A tourism company in Flying Dust First Nation is offering land-based programming to visitors of the reservation. (photo credit/www.creenorthadventures.ca)

By Elliott Knopp

Indigenous Tourism

Flying Dust First Nation company promoting Indigenous tourism, experiences

Nov 2, 2021 | 4:58 PM

A man from Flying Dust First Nation is helping promote Indigenous culture through land-based programming and experiences.

Blaine Mirasty is the owner of Cree North Adventures, an Indigenous-owned tourism company run through Airbnb accommodations. By offering bookings for a fee, he provides visitors with the opportunity to spend a night sleeping in a tipi on the First Nation.

He also offers other related activities including snowshoeing, preparing pemmican, teachings from Elders and more.

Mirasty believes these experiences can help create a better understanding of Indigenous culture, as well as providing a first-hand experience of witnessing life on a reserve.

“I think people are interested in Indigenous culture,” he said.

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“One of the things is assuring people that it’s okay to come to a reserve.”

He added the stigma surrounding the presence of non-Indigenous people on First Nations is one of the aspects associated with his culture that he hopes to help eliminate.

He is not the only person who agrees with this sentiment as Flying Dust Chief Jeremy Norman said there are misconceptions that people need to be granted permission to be in the community.

“There is a disconnect… maybe it’s education that people are unsure about being on First Nations [land],” he said.

“I know with us building the arena 10 years ago, there were a lot of people excited for the new facility, but thought they needed a pass to come on the reserve.”

With Meadow Lake in the same area as Flying Dust, Mirasty feels the ability to visit a city with many familiar amenities, fast food chains and other resources will help make the experience easier to digest.

Mirasty is in his third year of his Master’s Program of Governance and Entrepreneurship in Northern and Indigenous Areas. He hopes experiences and programs like his will bring many benefits to his community that can help improve the local economy and facilitate Indigenous revitalization.

“I want to use it as a template for economic development for First Nations communities,” he said.

“I want to see job creation for language retention, language revitalization, and use tourism to do that, and then to revitalize some aspects of the culture.”

People who would like to get into contact with Cree North Adventures can visit the company website.

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elliott.knopp@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ElliottKnopp