How Indigenous tourism is redefining Canada’s cultural landscape – The Globe and Mail

In 1995, Brenda Holder launched Mahikan Trails, an Indigenous-led tourism business offering plant medicine walks and workshops in Jasper, Alta. Today, the Cree/Iroquois entrepreneur is part of a growing movement of guides, storytellers and business owners transforming how visitors experience Canada, and how Indigenous communities share their culture on their own terms.

Ms. Holder was born and raised in Jasper; her lineage and identity as a knowledge keeper of plant medicine deeply informs the company’s values of environmental stewardship and land-based teachings.

“In the early days, it felt like Indigenous operators were often invisible or treated as an afterthought [within the industry],” she says. “There was an imbalance in the industry, and it was common to see appropriation [from non-Indigenous providers] rather than authentic collaboration. Many Indigenous experiences were not represented with equanimity.”