Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC)

The Northern Tourism Recovery Incubator developed by ITAC was created to support SMEs in Northern communities to strengthen their business, rebuild Indigenous tourism operators and re-train staff members to support visitors and public health expectations as the tourism industry recovers.

The needs of these businesses were assessed through a national accreditation program (Project Rise) which provided individual business assessments and aggregated data for ongoing support. By working with the Indigenous provincial and territorial partners, ITAC supported the effective delivery of regionally specific support to revitalize operators ahead of the 2023 operating season. Regional needs were considered as businesses reported through the accreditation program, recognizing that the gaps in one part of the country may not be the same as another. This coordinated effort aimed to increase tourism revenues and jobs by increasing Indigenous tourism products to meet visitor demands.

Aerial view of the airport. Airplane taxiing to runway.

Featured Projects

Group shot of students.
Project

Re-skilling Displaced Retail Workers

The Re-skilling Displaced Retail Workers project sought to support the design of a re-skilling program for displaced Ontario retail workers, with a focus on racialized or Indigenous youth.
Three people collaborating on project in IT development office
Research

OpportuNext

The OpportuNext platform, developed by the Conference Board of Canada with support from the Future Skills Centre, addresses this gap by providing a free, bilingual and user-friendly digital tool that helps users explore career options based on skill similarity, salary prospects and job outlook.
Young student wearing a backpack smiling.
Project

Reality, Education and Applied Life Skills (R.E.A.L.) School

Urban Rez Solutions Social Enterprise developed Reality, Education and Applied Life Skills (R.E.A.L.) School so that Black, Indigenous and racialized youth in socio-economically challenged neighbourhoods can identify and pursue their career interests.
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