Tremendous Beauty: What makes this Indigenous tourism strategy unique?

The land, waters, and ecosystems that are today known as “Banff National Park” have been a place for gathering, healing, trading, and inspiration since time immemorial. All who live or visit here have a role to play in understanding the history and culture of this place. Indigenous tourism is central to the vision for the future of Banff and Lake Louise.

When it came time to build a strategy to support the advancement of Indigenous tourism in Banff and Lake Louise, it was clear this would be no cookie-cutter, box-checking exercise. It would require extensive listening, learning, and relationship-building with many First Nations, and it would mean addressing complexities unique to this place.

“When we first took on this project, we knew it was going to be unique and different from others we’ve done across Canada,” says Greg Hopf, a consultant from Moccasin Trails who created the strategy in partnership with Stormy Lake Consulting. A member of the Dene Nation, Hopf’s work is focused on building healthy meaningful partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations. Stormy Lake Consulting is an award-winning strategy firm with extensive experience on building Indigenous tourism strategies. Together, the partners have worked on dozens of Indigenous tourism projects across the country.

“This one isn’t unique just because there are many different Nations involved who lay claim to the area,” Hopf says.“What we found so challenging was that there’s a lot of history here – and it’s not all great history. So, we needed to weave it together in a completely new way. We just knew it was going to be both challenging and beautiful at the same time.” 

Unique place, unique approach

Like other places in Canada, there are many Nations with very deep ties to what is today Banff and Lake Louise who have suffered in the face of colonialism for centuries. But here, the situation is uniquely complex, layered and rife with historic conflicts, controversies, and disagreements, as well as the tangled jurisdictional realities of a national park. This place is the ancestral territory of many people, including the Îyârhe Nakoda Nations of Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney, the Niitsitapi of the Blackfoot Confederacy consisting of the Nations Siksika, Piikani, Kainai, the Dené of Tsuut’ina Nation, and the Battle River Territory – Métis Rocky View District 4. We also acknowledge and honor the Ktunaxa and Secwépemc First Nations, the Peoples and Nations of Treaties 6, 7, and 8, and all Indigenous Peoples now living here in relationship with this sacred land.

Hopf says the strategy team tried a handful of times to do what has worked elsewhere – gathering interested Nations together to listen, learn, consult, and support the building of an Indigenous tourism strategy – at the start of this project. Various nations were invited to send representatives to a gathering in Banff, one-on-one interviews were also conducted, and the strategy team visited some communities. But Hopf says it became clear that this sort of approach wasn’t going to work here. Instead, the team decided that to confront the layers of complexity, they needed to go out to the communities.

With this refreshed approach, the team hit the road throughout 2024, visiting Nations in their home communities to gather, listen, and learn stories and experiences about ties to Banff and Lake Louise. A core theme emerged – one of celebrating the complexities as a form of beauty and diversity, instead of a problem.

“We realized that it’s okay that it’s complicated,” Hopf says. “Let’s celebrate each Nation’s uniqueness, their struggles, their stories about this place. Let’s celebrate the complexity as something beautiful – as a tremendous beauty – something we all share.”

"Mouth shut, ears open"

Throughout 2024, the team – which included representatives from Banff & Lake Louise Tourism – visited with different Nations in the lands of Treaty 7 and the Métis Nation, District 4. They gathered in community centres within multiple Nations, as well as in Banff for a group session, to hear stories of the past and listen to ideas about what could be possible in the future through Indigenous tourism in Banff and Lake Louise. One-on-one interviews were conducted virtually, including a meeting with an artist from Treaty 8 territory who operates businesses in Banff.

“I remember being at Tsuut'ina, and four members of the Starlight family, Deanna and three of her children, were all there. They told us about their history in the area, and they thanked us for coming to them for help,” Hopf says.

Hopf says there are often many non-Indigenous people coming in to Indigenous communities to tell them what they can do for them. This approach was different. This, he says, was a chance to listen – “to ask them to tell us what they thought Indigenous tourism should look like here, tell us what your relationship is to the area.” 

“This strategy is only as strong as its contributions,” he says. “It was a mouth shut, ears open approach.”

In the gatherings, the team heard stories dating back centuries – stories of trade, celebrations, gatherings, experiences in Banff and Lake Louise. The through line was that Banff has always been a place of meeting with old friends and forming new relationships, Hopf says.

Each session was slightly different. The Îyârhe Nakoda are the closest Nations located geographically to Banff National Park, that presented unique opportunities for engagement. Led by Daryl Kootenay, the initiative included an in-community session as well as informal, personalized coffee meetings.

The Tsuut'ina shared stories of Elders meeting with coastal nations in Banff – trading fish for sage. Members of the board of Métis District 4 spoke about coming here for community elk harvesting. Siksika told about the importance of the river crossing at Castle Mountain. Ktunaxa elders shared stories of taking journeys to present-day Banff for celebrating and reconnecting with other nations.

Relationship first

Each community is unique, but it was clear this particular place has always been a gathering place. And so, the newly-released strategy—Tremedous Beauty: Indigenous Tourism in Banff and Lake Louise—is purposefully open to interpretation, which Hopf says is okay. More than a list of actions that can be checked off as done, it’s deliberately slow.

“There is some decolonizing of the process in here that’s significant. Instead of a to-do list, we’re prioritizing relationships. There’s room to breathe. It’s encouraging.”

The stories and learnings are shared now in the strategy:

Tremendous Beauty: Indigenous Tourism in Banff and Lake Louise