OTTAWA – A group representing thousands of indigenous-run tourism companies doesn’t think the latest federal budget will do enough to help the industry avoid collapse.

OTTAWA – A group representing thousands of indigenous-run tourism companies doesn’t think the latest federal budget will do enough to help the industry avoid collapse.

The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada asked the government for just over $ 68 million over a three-year period to help the sector by providing operating grants and a marketing campaign, among other things.

Instead, there was about $ 2.4 million that year, which, according to the association’s chairman, is insufficient to provide targeted assistance.

Tourism Minister Melanie Joly said she understood the association’s concerns and intended to find a way forward.

She noted that in the past, through regional development agencies that Joly oversees, they have worked together to obtain support for indigenous operators as a financial option to prevent businesses from going under in the small but growing sector.

There are also other programs to provide interest-free loans and non-repayable grants to indigenous companies to provide easier access to capital.

“We have always found solutions together, and we will,” said Joly in an interview. “So we will be there to support indigenous tourism companies. That is a promise that I will of course continue to keep.”

The budget promised a $ 1 billion injection over three years starting this fiscal year for the tourism industry, which was hit by a traveler shortage and public health measures that forced festivals to cancel events.

A portion of the budget money will be used to cover the cost of innovative solutions for contacting festival goers and to support hard-hit downtown cores through expansion, Joly said.

“There won’t be a big reboot of our downtown cores in the country if there isn’t a big reboot of the tourism sector,” Joly said.

Joly said that once it is safer, the plan to encourage travel will target regions first, then provinces, and ultimately aim to attract international visitors.

She noticed the need to help places like Northern Ontario, parts of New Brunswick or the Yukon that rely on American tourists.

In these northern, rural and remote regions you will find many indigenous or operated tourism companies such as restaurants, outdoor adventure providers or hotels.

According to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, the sector had around 1,9,000 businesses and around 40,000 employees before the pandemic. COVID-19 has misled those numbers and increased the need for an indigenous-led recovery plan, said Keith Henry, the association’s CEO.

“We’ve lost 30 years of progress from COVID, but you can add more with this federal budget,” he said.

“These are very challenging times and we continue to hope that the federal government will adjust its thinking.”

Last year, the Liberals rolled out a $ 16 million program in which the association gave hundreds of companies $ 25,000 in grants to keep them alive.

Henry said many of the existing business aid programs are not readily available to the businesses his association represents, which is why the group, along with its provincial and territorial partners, applied for a $ 68 million budget.

He also said the association was preparing to send dismissal letters to its employees about the lack of federal funding.

“This is not a strange money robbery,” he said. “This is the reality (and) what we need.”

This Canadian press report was first published on April 29, 2021.

Jordan Press, the Canadian press

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