Presentation on PartnershipRegional Development

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Presentation on Partnership/Regional Development
Best Practices Session August 23 and 24,
2004 Vancouver, B.C.
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Atiik Askii Adventures

• An Initiative of the Northwest Manitoba Community
  Futures Development Corporation

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• Since the beginning of time, people have banded
  together to take on various missions to transform
  the present and build the future.
• When we decide to be social pioneers, we take on
  our own mission. We dont just have a mission.
  Like the astronauts heading for the moon, we are
  the mission.
•  
• The Courage to Lead
• R. Brian Stanfield

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The Northwest Manitoba Region

• 20 of the geographic
• landmass of Manitoba
• 1 of its population
• Severely depressed
• economic conditions

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The Northwest Manitoba Regional Tourism Strategy
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The 4 Phases of the Strategy

• Phase One Current State Analysis
• Phase Two Two Rounds of Community Consultation
  Workshops
• Phase Three Three Regional Tourism Committee
  Meetings
• Phase Four Implementation

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• The Phase 1 Report of The Northwest Manitoba
  Regional Tourism Strategy was concluded in May
  2003.

Download copies of this report at
www.northwestcfdc.com
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• Implementation of Phases 2 and 3 began on
  November 24 2003. The first round of community
  consultation visits concluded on February 10
  2004.
• The first Regional Tourism Committee (RTC)
  meeting took place in Lynn Lake on February 26
  2004.

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• The second round of community consultation visits
  began on March 12 2004 and ended on April 7 2004.
• The second RTC meeting took place in Lynn Lake on
  April 21 2004.
• The third and final RTC meeting occurred on May 5
  2004.
• Implementation of Phase 4 began on June 1 2004
  and is scheduled continue indefinitely from this
  point on.

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The Communities Involved in Developing the
Strategy

• Tadoule Lake (Sayisi Dene First Nation)
• Lac Brochet (Northlands First Nation)
• Brochet/Barren Lands First Nation (BLFN)
• Kinoosao (Thomas Clark Reserve)
• Lynn Lake
• Leaf Rapids
• Granville Lake
• Pickerel Narrows First Nation
• Marcel Colomb First Nation (MCFN)
• South Indian Lake/O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation
  (SIL/OPCN)
• Pukatawagan (Mathias Colomb Cree Nation MCCN)

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• Local Tourism Committees (LTCs) were formed in
  each of the communities.
• Some communities elected to collaborate in
  forming of their LTCs.
• In the end, there were 10 LTCs representing all
  13 communities.

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• The 1 2 day workshops that resulted were
  devoted to building consensus for The Northwest
  Manitoba Regional Tourism Strategy across the
  region.
• In addition to identifying an overall summer
  and winter tourism development project that
  would benefit every community in Northwest
  Manitoba, several of the LTCs also identified
  local tourism development projects to implement
  in their immediate areas.

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• The LTC participants were asked to elect or
  appoint a representative to sit on the RTC.
• In addition, members of the LTCs were given
  three handouts a draft action planning workbook
  for tourism development, a tourism development
  workbook (which was a hybrid version of the first
  handout) and a Draft Criteria and Guidelines
  for tourism development in Northwest Manitoba.

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• These three handouts were intended to familiarize
  the LTCs with the scope and nature of The
  Northwest Manitoba Regional Tourism Strategy
  itself and to provide a step-by-step format for
  preparing tourism development proposals.

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Developing Consensus for the Strategy

• The consultation process used to build community
  consensus for the regional strategy was first
  pioneered by the Canadian Institute of Cultural
  Affairs (ICA).

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4. Develop Action Plans that capture the
intention(s) of the Strategic Directions
1. Define a Practical Vision for the Future of
Tourism in Northwest Manitoba
3. Develop Strategic Directions to overcome the
Underlying Obstacles
2. Identify Underlying Obstacles that are
standing in the way of achieving the Practical
Vision
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1. Define a Practical Vision for the Future of
Tourism in Northwest Manitoba
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1. Define a Practical Vision for the Future of
Tourism in Northwest Manitoba
3. Develop Strategic Directions to overcome the
Underlying Obstacles
2. Identify Underlying Obstacles that are
standing in the way of achieving the Practical
Vision
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4. Develop Action Plans that capture the
intention(s) of the Strategic Directions
1. Define a Practical Vision for the Future of
Tourism in Northwest Manitoba
3. Develop Strategic Directions to overcome the
Underlying Obstacles
2. Identify Underlying Obstacles that are
standing in the way of achieving the Practical
Vision
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What Is Consensus?

• For the purposes of developing The Northwest
  Manitoba Regional Tourism Strategy, consensus was
  defined as at least partial agreement with the
  decisions that were reached by the stakeholder
  groups.

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• This distinguished consensus from both majority
  decision making (group environments that can see
  as many as one less than half the total number of
  people in the groups completely disagreeing with
  the decisions) and unanimity (group environments
  that allow for no disagreement at all).

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• By ensuring at least partial agreement with the
  decisions, consensus left lots of room for
  disagreement, discussion and growth, but grounded
  the stakeholder groups in a common sense of
  vision and purpose.

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Round 1, Phase 1 Community Consultation Workshops

• The Phase 1 Inventory and Situational Analysis
  Final Report identified Aboriginal Tourism,
  Adventure Travel Tourism, Eco-Tourism and Winter
  Tourism as potential tourism development markets
  for Northwest Manitoba. The report indicated that
  hunters and fishers tourism was fairly well
  established in the area.

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• The Northwest CFDC Phases 2 and 3 Implementation
  Team used these different types of potential
  tourism development markets to classify and
  cluster the Practical Vision ideas that were
  generated during the community consultation
  workshops.

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• In addition, the Northwest CFDC Phases 2 and 3
  Implementation Team broke Adventure Travel
  Tourism down into two categories instead of one
  (Hard Adventure Travel and Soft Adventure Travel)
  and added one more categoryOtherto the list.
  This last category was intended to identify
  potential tourism development activities that
  could not be fully captured under the other
  categories. Other also included such things as
  Infrastructure Improvement

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• A total of 259 ideas for local and regional
  tourism development activities were generated
  during the course of conducting the first round
  of community consultation visioning workshops.
• Of these, the highest number of ideas were
  clustered under Winter Tourism (54, or 20.8 of
  the total number of ideas that were generated),
  while the lowest was Soft Adventure Travel
  Tourism (20, or 7.7 of the total number of
  ideas that were generated).

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• Interestingly, those LTCs that selected tourism
  development projects to implement in their areas
  chose projects that fit into the middle to lower
  end of this scale, rather than the higher end.
• Most significant of all was that fact that over
  40 chose Other tourism development ventures to
  pursue and these could more properly be
  understood as Infrastructure Improvement.

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• The Northwest CFDC Phases 2 and 3 Implementation
  Team understood this 40 as implying that there
  is a need for improvement in the basic business
  services and municipal infrastructures in most
  communities in the region. As well, basic
  communication technology seems to be required in
  most communities as are improvements in the
  transportation infrastructures that tie most of
  the communities together.

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Phase 3 First Regional Tourism Committee Meeting

• In conducting the Practical Vision brainstorming
  exercise, the Northwest CFDC Phases 2 and 3
  Implementation Team had the convenience of 7
  ready-made categories under which to cluster the
  259 ideas that were generated. Unfortunately,
  this was not the case with brainstorming for
  Underlying Obstacles or Strategic Directions. In
  fact, the categories under which to cluster ideas
  for both these brainstorming sessions had to be
  generated at the same time as the brainstorming
  activities occurred.

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• A total of 196 Underlying Obstacles were
  identified during the Round 1, Phase 2 community
  consultation visioning workshops. These were
  clustered under 48 different categories.
• Participants at the first RTC meeting regrouped
  these 48 categories under 9 regional
  classifications to produce a hybrid version of
  the major roadblocks that stood in the way of
  achieving the Practical Vision of the LTCs.

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Underlying Obstacles

• Bureaucracy
• Mind-Set
• Human Resources Development
• Location

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• Infrastructure
• Funding
• Leadership
• Environmental Impacts
• Marketing and Communication

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Strategic Directions

• A total of 165 proposals for Strategic Directions
  were identified during the course of implementing
  the community consultation visioning workshops.
• These 165 Strategic Directions were clustered
  under 44 categories. Participants at the first
  RTC meeting regrouped the Strategic Directions
  categories under 9 regional classifications.
  These served as hybrid proposals to overcome the
  Underlying Obstacles standing in the way of
  achieving the Practical Vision of the LTCs.

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• Training
• Capacity Building
• Advocacy
• Co-Management
• Planning

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• Marketing
• Funding
• Infrastructure
• Commitment

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Phase 3 First Regional Tourism Committee
Meeting Principles of Sustainable Economic
Development

• The Northwest Manitoba Regional Tourism Strategy
  is a sustainable economic development initiative.
  Hence, in formalizing the strategy, the RTC took
  into consideration the four distinguishing
  qualities of sustainable economic development
  practices and two basic principles of economic
  development itself.

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Sustainable Economic Development

• SERV
• Social responsibility
• Ecological sensitivity
• Cultural respect
• Economic viability

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Two Principles of Successful Economic Development
Primary Industry
Secondary
Industry
Service Industry
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Two Principles of Successful Economic Development
Brings new money into the community and/or region
Outside economy
Maintains a connection with the outside community
Retains the money in the community for as long as
possible
Circulates the money as often as possible
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1. Strategy to Export Northwest Manitoba Arts and
Crafts

• Exposing tourists to Northwest Manitoba Arts and
  Crafts has always been understood as a way to
  bring new money into this region. However, the
  process by which tourists are exposed to
  Northwest Manitoba Arts and Crafts has always
  been seen as a function of tourists visiting the
  communities in the area.

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• The RTC correctly identified Northwest Manitoba
  Arts and Crafts as exportable products as well
  and reached consensus on a plan to market these
  products outside the region.

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• The Leaf Rapids National Exhibition Centre in
  Leaf Rapids (LRNEC) has expressed an interest in
  operating as a centralized marketing location for
  Northwest Manitoba Arts and Crafts products. The
  LRNEC will export these products to Southern
  Manitoba and perhaps to points beyond.
• The local tourism committees will form local arts
  and crafts cooperatives in each of the
  communities in the region.

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• These cooperatives will purchase the works of
  local artists and craft persons. The arts and
  crafts will be identified with a trademark as
  proof of authenticity. After markup, the
  cooperatives will sell the products to the LRNEC.
• From there, the products will be marketed to a
  variety of retail outlets/arts community
  locations in other parts of the province. Initial
  marketing strategies will focus solely on
  Manitoba. Future strategies may expand marketing
  campaigns to other parts of Canada and/or
  overseas.

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2. Strategy to Export the Adventure Travel
Tourism Experience

• The RTC reached consensus on mapping out 1)
  summer adventure travel canoe routes and 2)
  winter adventure snowmobile trails that will that
  will encircle the entire region and link every
  community. The objective of doing this is to
  create an adventure travel environment that will
  increase tourist traffic in Northwest Manitoba.

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• The urgent need for infrastructure improvement is
  an implicit component of this notion of mapping
  out a summer and winter adventure travel
  excursion product development package for
  Northwest Manitoba. It might even be understood
  as a product development initiative on its own.
  Most communities suffer from the lack of basic
  communication technology and it may not be
  possible for them to attract and host tourists.

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• Also implicit in this product development
  strategy is the sense that specific human
  resource development training needs will emerge
  as the process of implementing the strategy
  proceeds.

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• This product development strategy calls for an
  advanced level of resource co-management
  activities on the part of the Regional Tourism
  Committee. Current land users will become vital
  players in developing the canoe routes and
  snowmobile trails, for example, and mechanisms to
  control tourist access to, and traffic along, the
  canoe and snowmobile routes will have to be
  formalized, put in place and enforced.

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• Finally, this product development strategy
  assumes that the canoe and snowmobile routes will
  raise the tourism profile in Northwest Manitoba
  to at least the status of a secondary industry.
  Hence, it is anticipated that the number of
  spin-off service industry tourism businesses in
  the region will swell as a result.

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3. Risk Management StrategyIn-Bound Tour
Operator

• Risk management is understood as project/program
  governance, executive and administration systems
  that are put in place to reduce the threat of
  project/program failure. Certainly, an initiative
  that is the size and scope of The Northwest
  Manitoba Regional Tourism Strategy requires that
  some serious thought be given to monitoring and
  managing the implementation process.

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• The RTC reached consensus on a general strategy
  for risk management activities. The Northwest
  CFDC will continue to be the driving force behind
  this initiative and will provide project
  management services.

Dream Catcher
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• The RTC will function as the In-Bound Tourist
  Operator for The Northwest Manitoba Regional
  Tourism Strategy. The fact that every community
  in Northwest Manitoba has a representative on the
  RTC ensures that every community is buying into
  the project. The RTC/In-Bound Tourist Operator
  will ensure that timelines are being met,
  activities are proceeding according to schedule,
  land use issues are being addressed, etc.

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Round 2, Phase 2 Community Consultation Visits

• Each of the LTCs committed to circulating a
  survey in their communities. The survey was
  intended to identify artists and crafts persons
  in the region who are interested in having their
  work marketed in other parts of the province and
  country.

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• Over one-hundred crafters across the region
  indicated an interest in becoming involved in the
  export strategy
• Most of the people who conducted the survey
  suggested that this was only the tip of the
  iceberg.

Vision Quest
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• In addition, each of the LTCs committed to
  mapping canoe routes and snowmobile trails in
  designated areas of the Northwest Manitoba
  Region. Both regional and local snowmobile trails
  and canoe routes were mapped.

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The 2nd and 3rd Regional Tourism Committee
Meetings

• The 2nd and 3rd RTC meetings were devoted to
• A. Completing the mapping of the canoe routes and
  snowmobile trails.

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• B. Discussing the budget and the overall
  timelines and activities schedule for
  implementing Phase 4 of The Northwest Manitoba
  Regional Tourism Strategy. The representatives at
  the 2nd RTC meeting agreed that the Northwest
  CFDC Phases 2 and 3 Implementation team should
  develop a budget and timelines and activities
  schedule for approval at the 3rd RTC meeting.

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• C. Naming the organization. After considerable
  brainstorming, the RTC representatives
  unanimously agreed that the incorporated name of
  the organization should be, Northwest Atihk
  Askii Adventures Inc. Loosely translated, Atiik
  Askii is a Cree phrase meaning Land of the
  Caribou.

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• D. Finally, during the 3rd RTC meeting, a draft
  of the final report and power point presentation
  of The Northwest Manitoba Regional Tourism
  Strategy were unanimously approved.

Download copies of this report at
www.northwestcfdc.com
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Project Cost

• Estimated start-up costs for the first three
  years of implementing The Northwest Manitoba
  Regional Tourism Strategy is 1.3 million.

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The Inter-Relationship of Provincial Tourism
Development Activities

• Three entry and exit points ensure that Atiik
  Askii Adventures is an integral part of tourism
  development activities in other parts of the
  province.
• The Manitoba Aboriginal Tourism Strategy.

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Conclusion

• There is a story they tell about the Caribou.
  Some say they migrate because of a restless
  spirit. These wanderers are after something that
  is forever beyond their reach.

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• While this may or may not be true, it is
  certainly not the whole truth. Another, less
  poetic take the reality of the Caribou, is that
  they migrate from place to place in search of the
  resources to keep themselves alive. The Caribou
  move away from one area after the resources there
  are gone. They return when the resources have
  replenished themselves.

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• The human history of the Northwest Manitoba
  region goes back to a time long before Columbus
  ever first set foot in the new world.
  Archeological, historical and storytelling
  evidence indicates that Aboriginal people were
  living in Northwest Manitoba as far back as 3500
  years ago.

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• All of the member communities of the Northwest
  CFDCwith the exceptions of some recently created
  First Nations communities and the communities of
  Leaf Rapids, Lynn Lake and Tadoule Lakecan
  undoubtedly trace their origins back to these
  pre-European times.

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• These first people were nomadic. They settled in
  an area that was rich in natural resources and
  moved on again once those resources had been
  exhausted. They repeated this process over and
  over again, moving freely from place to place.
  Later on, when enough time had elapsed for the
  resources of their original settlement to renew
  themselves, they would move back there againand
  the cycle would begin to repeat itself.

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• These nomadic people practiced an instinctive and
  flawless form of resource management. A community
  had a definite life span. It was permanent only
  for as long as there were resources enough to
  support it. All this changed with the arrival of
  the Europeans, especially the fur traders.

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• A healthy trading economy existed between the
  nomadic settlements in Northwest Manitoba when
  the fur traders first came into the area. The
  newcomers took advantage of these
  well-established trading routes to travel from
  community to community.

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• This is an important point. For a few short years
  at that time, the first people enjoyed
  substantial control over the economic development
  of this region. The fur traders came to them, not
  the other way around. The first people were
  calling the shots.

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• The introduction of the inland trading posts
  abruptly put an end to this. Brochet/Barren Lands
  First Nation, Pukatawagan, Granville Lake and
  South Indian Lake became permanent communities
  that did not rely on the natural resources of the
  area. They now had a new resourcethe inland
  trading post itself. They were permanent whether
  the natural resources in the area could support
  them or not.

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• Shortly, the first people from the other
  settlements started travelling to the inland
  trading posts. This resulted in the permanent
  disruption of customary migration, trading and
  settlement patterns in the region. Control over
  the economic development of Northwest Manitoba
  passed from the hands of the people who lived
  here to the hands of outsiders. Now, the fur
  traders were calling the shots.

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• This situation has lasted to this day. The
  economic development of this region lies
  primarily in the hands of outside influences. In
  the fish and fur harvesting industry, for
  example, prices are established outside this
  region and the demand for the products themselves
  are subject to impact by forces outside Northwest
  Manitoba.

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• And it doesnt just affect traditional forms of
  earning a living. If outside influences want
  electricity and ore, for instance, concrete dams
  are constructed and mines shafts are sunk. The
  people who live here have little control over
  these developments. Worse, Northwest Manitoba
  residentsboth Aboriginal and non-Aboriginalhave
  never been first in line when it comes to getting
  the jobs that these mega-projects create.

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• Atiik Askii Adventures is a grass-roots movement
  to reverse this trend. It is an all inclusive
  tourism development strategy for Northwest
  Manitoba.

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• In developing the strategy, the guiding
  principles of sustainable economic development
  practices (SERV) were strictly adhered to. The
  consensus building process that was used resulted
  in an unparalleled level cooperation,
  collaboration and agreement between First
  Nations, Metis and industrial communities in the
  region. This level of mutual respect,
  understanding and regard for each other is unique
  in this area.

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• During the course of conducting the community
  consultation visioning workshops and the regional
  Tourism Committee meetings, the Northwest CFDC
  Phases 2 and 3 Implementation team heard the same
  comment repeated over and over again. At the end
  of the brainstorming sessions, someone was apt to
  say, We already knew all this.

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• This is true. As individuals, we already knew
  what we ended up brainstorming. What we didnt
  recognize was the fact that we also knew it as a
  group of 13 far-flung and vastly different
  communities. We didnt know that we all agreedat
  least partiallyon a strategy that would return
  control over the sustainable economic development
  of this region back into to the hands of the
  people who live here.
• This is the land of the Caribou.

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For Further Information

• Northwest Manitoba Community Futures Development
  Corporation (Northwest CFDC)
• PO Box 188, 489 Sherritt Avenue, Lynn Lake MB R0B
  0W0
• [phone]
• Toll Free 1-888-696-2332
• Fax [phone]
• E-Mail northwestcfdc_at_northwest-cfdc.ca
• Web Site
• www.northwestcfdc.com