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HOLLAND
COLLEGE • April 29, 2003
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FEATURES
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| {College
offers course in aboriginal tourism  PHOTO:
Joe Knockwood, manager of the Native Council Craft Center and Gallery
located on the corner of Grafton and Cumberland Streets.By Garnet Livingston Surveyor Staff The word tourism brings to mind beaches with white sand and seagulls flying overhead, parks packed with kids and parents standing in lineups waiting for a two-minute ride. Maybe it's going to see the Province House in Charlottetown and learning how the Fathers of Confederation created Canada. But there is another side to the Island that will soon be available for visitors, aboriginal tourism. Holland College is offering a new course on the subject, the first in Atlantic Canada. The aboriginal tourism program was developed in partnership with the Lennox Island First Nation. The band inhabits the 1,320-acre Lennox Island Reserve 15 miles north of Summerside. The reserve was established in 1870 and is home to about 566 Mi'kmaq. It is also home to a growing aboriginal tourism industry. Charlie Greg Sark, Jr. of Lennox Island is owner-operator of Mi'kmaq Kayak Adventures. Sark says he was brought on board to help develop the program because of his knowledge and background. "The current design of the course is broken up into six modules. There are certain modules that can be taken and brought right in the various communities," he said. "One course that is already taught at the Atlantic Tourism and Hospitality Institute (ATHI) is Cuisine in Canada. They discuss foods and where they come from, their implications and how they are used and presented." Learning about how food can be used helps describe a culture, he said. "When I take tours out on kayaking trips, one of the options they have is to have lobster on the beach, so I don’t just buy a lobster, cook it on the beach and feed it to them. "The whole process is explained to them, what lobster means in Mi'kmaq and little things like telling them that the word for lobster is jagej."So they learn about the place of the lobster and the culture, how it was fished before contact with the Europeans. "For example, if a student from the Nisga'a Nation of B.C. wanted to talk about whale meat and the place it has in their culture, the course will allow for the interpretation of the food." Doreen Sark of MicMac Productions in Lennox Island said the tourism industry is growing and this is the ideal time for a course like this. "The Mi'kmaq express their culture through art, music and crafts. To have the various communities involved with Holland College in the use of new teaching methods, is a real opportunity to do something new and exciting," she said. ATHI instructor Albert Roche said they hope to start soon. "We’re looking at enrolment figures at the moment and we want to offer the program this fall, but it all depends on demand," Roche said. "We are also looking at the possibility of doing things with the aboriginal communities in Atlantic Canada as it relates to tourism development." Sark spent the last two months on the road visiting aboriginal communities. "I would go in and present the program, talking to people and getting feedback," he said. There is one concern in the aboriginal communities. "People in the aboriginal communities have only one concern and that is ownership. We’re dealing with aboriginal tourism, we’re dealing with sharing and ownership is the key," Sark said. "Cultural people in the community have to own it, when I was in different communities hair was up on people’s necks - Well who are you? You’re some white institution and you're going to train us? - and that’s how it in some ways comes across. "When I say I’m from Lennox Island, I have an aboriginal tourism business and I’m working with the school and after I talk about that relationship they go OK, so there is some ownership by the aboriginal community." The course offers two types of training; community tourism planning and community development project. The first is for people who want to develop a product for aboriginal tourism. The second is general knowledge building about the tourism industry for the community. The ATHI will work with bands to explain opportunities available for those who take the aboriginal tourism course. "We bring the chief and council up to speed by introducing ideas to community," Sark said. "The one is specific for people who already have a foot in the tourism door and the other is for people considering to develop an industry." There is a wide spectrum in where communities are at, Sark said."I say that delicately because there are a few communities like Lennox Island and a couple of others that are leading the way in development, and there are communities that have the capacity but just haven’t thought about it." The aboriginal tourism course also allows different First Nations to learn about one another. "The Mi'kmaq, even though we’re neighbours with the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy Nations, we have a lot of similarities because we’re so close in proximity and our environment," Sark said. "But we also have a lot of differences in how we see the world. So the idea with the initial design of the course is to provide the skills to bring out the knowledge themselves and not necessarily teach them. It kind of weighs in on the optimistic side in terms of delivery." As well as the standard classroom work, students will receive on-the-job training throughout the program and on-site learning in First Nation communities. Field trips are also part of the course. Anyone interested in taking the course can contact the Atlantic Tourism and Hospitality Institute at (902) 894-6800 or (902) 894-6851. } |
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