The Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation is looking to expand its tourism opportunities.
The First Nation held an engagement session Thursday night to discuss ideas that could potentially expand tourism marketing.
Councillor Kevin Seesequasis says one of the challenges is maintaining the main road into the community that provides access to various historical sites.
“We very quickly came to the conclusion that the highway connects us to the Interpretative Centre in Duck Lake, it connects us to Fort Carlton Provincial Park, it runs right adjacent to where the first shots were fired in the Riel Resistance,” he says.
Seesequasis was joined by Christian Boyle of Glyph Creative Marketing.
Boyle agrees the local area has a lot of sites of historical significance which should be of interest to tourists, such as the Riel Resistance and the signing of Treaty Six, but unfortunately, they are not being marketed in the right way.
“The fact that they are not acknowledged except for very small monuments that are overgrown with weeds, I thought, what a missed opportunity this was and what a great opportunity it is.”
Boyle and Seesequasis also hosted a live webcast on tourism earlier in the day.
(PHOTO: Beardy’s and OKemasis Cree Nation logo. Photo courtesy Beardy’s Facebook page.)