The Cree Outfitting and Tourism Association recently earned a Silver Business Certification for sustainable tourism from GreenStep, the largest industry certification program in North America. It’s the first Indigenous destination management organization to attain the honour.
Indigenous Tourism Quebec and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada both congratulated COTA on becoming a “true leader in this field.” Since the association’s incorporation 25 years ago, Eeyou Istchee has steadily gained a reputation for cultural depth, world-class fishing and natural beauty.
“GreenStep’s certification process sparked important conversations about how we engage people, serve our communities, and grow our tourism industry in a responsible, values-centred way,” said COTA President Anderson Jolly. “This reaffirmed our commitment to safeguard Cree land, communities and culture for future generations.”
The certification assessment evaluated cultural integrity, environmental impact and community benefits. COTA will undergo a reassessment every three years to support Indigenous values and environmental stewardship.
“It’s just a first step towards becoming a truly sustainable tourist destination,” said COTA Executive Director Robin McGinley. “Hopefully it will give more visibility to us and to Eeyou Istchee. Now that we understand the global sustainability framework, we’re helping the communities to be more green.”
COTA is helping each community create a tourism plan, such as building campgrounds or gaining accreditation for adventure ecotourism activities. It plans to work with tourism operators like Wiinipaakw Tours to secure certifications for more communities.
“We did a workshop at our AGM tourism conference in Ouje-Bougoumou last year and people were excited to learn more,” McGinley explained. “With hotels, sometimes it’s simple things like LED light bulbs, using soap dispensers instead of little bottles, measuring how much water we use.”
The organization has numerous ideas, such as electric car chargers along Billy Diamond Highway, car-share and bike-rental programs, and boat-washing stations. It hopes to calculate each community’s carbon footprint to determine steps for improvement.
The Nibiischii wildlife sanctuary will likely be the first entity to pursue GreenStep certification, as it already drafted a sustainability plan through Indigenous Tourism Quebec’s new Shipeku program. The program’s panel of experts guide enterprises through a seven-step journey based on climate change adaptation, pollution reduction and biodiversity regeneration.
Following its first year of operations over the winter, Nibiischii is full throughout the summer at its three sites: Waconichi Lake, Penicouane Bay and Albanel Lake. More availability will open up when a third floating cabin at Waconichi is ready in mid-July. Guests at these Mwakw cabins can now access pontoons to have more space on the water.
Canoes, paddleboards and kayaks are also available for rent. Soon, fat bikes will help visitors travel the 4km to a highly anticipated aerial trail, expected to be completed by October.
The cinema on the water and stargazing observatory are more popular in the autumn because the summer sun sets too late for early-rising fishing clientele. But each site offers monthly cultural activities led by Mario Lord and Francesca Savard-Lévesque. In July, workshops include bannock cooking and goose decoy-making along with quizzes about local wildlife.
“I cook beaver, smoke fish, make bannock or blueberry jam, do some arts and crafts,” explained Lord. “I tell them how we conserved food in the old days when we didn’t have a fridge. Sometimes it’s storytelling, talking about my life in the bush. They’re fascinated to hear how I started from teepees.”
After building a shaptuan traditional dwelling with tarp last summer, Lord plans to make another from wood with two young partners. “I’m starting to make little canoes with bark so they’re going to finish and paint it,” Lord said. “They’re little models or decorations, so the kids will know how canoes were made before fibreglass.”
Youth are a priority. From July 24-26, Nibiischii will be hosting a summer camp from Chibougamau with two groups aged 5 to 11.
COTA’s Niimaawin (“food for travel”) project, first launched at Nibiischii, is refining boil-in-a-bag offerings that are sourced from local ingredients and incorporate traditional Cree cooking techniques. Designed for excursions in the bush or on the water, the meals will be available to outfitters and other Cree entities.
Nibiischii is integrating sustainability initiatives by experimenting with green technologies. During the winter, staff tested electric snowmobiles. Although going fully electric in remote areas is difficult, the team hopes to one day introduce electric ATVs and pickup trucks.
A project planned with the Université de Sherbrooke could greatly reduce Nibiischii’s emissions by reducing waste transported in large trucks. The goal is to employ fish remains and sewage waters as an alternate source of power.
“The goal of this project is to make something small enough that can be transferred to any camp on the land,” said Nibiischii’s director general Mireille Gravel. “Something that’s portable so you can plug it in your sewage system for wet remains. It’s fully part of our mission to pass what we develop to the tallyman or any Indigenous company on the land.”
Nibiischii will soon become a regional base for the Université Laval’s Institut nordique du Québec. This initiative to develop sustainable development technologies adapted to northern realities comes with funding to establish lodging and lab space for scientific researchers.
“We can test the capacity and the limits of every system to see if it’s exportable,” said Gravel. “The research is long and expensive, but we have the sites, the staff and the clients to test it. I think we’re a great lab to do it. Everyone has to do their part in the education of sustainable development.”