ReconciliACTION at work at tinwis beach, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation/Tofino
It's inspiring when your work supports historic change.
A huge round of congratulations to Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation on their recent win in seeing the return of tinwis as the name of the beach where the Nation's four-star Tin Wis Resort resides.
For many millennia, this beach was known as tinwis (pronounced ti-nu-wis), which means "calm waters" in Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation language. If you have experienced this beach, about 10 mins from downtown Tofino, you know that this description couldn't be more suitable.
A series of islands sit at the mouth of the bay, making it the perfect spot for learning to paddle board, snorkel or simply playing in the water minus any rip tide concerns.
Indigenous destination development
Next to content production and content marketing through its three communities, Seekers Media supports Indigenous destination development.
Our work with Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation has included providing the support required to see this name change, writing up and working with the BC Government's BC Geographical Names Office to make it happen.
This name change is part of a bigger focus for Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, which Seekers Media supported as well—the build of their "10 in 10" plan, seeing Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation members realize 10 percent of Tofino's tourism economy by 2034.
"This is a significant step toward reconciliation and elevating our language back into its rightful place on these lands," explains Saya Masso, Tla-o-qui-aht Lands and Resource Director (pictured above), in this recent Vancouver Sun article.
Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation's approach secures big funding
Through Seekers Media's support in the development of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation's 10-in-10 plan, the Nation harnessed a vision of the future that gave funders the clarity they needed to start writing cheques.
Supporting Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation's tourism interests, funders including PacifiCan, The BC Government, Indigenous Tourism BC, Tourism Tofino and others have now come to the circle with over $1,100,000 in funding.
You can read more about that here and learn how these funds will be used to support the continued return of Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation language and culture.
Ready to power your reconciliACTION?
If you are a DMO looking to power its reconciliACTION efforts or if you are a First Nation member seeking to build stronger tourism futures, let's talk.
ZenSeekers was founded in 2017 as a reconciliACTION engine furthering First Nation's tourism goals and was launched in honour of The Tragically Hip's lead man, Gord Downie, and his work supporting the understanding of First Nation perspective and opportunity.
Over the past five years, our CEO, Jim Barr has visited Aotearoa (the traditional name for New Zealand) three times on sabbatical studying how Māori communities are leveraging "tourism for good": furthering efforts to engage youth in traditional language and cultural learnings.
Contact us to learn how we can collaborate with you to support your cultural and economic growth. Then, in time, when the community is ready, you'll be in position to offer new tourism experiences to the world, as Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation has done with the launch of its Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation dinner expience, called naaʔuu.