed a key part of the ACE program.

Qaggiqtiit – One of the anchor components evolved under the leadership of Lois-Suluk-Locke and came to be known as Qaggiqtiit (the people that gather together to celebrate). The group, comprised of a mix of elders, youth and middle-aged performers, included throat singers, drum dancers, and ayaya singers coalesced over time to a core group of 12 with back-ups in each category. The group created and practiced a 40 minute show that could be performed with professional lighting on a stage (i.e. the High School stage) or out on the tundra, or in any other number of venues. In early 2014 leadership of the group changed and Karen Panigoniak took over the role, with Lois continuing to play an active role in the group. Tupiq programs – These cultural interpretive programs are staged in a handcrafted caribou skin tent, or a tupiq, the summer dwelling traditionally used by people in the Arviat region. The program involves story telling, history and the interpretation and demonstration of artefacts and historical tools and implements. There were two groups offering this program:

o Ukamaktit Tours owned and operated by Peter Mikeeuneak and his wife Mary Okatsiak;

o Qaggiqtiit created a second tupiq program and made their own caribou tent for occasions when Peter and Mary were out of town. An elder and young person from the group were trained to stage this program.

Tea and Bannock with Mark and Angie – – ‘Tea and bannock with Mark and Angie’ was a unique storytelling program for small groups in the home of two elder artists. This program was typically incorporated into every community tour. Mark and Angie were both graduates of the ACE cooking program, and as of March 31, 2014 they were being trained as future cooking program trainers. They operate their home as a tourist home, but would ultimately like to access the capital funds to expand their house into a full B&B. They have past experience operating a B&B.

Figure 10 Ukamaktit tupiq program


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Other components ACE began to develop a library of local and Nunavut wide Inuit cultural films/documentaries and books for the use of guests and to assist in programming. A group of local artists, carvers, musicians, as well as dog mushers were beginning to align themselves with the ACE programs and were often incorporated into the guest programs. Recognizing the importance of cultural heritage a local cultural history specialist/advisor was retained, on contract, by the consultants in the initial years. The Advisor’s role was to begin working with the community elders, and those interested in cultural heritage matters, and with Parks Canada in matters related to the National Historic Sites, as they related to the ACE program. With the heritage advisor’s assistance a new cultural heritage society was formed in Arviat (the previous Elder’s Society had lost their society status), which, among other functions, would contribute to ongoing development of cultural tourism in the community. The consulting team assisted with the Society setup process and legal setup costs for the new Arviat Heritage Society (Arviarmiut Itsarnitaliringit).

5.3 Community Programs and Support Services

There were a number of community components to the program. ACE Culinary Program – The first group of four students in the ACE food service training program graduated in March 2013. In late 2013 a new group of four students started the second round of training along with two of the graduates being trained as future trainers. The trainer was Mike Johnson, a professional chef who was living in the community. Of the 4 new students in the ACE culinary program for 2013/2014 two were recent High School graduates who both placed in the top 3 in the Nunavut Skills Competitions for cooking. One was already a trained ACE Community Host and the fourth a graduate of the Arctic College Camp Cook program. Community Hosts and Tour – – ACE had developed a community tour program using local transport options with four community hosts who had gone through training to deliver the tour. Two of the community hosts had also taken the Inuit Heritage Trust heritage training programs. One of the hosts was also being trained as the back up for the Tourism Coordinator.

Figure 11 ACE cooking team with instructors



Katimavik Beach House - This small 5-room hotel is owned and operated by a local Inuit family. The consulting team assisted in designing the facility layout and provided an initial furnishing plan. Today the facility is recognized as one the best small accommodations in Nunavut, with strong rankings on Trip Advisor. Other components A community tourism map was prepared and a tourism signage program initiated with the design and installation of a sign on the Visitors Centre.

5.4 Land Based Programs and Businesses A number of new businesses were assisted through ACE. Outfitters – As of March 31st 2014 there were 4 certified and insured ecotourism outfitters in the community, two of them fully trained through the ACE ecoguides program (Nibviaq and Curley) and assisted with their business plans and funding applications by the consultants. There was also an ACE trained group of ecoguides that any tour company could hire for tourist programs on the land. The following were the licensed outfitting companies:

o Nibviaq Arviat Tours owned and operated by Billy Ukutak; o J Curley Guiding & Adventure Tours owned and operated by Jason Curley; o Inuit Cultural Expressions owned and operated by Olivia Tagalik; o Double K Adventures owned and operated by Joseph Kablutsiak and his

daughter Kristy.

Gellini Bear Camp – Early on in the consultation process the need for some type of wildlife viewing lodge or camp was identified. Ideally the lodge would be located far enough from the community to avoid conflict with community activities such as subsistence hunting, but located in a prime location for bear viewing in the fall, and possibly with overland access by skidoo in the spring to the migrating caribou herd. In the fall of 2010 a charter flight was arranged for select members of the consulting team and Ryan St John, local owner of Henik Lake Adventures, travelling up the coast from Churchill to Arviat stopping in at Seal River Lodge (a high end wildlife viewing lodge situated in northern Manitoba), and the Gellini Bear Camp (a former polar bear sport hunting camp located about 70 miles south of Arviat on the coast close to the mouth of the Gellini River).

Figure 12 ACE Outfitter with client


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The intent was to provide Ryan (owner of the Gellini Camp) with a first hand understanding of the value and opportunity associated with lodge-based wildlife viewing. An introduction was made in 2010 between Arctic Kingdom Polar Expeditions and Henik Lake Adventures and in the fall of 2011 Arctic Kingdom took their first guests (15) into the Gellini Bear Camp for an up close and personal experience with polar bears and other wildlife in ‘polar bear alley’. Both companies have invested in upgrading the facilities at the Gellini Bear Camp. Arctic Kingdom are still actively marketing and selling this high end experience to small groups during the months of October and November. They typically hire several ACE guides to work at the camp and pay a rental fee to Henik Lake Adventures for use of the camp. Day Use Wildlife Viewing Facility - One of the key program components for the Arviat Community Ecotourism initiative (ACE) was to develop the capability to offer day trips out from the community to view wildlife, particularly polar bears during the months of October and November as they begin to move north up the coast searching for sea ice to form. To ensure guest safety it was recognized there was a need to place a cabin with a bear fence a comfortable days journey from the community. Ideally the cabin could be moved seasonally to allow for viewing of different species in different seasons. The ACE program already owned an appropriate bear security fence that was designed by Wes Werbowy, the ecoguide trainer. With funding assistance through CanNor ACE purchased a slightly used bear proof mobile cabin from Arctic Kingdom. The cabin was delivered to Arviat in March 2014 and initial training was provided to some of the ecoguides in the assembly, transport and disassembly of the building.

5.5 Marketing In the mainstream tourism industry it is generally accepted that developing into a new domestic market takes at least three years and producing results from an international audience can take in excess of five years. In a remote community like Arviat it was recognized these time frames would be significantly longer. Successfully establishing ACE in the domestic and international tourism markets would take a strong concerted effort over a sustained period of years. As previously noted, up to March 31st, 2014 the strategic approach for marketing was to work in partnership with the travel trade, including tour operators, wholesalers, and receptive operators. A number of familiarization tours had been run to Arviat with a range of tour operators, professional photographers and videographers to enable them to experience the ACE program and to begin to

“The guides we work with in Arviat are some of the best guides we work with in Nunavut.” Thomas Lennartz Director of Expeditions, Arctic Kingdom



develop the library of images and video clips needed to market the program. These FAM trips had resulted in a number of solid tour operator relationships. The consultants worked with the ACE staff in creating the integrated web marketing presence including website and a social media program. Assistance was also provided in publishing the Arviat tourism handbook along with other promotional materials. Going forward it was felt the program would benefit from more specialized tourism marketing expertise. The consultants connected the Hamlet EDO and the Tourism Coordinator with Rick Kemp the former VP of marketing with Churchill Wild, an operator of a number of high-end wildlife viewing lodges. Rick began negotiations in February 2014 with the Hamlet for a contract to handle the marketing for ACE for a three-year period.

5.6 Funding Support As of November 2013 NTI indicated the Conservation Area IIBA negotiations for a renewed funding cycle were stalled. They indicated there could potentially be bridge funding for 2014/15 of which there would hopefully be an allocation to help sustain the ACE program. Some funding had been successfully secured with the consultants assistance through the Planeterra Foundation operated by G Adventures, one of the tour wholesalers marketing and selling the ACE programs, and as of March 31 2014 the Hamlet just needed to provide the details for transfer of the funds. These funds were specifically to be allocated for additional cooking modules through 2014/15 for the ACE students. A funding proposal the consultants helped to submit on behalf of Qaggiqtiit to the Canada Council for the Arts came through providing funding to bring members of ArtCirq to Arviat for a cultural exchange in fall 2014. As it became increasingly likely there would be delays with the continuation with any NTI funding the consultants prepared several draft funding applications for the Hamlet to assist ACE in securing the funds necessary to continue the Coordinator positions and for training and marketing. Draft funding submissions were prepared for both CanNor and the Department of Economic Development and Transportation. In previous years the consultants had success in securing funds for ACE from both agencies. In addition the consultants held positive initial discussions with Tides Canada about possibilities for philanthropic donations to the program through the Hamlet to help sustain the Coordinator position. In 2012 the consultants had secured a $40,000 donation through Tides which was intended to be used to set up a micro loan program for businesses associated with ACE. The Hamlet were not willing/able to implement such a micro loan program so the funds were used to supplement the NTI funding for training and marketing programs, rather than helping

“It was just amazing.” “When we came we thought it would be the end of the world here, but it’s amazing to find so much up here. I really like how they keep their culture alive, that everyone still goes hunting and makes their own clothes.” Luise and Michaela, German tourists with G Adventures, October 2013


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entrepreneurs with their required equity contributions (typically 25% minimum) when seeking government funding support to start their businesses.

Figure 13 ACE Ecoguides



6. ACE Achievements to March 31st, 2014 The ACE program was delivering socio-economic benefits to the community in three general ways. First, the program was building a tourism sector through marketing Arviat as a world-class ecotourism destination in tourism markets domestically and around the world, with the goal of generating low volume, high yield tourism traffic and direct economic benefits to the community through tourist expenditures that actually stay in the community (minimizing economic leakage). In the 2013 tourist season the ACE program brought in excess of $150,000 into the community, directly benefitting ACE participants and local businesses. The ACE program was also helping to build tourism capacity, providing mentoring, training, and developing tourism professionals and businesses in the community and ensuring the tourism support infrastructure was market-ready. This ties into the second category of economic benefits to the community, which was the increase in skills and training that many people involved in the tourism industry were receiving through ACE programs and projects. Some of these skills would be transferable even if these individuals decided to pursue other career directions. For example the baking skills learned in the ‘cooking for tourists’ training program could be used in starting a community bakery. The training focussed on developing skills for positions ranging from outfitters for land trips, community hosts, cultural performers, cooks, ecoguides, new small business owners, bookkeepers to work with the small businesses, a tourism coordinator, and heritage interpreters. Specialized training was provided in ecoguiding, camp and community cooking, marketing, small commercial vessel operations, small business entrepreneurship, basic bookkeeping, natural and cultural heritage interpretation, tourism marketing and numerous other areas which these individuals and businesses need to be successful in the tourism industry. These individuals and businesses were therefore gaining the skills and confidence needed to take full economic advantage of increased tourism activity in Arviat. They were also becoming more adept as businesspeople, and increasing their general employability. For the most part the training programs were run in the community by professionals brought in from either the south (if northern options were not possible) or other communities in the north. These innovative approaches to training were designed to have application in other remote northern communities. Finally, the ACE program and its associated projects were building community pride and developing a positive self-image, by offering national and international media attention, and promoting Arviat as a friendly, ecologically rich and culturally vibrant community with a lot to offer visitors and residents alike. The cultural program component of ACE involved both elders and youth and was stimulating

“First of all, we saw wolf! Which was an accomplishment in itself as this was a first time doing a trip like this. We also saw Caribou, Muskox, Polar Bears (on Sentry Island) along with multitudes of birds and of course, stunning landscapes and sunsets. Olivia [Tagalik] was absolutely instrumental in getting the trip off to a good start – not just with organizing the first day – but also coming through with last minute requests. It was the perfect way to start the trip …” Thomas Lennartz, Director of Expeditions, Arctic Kingdom, July 2011 (leading a group of 8 Japanese tourists)


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an increased interest in culture and traditions in youth and enabling transfer of this knowledge from elders. A major testament to the success of the ACE initiative came in early 2014 when it was announced that ACE had been selected as one of three Finalists for a major international award. In April 2014 at the World Tourism Forum the Arviat Community Ecotourism program was selected as the Community Award winner in the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards in 2014, a program administered by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). ACE managed to beat out Abercrombie & Kent, Kenya and Basecamp Explorer Kenya, the other two finalists. The WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards is one of the world's highest accolades in the Travel & Tourism industry. They are aimed at recognizing best practice in sustainable tourism within the industry worldwide. These awards are reputed to have the most rigorous judging process including an international team of 18-20 judges representing a wide range of professional backgrounds and expertise in the field of travel and tourism from all around the world. A unique part of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards' judging process includes an on-site inspection visit for each of the 18 finalists to make sure the claims in the submission are true in practice. Finalists in the various award categories are then evaluated by a panel of internationally acclaimed sustainable tourism judges. Arviat and ACE were evaluated on site by one of the WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow judges in February 2014, an award winning tourism business owner from Mongolia. With the ACE submission claims of a market ready tourism product/experience in Arviat validated, Olivia Tagalik was invited on an expense paid trip to Hainan China for the awards ceremony held in conjunction with the Global Tourism Summit. At the Global Tourism Summit in Hainan China Olivia accepted the Community award on behalf of the ACE team. In their press release the WTTC summarized the win for Arviat as follows: When Arviat’s Inuit people received money under a land-claim agreement relating to Federal Conservation Areas, they invested it in the future; a future sustained by tourism and wholly owned by the community. Located on Nunavut’s Hudson Bay in Canada, the Inuit have lived, survived and thrived in the region for over four thousand years. The area is still steeped in tradition and it is this heritage and living culture that is at the core of the community’s tourism offer. Following extensive planning and capacity building, the community now offers accommodation, cultural and archaeological tours and nature safaris. The aim now is to replicate it in other parts of Nunavut; which, in Inuit means, aptly, “Our Land”.

“The WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards are aimed at recognising those businesses and destinations which protect natural and cultural heritage and improve local livelihoods around the world. We need to celebrate the winners but also learn from them to ensure the Travel & Tourism industry has a sustainable future” David Scowsill, President & CEO, WTTC



The program had certainly met the original goal to develop a community-owned and operated tourism program that could bring incremental new tourist visitation and new revenues into the community. To assist in the next stages of development and marketing for ACE the consultants had on their own time started work on a submission for the Arctic Inspiration Prize (AIP) and had arranged for the person behind the AIP to visit Arviat and experience the program in the fall of 2014 with a small group of his family members. Olivia Tagalik, the Arviat Tourism Coordinator attended the World Tourism Forum in Hainan China in April 2014 to receive the Tourism for Tomorrow award, even though her contract with the Hamlet as Tourism Coordinator was not renewed after March 31. The travel expenses for the Hainan trip were covered by the World Travel & Tourism Council but Olivia’s time was on her own to attend the Summit. A representative from the consulting team accompanied Olivia on the journey to Hainan also on their own time and expenses. As would be expected ACE received significant positive international media exposure from the award. All training activity and programs associated with ACE in the community stopped on March 31 with the exception of an ArtCirq cultural exchange program with Qaggiqtiit that took place in the fall of 2014 and one small group tour that same fall (organized and coordinated by Olivia personally). The Gellini Bear Camp continues to be operated as a high-end wildlife viewing camp but unfortunately logistical staging takes place through Churchill Manitoba rather than Arviat. The three-year contract for professional marketing support for ACE going forward was never finalized. Marketing activity stopped. The ACE program went silent. Hopefully there may be some way to resurrect this program that had come so far and achieved so much.

“Being the manager of Arviat Qaggiqtiit has changed my life. It made my leadership skills stronger, and I have learned so much with working with the elders and youth. Arviat Qaggiqtiit has made me more respectful for other people especially to the elders; I learnt to better communicate in our Inuktitut language. I am more knowledgeable about our Inuit culture and where we come from.” Karen Panigoniak, Leader of Arviat Qaggiqtiit


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Figure 14 Tourism for Tomorrow Community Award



7. Lessons Learned: The Need for Sustained Tourism Development Resources and Support

The Arviat Community Ecotourism program was a success because of the approach to comprehensive capacity building and training, and sustained application of resources over an extended period (5 years). It was a success because of the innovative approach taken by NTI with the CA IIBA Tourism Fund, to focus on high potential projects and provide sustained funding over the 5-year cycle of the agreement. Developing the capacity for tourism in remote Inuit communities takes a comprehensive approach that addresses all facets of a tourism economy and it takes a lot longer to build the capacity than in more southern parts of the country. Comprehensive in this sense means developing the capacity within all areas of tourism including food services, accommodation services, hospitality services, guiding and outfitting, support services, small business entrepreneurship, experience development and tourism marketing. The base level for all these skills and the experience with, and level of understanding, of tourism is often lower to begin with in remote Inuit communities. Unfortunately the typical approach for funding Inuit tourism initiatives in the north is often ad hoc and short term. Marketing products and experiences in remote northern communities takes a lot longer to establish awareness and interest than for destinations or products in the south. The barriers for market access are much higher and the market awareness and credibility of attractors is less. Developing a community tourism program requires consistent leadership at the community level, and like any business enterprise success is all about the people involved and their commitment, interest in learning, their eventual quality of skills and commitment to hard work. For Arviat the ball was unfortunately dropped just when the program was achieving success. Without laying specific blame the ball was dropped by the various levels of government that could have provided, or accessed the funding to continue moving ACE forward. More than $1.2 million dollars was spent in getting ACE to the place where it was on March 31st, 2015. The community was benefiting to the order of $150,000/year already and these funds were being spread out in the community into as many as thirty households. It would have taken ACE an estimated 5 or more years to develop the program to a level needed to establish a receptive tour operator business model and begin to financially sustain itself.

“The finalists for the Canadian Tourism Awards represent an inspiring group of people and organizations that consistently create extraordinary tourism experiences. They are veritable Canadian business leaders that actively drive economic growth and create jobs each and every day through their hard work and dedication. The industry congratulates them on this outstanding achievement.” David Goldstein, TIAC President & CEO


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Tourism in remote northern communities cannot be developed through the traditional approaches used in the south, relying heavily on the private sector entrepreneurial spirit. In the north there is need for government support, assistance and coordinated commitment. There has been significant progress since the days when sport hunting and fishing camps owned and operated by southerners was the norm in the northern tourism sector. However the progress has been slow and is still not fully capitalizing on the opportunities for the Inuit. The industry is still southern dominated resulting in high economic leakage out of the north. It will be critical to take the time and resources to build the capacity for tourism and empower Inuit in order to establish an Inuit owned and operated tourism sector where economic leakage is minimized and control over tourism resides in the north. There are not many economic opportunities for remote northern communities and likely none that fit so well with the culture and lifestyle of the Inuit. Tourism is currently the largest global service industry and one of the world’s fastest growing industries. With an increasing demand for unique authentic off-the-beaten-path tourism experiences there is significant potential for tourism in Nunavut. It would be a shame to see the Inuit communities miss this opportunity, or only capitalize in small ancillary ways. ACE has hopefully shown a model with potential that can and should be implemented in other Inuit communities. The key is a sustained long-term approach at all levels to assist in building community capacity for tourism and to assist with business start-ups. Ecotourism is a critical and viable form of economic development in remote Inuit communities where there is tourism potential and an interest. Some of the key success factors for community-based tourism in the north are listed below:

o Ideas and the vision for tourism must come from the community; o Strong leadership and a local champion; o Flexibility in the business model, or organization structure, to facilitate a long developmental

period (5 years plus); o Sustained funding at a scale and over a period of time sufficient to develop the community’s

capacity for tourism; o A holistic approach to developing tourism capacity covering the full range of tourism skills

(cooking to guiding and storytelling to hospitality and marketing) as well as the requisite organizational and infrastructural capacity;

o Creative training solutions delivered in the community to the extent possible; o Coordinated support and commitment from all levels of government; o Patience.

“I just wanted to let you and the great Frontiers North team know that the Wednesday traditional dinner that Michael Johnson and colleagues at the ACE cooking team put on at the Katimavik Suites, was absolutely superb! The 14-person Coca Cola filming team was totally impressed (and caught some on film of course!), and with 6 different country meats and berries on as appetizers, how could they be anything else?” Pete Ewins, WWF Canada on a Frontiers North Tour to Arviat, 2011



Figure 15 ACE Outfitter learning photography


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Appendix The following is a year-by-year summary of some of the key accomplishments and progress milestones with ACE. The level of detail for the training provided and the progress achieved on an annual basis clearly illustrates the extensive and holistic scope of work done in developing the tourism program in Arviat, unprecedented in Nunavut.

Year 1 (2009/10) – Planning for Tourism The consulting team were retained by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. to work with the community of Arviat to develop an internationally competitive and unique wildlife viewing and Inuit cultural experience that currently does not exist in the marketplace. The Year 1 objectives for the consulting team were as follows:

o Undertake extensive community consultation; o Define and develop the business model for the Arviat package tour; o Identify requirements for physical infrastructure upgrades; o Prepare training needs assessment and training plan; o Prepare a marketing strategy to guide development of the annual marketing plans; and o Develop the detailed project budget for the next 3-4 years in creating a viable, sustainable

tourism product.

The business case for the Arviat ecotourism initiative evolved as the project moved forward. As this was a truly community-based initiative it was not simply a matter of working with an individual entrepreneur. The consultants had to consider a range of business case options that had been pursued in community-based tourism programs elsewhere and then adapt for the Arviat situation. It was also important to take the time to evaluate the business capabilities (to the extent possible and with assistance from the EDO) in the community. In the end the model adopted was largely influenced towards the private sector by the Hamlet as they lacked the resources to oversee the development of the tourism initiative. The major accomplishments in 2009/10, the first full year of implementation included the following:

o Community consultation was completed identifying strong support within the community for ecotourism and some capable business interests to take on key roles;

o The business model for the Arviat Ecotourism Initiative was resolved with private sector interests taking on both the wildlife viewing camps and the community program, with Hamlet oversight of the community program;

o A detailed outline of physical infrastructure requirements was completed. Roles and responsibilities were identified for bringing the infrastructure to a state of market readiness;


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o Conceptual design assistance was provided on both the redevelopment of the Gellini polar bear camp and the upgrading required for the local accommodation infrastructure;

o Training needs were assessed and a detailed training program was designed to be implemented beginning in the summer of 2010;

o A marketing strategy was prepared in sufficient detail to outline key tactics to be implemented beginning in the summer and fall of 2010;

o A detailed work plan and budget was prepared for the implementation of the Arviat Ecotourism Initiative with commercialization before the end of fiscal 2013/14.

The team began working with a private operator in the community, Henik Lake Adventures, to prepare the business concept for the wildlife-viewing component. This operator, with extensive experience in consumptive oriented tourism and an interest to convert in part to nature-based or ecotourism, has now begun to move forward with his own business planning for the wildlife camp concepts. The consulting team will assist in moving this and other compatible wildlife viewing opportunities forward as they become market-ready. In consultation with the Hamlet the decision was made to find a private sector interest to take over the Community Tourism Coordination role. Working with the assistance of the Hamlet, Kivalliq Land & Sea Resources were identified as the company to take this role. This company carried a business license to market and commercially develop culture and renewable resources in Arviat and had some professional experience promoting Inuit cultural talent, artists, musicians and produce worldwide.

Year 2 (2010/11) – The Program Takes Shape The major objectives for the second year were as follows:

o Continue with community consultation to involve the community in the ACE program; o Select and begin to mentor a local Tourism Coordinator for Arviat; o Initiate training programs in tourism hospitality, small business development, food services,

tourism marketing, and eco-guiding; o Develop and test the community cultural program, a one- to three-day program which will be

delivered to future groups of tourists; o Move forward with the wildlife-viewing business concepts; o Begin to actively market tourism in Arviat.

Early in the summer of 2010 the private company selected by the Hamlet to fill the role of Tourism Coordinator decided they were no longer interested and willing to invest the required time and effort into developing the ecotourism coordination business. This was in part due to their other



commitments and interests. As a result of this the team held a meeting with the Hamlet Economic Development Committee to discuss alternative approaches. Through the summer the Hamlet gave serious consideration to the options and decided, in the end, to hire a Community Tourism Coordinator. The Hamlet coordinated a call for expressions of interest from potential candidates for the Tourism Coordinator position in August. In the fall of 2011 Olivia Tagalik was selected through this process and hired for a period of 5 months by the consultants, until funding could be secured for the Hamlet. A successful funding application was written on behalf of the Hamlet to seek pilot funding for this position through the Department of Economic Development and Transportation resulting in three years of pilot funding for the position as a contractor to the Hamlet beginning March 31st, 2011. To further support the ACE initiative, the Hamlet Council created a Tourism Committee, to which the new Community Tourism Development Officer would report during the three-year pilot project. The Visitors Centre was now actively being used as the Tourism Office and as a meeting place for relevant community groups involved in the ecotourism initiative. The Government of Nunavut was provided with a list of required repairs for the Centre to enhance its physical condition to properly service the role of Tourism Office. At the time the Visitor Centre was closed for most of the year, operating only in the summer months when the Hamlet would secure funds to hire a staff person. Training began for those interested in earnest in the summer of 2010. In the summer of 2010 one consulting team member stayed in the community for the months of July and August with other members visiting for 7-10 day periods. During this time the team held a series of workshops under three stakeholder categories (listed below) to all those with an interest in tourism to begin introducing the concepts of hospitality and ecotourism, and to begin to outline the requirements for successful tourism.

o Artists including both visual and performing artists, although the majority who attended these workshops were visual.

o Storytellers including both elders and youth interested in becoming Community Hosts. o Business startups including individuals in the community with an interest in starting a small

tourism business associated with the ACE initiative.

The team began to assemble a detailed database of potential participants in the community ecotourism program organized by skillset and providing a photo, description of skills and an assessment of level of interest and professionalism. The database was set up to include artists, performers, elders, dog team owners, potential community hosts and storytellers, guides and transport providers.


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One of the first tasks following the initial consultation was to compile a database of people interested in getting involved in ACE along with their current skills. The following is a list of the different skill sets identified.

o Dog team owners and mushers; o Taxi, bus and van drivers; o Sport hunting guides; o Elders (with an interest in storytelling); o Drum dancers; o Carvers; o Artists; o Throat singers; o Translators and interpreters; o High school students learning relevant skills such as cooking, carving; o Business entrepreneurs; o Seamstresses using local furs; o Aspiring cooks.

There were several people who had cultural performance experience, two having performed in Churchill and one with experience performing internationally as a throat singer. Through a process of ongoing consultation, many house visits in the community, tryouts of various sorts and the leadership of several key people in the community a diverse and flexible tourism program began to take shape comprised of a community tour, a home visit, visits to retail businesses, orientation in the Visitors Centre, meeting with local artists, and cultural performances. One of the anchor components began to evolve under the leadership of Lois-Suluk-Locke and came to be known as Qaggiqtiit (the people that gather together to celebrate). In the fall of 2010 three more training programs were initiated.

o Ecoguide training. Wes Werbowy the owner of Wilderness Consultants was retained to begin training the ecoguides in Arviat. This process began with a week long workshop held during the summer of 2010 to work with those interested in guiding to assess their skills, gaps and desires for future training. Some of the prospective guides had been trained for sport hunting in the past. In October Wes returned to Arviat to run the first three-week Level 1 Ecoguide training program. The initial 10-day classroom component had 14 participants including three students from the High School land skills program, plus their teacher. Four eco-guide trainees were selected to attend the fieldwork component which entailed camping with a polar bear perimeter fence along the coast in polar bear alley. The essential training



included risk assessment, use of a camera in the field, travel on the land with visitors, camp preparation and cleanliness, cooking, and safety.

o Cooking and caring for visitors. This program was designed by Deneen Allen of Watermark Hospitality to begin the process of developing tourism cookery and service skills in the community.

o Web marketing, D’Arcy McKittrick of the Tourism Company began working with Olivia Tagalik, the Arviat Tourism Coordinator in setting up an integrated web presence for ACE.

On January 26, 2011 a very successful ‘test run’ of the one-day Arviat community cultural program was staged. More than 30 local Inuit (all paid for their efforts) displayed their part of the proposed program, for a group of “pretend tourists” and a professional photographer the team had arranged. The photographer was sent with assistance from Above and Beyond magazine, and a follow up article on Arviat and the ACE program was published in the spring 2011 issue of the magazine. This event was significant beyond being a successful test-run. The evening was in reality a community celebration, as all those involved saw what they had accomplished through the training over the past year, and realized what is truly possible for Arviat as a community. They were beginning to gain a true understanding of what everyone was working towards with the Arviat Community Ecotourism experience. Four prototype community host uniforms (atigis) were made and used for the test run. Further uniforms in a range of sizes for both summer and winter use were commissioned from sewing ladies in the community

Year 3 (2011/12) – The Evolving Business Model The focus for year 3 was on the following three key areas:

o Training and capacity development. o Marketing. o Complementary business development/start-up.

The expectation heading into this new fiscal year was for ACE to begin to host some tourist groups through the tour operator relationships developed in 2010/11. Cultural programs were now being offered through ACE in various combinations to provide anything from a half-day to a three-day program for visitors including the following activities:

o Two different optional cultural programs with elders (both approximately 45 minutes long) staged in traditional tupiq’s (caribou skin tents);

o A home visit to two local elder artists for bannock, tea and storytelling o Meetings with local artists and carvers;


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o Performances by local musicians; o Screening of local/regional documentary films and lectures on Inuit history; o Tours of the local high school and participation in student cultural activities and

performances; o Plus dining on local foods including caribou, musk-ox, muktuk (beluga whale), Arctic char

and desserts made from local berries.

In May 2011 the Hamlet successfully secured pilot funding from the Department of Economic Development & Transportation for three years for a Tourism Coordinator position. On June 1st 2011 Olivia Tagalik was hired by the Hamlet of Arviat as the Tourism Coordinator. This followed four months on contract working with the consulting team in the capacity of Tourism Coordinator in training. Some significant milestones were achieved over the year for the Tourism Coordinator position:

o Attended the Nunavut Tourism Conference and made a presentation on the ACE program; o Attended Rendezvous Canada, Canada’s premiere travel trade show; o Attended a tourism consumer show, the Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto; o Attended the first National Aboriginal Tourism Investment Conference in BC, hosted by

Aboriginal Tourism BC.

With encouragement from ED&T and the Hamlet on April 1st 2013 Olivia set up her own company to provide contract services to the Hamlet of Arviat as the Arviat Tourism Coordinator. Olivia Tagalik (Tourism Coordinator) and Lois Suluk Locke (Manager of Qaggiqtiit) both began to work with, and train, backups in the event they are sick or out of town when a tour group comes in. The backups being trained were Louisa Gibbons as Tourism Coordinator and Karen Panigoniak as backup leader for Qaggiqtiit. Luke Suluk, a noted local historian was on contract with ACE for the year as the Heritage Advisor. In this role Luke helped to create the Arviat Heritage Society, and working with David Pelly prepared a short written history of the community (to be provided to guests and used for all Community Host training) and a short historical presentation that was tested with the Australian tour group in October. With the assistance of Lawson Lundell LLP the Arviat Heritage Society (Arviarmiut Itsarnitaliringit) was set up as a registered Society in Nunavut. The major accomplishments for 2011/12 were as follows:

o 8 Japanese on a 7 day trip to Arviat for wolf den viewing with Arctic Kingdom in July, spending 2 days in Arviat for a guided boat trip to Arvia’juaq and a cultural performance and celebration meal on the tundra organized through ACE;

o 6 Australians for a one day (and night) trip with a full day of cultural program put on by ACE;



o 16 guests to the Gellini Bear Camp south of town for 5 days over four weeks with Arctic Kingdom (Henik Lake Adventures was paid a lease fee for the camp and Arctic Kingdom hired the lead guide from the ACE ecoguide program);

o 30 people on a corporate incentive group led by WWF Canada working with Frontiers North were supposed to arrive by charter for full day program but got weathered out (ACE was paid for preparations for the tour group, not for the full performance fee);

o A familiarization trip (FAM) was organized with 4 tour operators for a 5 day trip in May (some financial assistance from the Canadian Tourism Commission) including representatives from Frontiers North, Arctic Kingdom, Adventure Canada and Steppes travel from the UK;

o A second familiarization tour was planned for November with 3 operators participating but had to be cancelled due to weather. Operators scheduled for this FAM include G Adventures, Natural Habitat and Eagle Eye Tours;

o WWF Canada and the Coca Cola film crew travelled to Arviat for one day and night with a total of 14 people (paid for a celebration meal put on by the ACE cooking team, and paid for local accommodation and services);

o Richard Wiese and his ABC TV ‘Born to Explore’ film crew (4 people in total) were in Arviat for 2 days hosted by ACE, resulting in a major part in a ‘Born to Explore’ episode;

o A German film crew (4 people) were in town for 2 days (paid for local accommodation and host services arranged by ACE);

o CBC Camera Boreale sent 1 person to Arviat (paid for local accommodation and services); o Nunavut Tourism was planning a Board meeting in Arviat but cancelled at the last minute

due to weather; o Secured a $40,000 donation through Tides Canada intended to set up a small micro loan

program for businesses associated with ACE (intended to be managed by the EDO with assistance from the consulting team leader).

New tourism services were set up/established as follows: o The High School was engaged in the ACE program through student involvement in

programs and ACE use of High School facilities; o A community tourism map was produced; o A tourism signage program was initiated with the design, fabrication and installation of the

new sign for the Visitor Centre; o Two flat screen TV’s were installed at the airport and the Visitor Centre with the ACE slide

show running on a continuous loop; o The ACE team assisted in the design layout of the new Beach House, which proven to be a

huge success with guests and visitors; o The ACE program purchased an electric bear deterrent fence for land programs (designed

by Wes Werbowy);


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o ACE purchased a professional display booth to promote ACE and Arviat at trade and consumer shows, with funding that came through the philanthropic donation which came through Tides Canada.

A great deal of community tourism skills training took place over in 2011/12. The following is a short summary of the major community skills training that took place.

o Guillaume Saladin the founder of ArtCirq (Igloolik) ran 3 different week-long training sessions in Arviat for all cultural performers, during the months of May and September 2011, and February 2012. For these training workshops Guillaume worked closely with Lois Suluk-Locke. Guillaume was joined by Aaju Peter from Iqaluit for the February 2012 training week. For her part Aaju drew on her extensive experience working as a Resource Professional with Adventure Canada and her passion and expertise in Inuit cultural performance. The week of training in February culminated in the group staging a free community performance in the Community Hall.

o The ACE program secured the services of a professional chef living in Arviat. Mike Johnson began working with the ACE cooking team in October and November in advance of the tour groups. Mike is ran two modules through the winter of 2012. Each module was comprised of ten 3-hour workshops in the kitchen. The ACE cooking team were able to use the High School Home Economics kitchen in the evenings. In November the ACE cooking team played a prominent role in several group visits. They provided all meals for the ABC film crew with the show ‘Born to Explore’. Later in the month they cooked and served the celebratory meal for World Wildlife Fund Canada and the Coca Cola film crew. Their efforts achieved rave reviews from both parties.

o A 9-day training program in Small Vessel Operations and Marine Safety was offered in Arviat through NFT Consortium. A total of 6 students took this training, and received their certificates.

o Parks Canada offered a 6-day Interpretive Training program related to Arvia’juaq National Historic Site. All ACE ecoguides in training were encouraged to participate in this training.

o A second ecoguide training program, ran from August 8 – 20. Wes Werbowy of Wilderness Consultants designed and taught this marine training program. The plan integrated results of prior consultation with community members, so that their ideas and concerns were incorporated into the over-all training curriculum and was designed to build on the first ecoguide training course provided the previous year.

The following is a point form summary of some of the marketing and public relations results over the year:

o Numerous articles and photos from the ACE programs were posted in Kivalliq News;



o A successful familiarization tour was held in May with four tour operators including Frontiers North, Arctic Kingdom, Adventure Canada and Steppes Travel from the UK (a roundtable discussion was held with the participants and each filled in a survey at the end providing overall positive comments and constructive suggestions for improvement);

o In early November, with the assistance of Arctic Kingdom and the Canadian Tourism Commission, Richard Wiese and his ‘Born to Explore’ film crew (ABC TV) spent three days filming the cultural programs in Arviat and then several days at Gellini Bear Camp and the show aired in February 2012;

o A German film crew visited Arviat for two days in November at the request of Frontiers North;

o A short promotional video was produced in Arviat on the ACE program – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyx2-13WkV0 ;

o CBC visited Arviat in August and provided profile for the ACE initiative o An article on ACE was featured in above & beyond magazine in the May/June 2011 issue; o Mark Seth Lender, a public radio show host from the US (independent producer and writer

for PRI’s Living on Earth, which is heard on over 300 Public Radio stations) visited Arviat in August following a visit to Seal River Lodge in northern Manitoba (his visit was arranged jointly with Churchill Wild):

o Olivia Tagalik and ACE were accepted and registered to attend Rendezvous Canada, Canada’s premier tourism marketplace;

o A sponsorship agreement was finalized with First Air providing FAM trip special rates, ACE trainer special rates and non-revenue tickets plus a VITOUR rate that could be passed on to visitors;

o Josh Pearlman a professional photographer affiliated with above & beyond was hired by ACE to visit one of the Henik Lake Adventures hunt camps (in September), and to join the May FAM to take photographs for the ACE photo library;

o A trade mission was made to Toronto where the ACE program was introduced/presented to the following:

o WWF Canada office staff; o Arctic Kingdom; o Adventure Canada; o Kensington Holidays; o Explore magazine; o G Adventures; o Jonview Canada; o Canadian Tours International (CTI).

o Presentations on ACE were made by the consultants at a number of tourism conferences including the CREST Travellers Philanthropy Conference, National Aboriginal Tourism


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Conference in BC, Nunavut Tourism Conference, and CERBA Symposium on Canada Russia North Working Group Roundtable on Northern Trade and the role of Ecotourism.

Nunavut Tourism awarded ACE with a Community Tourism award for 2011.

Year 4 (2012/13) – Capacity Building Continues The focus for the fourth year was on the following three key areas:

o Training and capacity development. o Marketing. o Complementary business development/start-up.

The capacity in the community for tourism continued to build and the ACE team and program were coming together as an increasingly professional group. The full ACE team had up until early 2013 never had the chance to come together in a full group meeting. Over the past two years the consulting team worked with the ACE stakeholders in smaller groups to do the training or to provide programs for the tour groups coming to town. An ACE team gathering had been in the planning stages for some time and it was the planed visit by the senior staff from Nunavut Tourism that provided the impetus for holding the first ACE Round Table in January 2013. The purpose of the session was to discuss the future directions for ACE. The Round Table meeting was planned to be followed by a supper (prepared by the ACE cooking students) and then a cultural and music performance (by Qaggiqtiit and a local band). The idea was in part to showcase part of the ACE program for Nunavut Tourism, but also to provide an ACE team social event following the Round Table. When Nunavut Tourism cancelled their trip due to weather problems the decision was made to continue on with the full program regardless. The Round Table was reasonably well attended with the exception of the ACE cooking students who were busy preparing the supper and the cultural performers (as Lois the Qaggiqtiit leader was weather-bound in Whale Cove). The following is a short summary of some of the more pertinent ideas and suggestions that came out of the Round Table:

o Round table or other gatherings of the full ACE team should be held on a regular basis going forward – perhaps every 3 months or so to keep everyone informed and to stimulate new creative ideas for growing the ACE program;

o Strong support for continuing training for participants in ACE programs and for finding work exchange opportunities for key ACE participants;

o Suggestion to consider pursuing the Learning Vacation market (a drum making workshop could be one of the programs offered);

o Suggestion to look into voluntourism;



o Suggestion to position the ACE program around the climate change theme and look to incorporate something to help the environment;

o Discussion on the need to get information to tourists before they come to Arviat so they understand the community;

o Discussion on a planned commemoration event to take place in summer 2013 at Arvia’juaq National Historic Site and the opportunity to involve ACE;

o Discussion around the idea to build a traditional camp on a point not far from the community as both a community education project and for tourism purposes.

To complement the cultural programs offered through ACE, land trip excursions began to be offered through one of two new licensed and insured outfitting businesses (Nibviaq Arviat Tours and J Curley Guiding & Adventures) both of whom could work with the pool of trained ACE ecoguides. Working with these outfitters ACE created a number of compelling wildlife adventures with extended trips out on the land. With a wide range of program options the ACE tourism season was now extending from April through late November. Tour options being marketed primarily through the travel trade included:

o Inuit cultural introduction – day trip o Storytelling in the tupiq – one night and 2 days o Dog sledding and drum dancing – two nights and 3 days o Cruise ship visitor land excursion program – day long o Autumn caribou migration on the painted tundra (September) – Six days and 5 nights by

ATV or UTV to a mobile camp o Caribou migration photo safari (May) – Six days and 5 nights with a ski plane trip out to a

mobile camp situated close to the migrating Qaminuriaq herd o Summering with the Inuit on Hudson Bay (July and August)h– Six day and 5 night program

with travel out from the community by ATV and/or boat o The Great Ice Bear migration (October and November) – Four day and 3 night program

based in the community with excursions by ATV or snowmobile o Igloos under the northern lights (April) – Four day and 3 night program based in the

community with excursions by snowmobile

These programs were well received by the travel trade and in 2012/13 there were a total of 7 tour operators marketing and selling Arviat and ACE as follows:

o Arctic Kingdom Polar Expeditions http://arctickingdom.com/ o Frontiers North Adventures http://www.frontiersnorth.com/ o Canadian Tours International http://www.ctidmc.com/ o Adventure Canada http://www.adventurecanada.com/ o G Adventures http://www.gadventures.com/


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o Great Canadian Travel Company http://www.greatcanadiantravel.com/home o Silver Sea Expeditions http://www.silversea.com/expeditions/

Despite good marketing efforts the actual results fell short of expectations with the following actual bookings:

o Great Canadian Travel Company brought 6 guests to Arviat for a 3 night, 3.5 day program in the fall. There were unfortunate problems with the Great Canadian Travel Company tour to Arviat. Following the trip there were complaints from the guests. It was recognized that some of the issues were related to the way that the GCTC marketed the program, as the guests actually thought they were travelling to Churchill. There were also some deficiencies in the program provided in Arviat. Important lessons were learned.

o Arctic Kingdom brought 30 guests to the Gellini Bear Camp for a 5 day, 4 night package between October 23 – November 18. Two of the ACE ecoguides under the leadership of Jason Curley were hired to run the guide services at camp. Mike Johnson the ACE culinary trainer was hired to do the cooking and with NTI funds one of the cooking students was sent to be his assistant for 10 days, an invaluable training experience with commercial guests.

A great deal of community tourism skills training took place over the year. The following is a short summary of the major community skills training that took place.

o In August Wes Werbowy held a three week ecoguide training course including a one week marine camp for 7 students.

o In June Billy Ukutak (one of the two new outfitters) was sent to Yellowknife to take the SVOP and MED certification courses, certifications required for taking guests out in a commercial boat.

o A second basic bookkeeping training program was held in early December for each of the new businesses and the contractor who was to work on the Heritage Society books. Each of these individuals and businesses were set up with computers and consistent software as well as hard drive back-ups. John Tugak, a local bookkeeping contractor was then put on retainer for the remainder of the year to provide ongoing assistance as required.

o The ACE culinary program continued on with a further 4 modules (each comprised of 10 X 3-4 hour workshops) under the expert tutelage of Mike Johnson. A core group of 4 cooking students at this point had the basic skills to offer tourism food service contracts, and each of the students began to work towards some type of food service business concept.



o Mike Johnson added in two special cooking practices as paid performances to provide the students with real life experience. The first was a supper staged in the High School following the Round Table workshop held in January, and the second an actual cooking contract for a Midget Hockey Tournament held in Arviat. The supper following the Round Table had two purposes: the first being to showcase the talents of the cooking team to Nunavut Tourism; and the second to provide a social gathering event for all the participants in the Round Table. This meal was very successful and received some coverage by the CBC TV crew who were in town from Iqaluit. The contract for the hockey tournament went well and provided a valuable learning experience for the team, partly paid for by the tournament organizers and partly through the NTI funds.

o Guillaume Saladin and Terry Uyarak from ArtCirq came to Arviat in October to work with the cultural performers, and Guillaume a second time in March. The objectives for this training were to begin to research, create and produce new acts, train the performers in professional staging, and working to tighten the group spirit. Lois Suluk Locke began working with one of the High School classes to begin to engage them in the cultural performance training in hopes that a few younger recruits could be brought into the Qaggiqtiit fold.

o A number of practical training opportunities came up in this fiscal year with portions of the Qaggiqtiit group travelling to Ottawa for the National Aboriginal events and to Iglulik for the Rockin’ Walrus festival A number of the Qaggiqtiit performers were selected to attend the Qaggiavuut gathering in Iqaluit in early February, paid for by Qaggiavuut, but the weather worked against them getting to Iqaluit in time.

An interpretive book project was launched in collaboration with the High School. The purpose of the book was to provide ecotourists (and those wishing to know more about Arviat) with a guide to the area which will identify the edible plants they may encounter, how to forage for them as well as their traditional cultural uses in technology and healing. The project was partly conceived as a means to transfer traditional knowledge with High School students doing research with community elders under the direction of two School contractors (one a professional chef and the other a media specialist) and then writing and publishing the book. The book is being modeled after the one recently published in Hartley Bay, a Gitga’at Nation community in the Great Bear Rainforest. Several ACE eco-guides were also involved in this book project to ensure the end product is useful as a resource tool. ACE was selected for a number of awards:

o One of the ACE programs sold through G Adventures was identified as one of the top new adventures products in Canada in the Spring 2012 issue of explore magazine.


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o ACE was shortlisted as one of three finalists for the 2012 National Cultural Tourism Award by Tourism Industry Association of Canada, the national tourism industry association. ACE was the only finalist from Nunavut under any category. These awards recognize success, leadership and innovation in Canada’s tourism industry, and to reward those people, places, organizations and events that have gone above and beyond to offer travellers superior tourism experiences in Canada.

o In 2013 ACE was selected as one of TIDES Canada’s Top 10 for ‘empowering a spectrum of community participants to support and enhance the local economy and culture through sustainable, community-based tourism.’ Since 2003, every year Tides Canada recognizes ten of the nation’s most innovative and forward-thinking projects and organizations demonstrating outstanding leadership, vision and impact in addressing pressing environmental and social challenges.

Year 5 (2013/14) – Success and the End of CA IIBA Support The ACE program was at this point involving as many as 30 Arviarmiut through a variety of tourism performances and programs, and generated close to $150,000 in tourism related revenues into the community through 2013. According to Olivia Tagalik there were approximately 250 tourists visiting Arviat in 2013. Some of the more noteworthy group visits are listed below.

o Several guests in the summer from the Great Canadian Travel Company; o Silverseas Cruises made two stops in Arviat over the summer with their high end expedition

ship Silver Explorer, with about 132 guests on each. The first visit was shortened due to weather but the second visit experienced the full ACE program as planned;

o Two G Adventures tours came to Arviat the first in late October and the second the week of November 4th.

o Unfortunately a WWF Canada VIP trip to Arviat booked for November 19 and 20 had to be cancelled due to some last minute cancellations by key VIP guests. This trip was being run by Frontiers North on behalf of WWF Canada. WWF Canada continue to be strong supporters of the ACE program.

o The Gellini Bear Camp was operated by Arctic Kingdom from mid October through late November. It was proving to be a very successful program for them. Three Arviat ecoguides were hired and worked at the camp.

o Two film crews visited Arviat – the BBC from the UK and PBS/Channel 4 Windfall films.

Two different staff exchange opportunities were set up this year but ACE was unfortunately not able to take advantage of either. The first was an ecoguide exchange planned between ACE and the successful and award winning Spirit Bear operation in the village of Klemtu on the coast of BC. Jason Curley was supposed to have travelled to Klemtu to work with the Spirit Bear lead guide in



the final week of their season, but due to family issues Jason was not able to take advantage of this program. The second opportunity was for select ACE staff to go to one or other of the Churchill Wild Lodges in northern Manitoba for practical working experience sometime through the 2014 operating season. Two modules were completed for the cook training program under the leadership of Chef Mike Johnson. There was a new group of younger students for this new round of cook training along with Mark and Angie Eetak, graduates of the first program, this time being trained as ‘trainers’ for the future. A further 6 modules were being planned for the following year subject to funding. Work on the Traditional Use of Plants book was progressing well under the authorship of Mike Johnson with the intention of providing a useful training tool for ecoguides and community hosts, as well as a sales item for visitors to Arviat. Key marketing tactics completed in year 5 are listed below:

o Work was completed in the summer on upgrading the website; o Olivia accompanied by Kristy Kablutsiak from Double K Adventures attended the

Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto; o Keith and Olivia were planning a trade mission trip to Churchill and Winnipeg but that did

not take place; o Two FAM trips were run, one for Rick Kemp from Churchill Wild and the other hosting a

staff member from Arctic Kingdom; o The consultants presented on ACE (at their own cost) at the Executive Symposium for

Innovators in Coastal Tourism Development, Los Cabos Mexico, 2013 and the Executive Symposium for Innovators in Coastal Tourism Development, Grenada, July 2014;

o ACE was featured in a chapter entitled The Arviat Community Ecotourism Initiative: Creating a Local Tourism Economy and Pride in Culture in a Remote Inuit Community published in 2013 by the Lakehead University Centre for Northern Studies in From Talk to Action: How Tourism is Changing the Polar Regions as a new model for polar tourism.

A number of new or expanded business ideas were raised in 2013/14 and time ran out to help bring them to fruition. The Arviat Economic Development Officer was briefed on the following business ideas to enable effective follow up and assistance.

o Ukamaktit Tours Expansion - Peter Mikeeuniaq and Mary Okatsiak the proprietors of Ukamaktit Tours would like to pursue funding for materials to build a permanent structure to house their tupiq for their cultural program. Their son Chris has an empty lot next to his house and that is where they are considering building the structure. This location is close to the beach and provides a good location for building an igloo in the


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winter season adjacent the building. If they could build a walled and roofed structure to house the tupiq they could improve the tupiq cultural experience with more permanent displays i.e. Old clothing could be hung up, they could set up a traditional sleeping area in the tupiq and eating area and they could display some of their old tools. Peter and Mary are getting older and it is increasingly difficult for them to set up and take down the tupiq.

o Traditional Camp Attraction and Educational Resource - According to the President Luke Suluk the Arviat Heritage Society would like to move ahead with the concept for a traditional village to be set up on the outskirts of town. The intent would be to create a heritage facility to benefit the schools, local residents and tourists.

o Wildlife Viewing Cabin - John Tugak has been working on retainer to assist the new ACE businesses with their bookkeeping. He then came forward with his own plan to build a cabin facility for small groups of tourists being outfitted by Jason Curley where they could focus on wildlife photography (near the tree line).

o Bed & Breakfast - Mark and Angie Eetak have for several years now had a dream of expanding their house to accommodate a small B&B. They are starting to implement a plan to save money for their cash requirement portion. The plan would be to add an addition onto the back of their house with a dedicated guest bathroom and two bedrooms, to expand their capacity for 4 guest bedrooms. Both Mark and Angie have graduated from the ACE cooking program and they are now being trained as future trainers. They both have previous experience managing a B&B.


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