5 Key Learnings from the Banff & Lake Louise Tourism Indigenous Tourism Strategy
The land that is known today as Banff National Park is a place of breathtaking natural beauty, deep history, and vibrant cultural heritage. Since long before it became Canada’s first national park, this has been home to Indigenous Peoples whose profound connection to the mountains, forests, animals, and waters has shaped its story for millennia.
In 2024, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (BLLT) undertook an extensive process to build alignment around the future of Indigenous tourism in the park. Consultants and partners visited numerous Indigenous communities to listen, learn, and understand the history of each nation’s relationships with the area and to discuss the potential of this burgeoning tourism sector. Here are five of the key learnings:
- Recognizing History: BLLT recognizes that since time immemorial, Indigenous people have stewarded the lands now encompassed by Banff National Park. Not being able to connect with Mother Earth and these lands in traditional ways is a source of pain and loss.
Banff is a very sacred and special place for Indigenous people, especially those who traditionally visited the area to gather food and medicine, trade, soak in hot springs for healing and to share stories, information and ideas. The Bow River and Bow Valley have been travel routes since time immemorial. History dates back more than 10,000 years. There is not one single specific group of Indigenous people who regularly visited the area – it was considered common space for people from the north, south, east, and west. With the creation of the national park in 1887, the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the land here – including their access to, connection with and rights to this place – was irrevocably altered. - Shifting Mindset: As the strategy—Our Tremendous Beauty: Indigenous Tourism in Banff and Lake Louise—works to braid common threads and deepen an appreciation for complexities, there’s a shared understanding of why a new approach was necessary. “In some ways, this is a decolonizing plan,” Greg Hopf says. “The mindset is shifting across the country. This isn’t about just getting everyone together to get on board with a plan that we can check off as done. It’s about building true relationships. That’s a different way of thinking.”
- Tremendous Beauty: The Canadian Rocky Mountains are truly spectacular. People continue to come here to be inspired, to deepen their connection with themselves and their circle of family and friends. It’s no surprise that we all have a reverence for the land here at the centre of our experience, one that is clearly present in Indigenous culture, and that is a through-line that can bring people together. There’s no denying the beauty of this place.
- Start with relationships: By placing relationships first, we can ensure that decisions and actions are grounded in mutual understanding, respect, trust, and transparency. The strategy emphasizes that relationship building is absolutely key to working with any Indigenous community. Banff & Lake Louise Tourism’s strategy starts there. As Greg Hopf says, “The only way you’re going to get anything from an Indigenous nation is by first building and nurturing an authentic, genuine, and trustworthy relationship. That’s first and foremost.” That’s where we start.
- Sharing culture, sharing stories: The demand for Indigenous Tourism experiences in Banff and Lake Louise is strong. Like the folks who participated in the development of the strategy, BLLT imagines visitor eager to learn about Indigenous culture through the sharing of stories, ceremonies and immersion. There is a sense of eagerness, balanced by the need for patience.
If you’re a visitor keen to learn more, please see this link for Indigenous experiences currently available in Banff and Lake Louise.
If you’re a member of an Indigenous community keen to offer experiences in Banff and Lake Louise, please reach out. We’re eager to help you make it happen.
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