We are delighted to welcome you to Yukon and to the
6th International Polar Tourism Research Network (IPTRN) Conference and Community Tour!
This year's theme of 'Creative Forces in the Polar Regions: Cultures, Economies, Innovation and Change in Tourism' is one that is increasingly important to polar tourism in an international context, and is having a significant impact on tourism in Canada’s northern regions, including this year’s host site - Canada’s Yukon Territory. More than just an economic development tool associated with tourism, among other things, circumpolar arts and culture are fueling meaningful community development, Indigenous cultural revitalization and resilience for communities in decline, and supporting the integration of new migrants to the north.
In addition to the research sharing vision and mandate of the IPTRN, our 6th conference brings together polar tourism researchers with diverse community audiences, including Yukon’s tourism stakeholders, the general public, and visitors to the territory. The IPTRN event has been shaped around a working collaboration with the Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association (YFNCT). Alongside research sharing sessions we offer community workshops, a theatre experience that explores the polar tourism experience developed in partnership with Yukon’s own Nakai Theatre, and visitor activities for delegates that will prompt lively debate through exemplary tourism experiences. The conference ends at the beginning of the Adäka Cultural Festival and we hope you have planned some time to enjoy the internationally renowned Indigenous arts and culture event!
The conference program and its diverse activities have been made possible with funding support from a Connection Grant received from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Yukon Government (Culture and Tourism), and Vancouver Island University. We have also received local sponsorship in multiple forms from service providers in Whitehorse and Dawson City who have been keen to recognize the significance of the discussions that will take place (THANK YOU!).
This is the third time that the IPTRN meeting has occurred in Canada's North (Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, 2008; Nain, Nunatsiavut, 2012). This year’s delegates arrive from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Iceland and across Canada, including the NWT and Yukon, and we are delighted to have the southern polar regions (Antarctica) well represented with delegates from New Zealand and Argentina. We are also pleased to be supporting (through our SSHRC funding) the participation of graduate students (over a quarter of all papers presented), including affording them mentorship opportunities through engagement activities with our more senior researchers as well as active involvement in our knowledge mobilization project, for example, through their participation in the development of an agenda for future polar tourism research.
We look forward to your academic contributions in the paper presentation sessions, to your engaged participation and discussions in our workshops, and to enjoying with you a number of unique Yukon tourism experiences!
Suzanne, Patrick, and Britta
We acknowledge, recognize, and respect that our sharing and learning at the 6th IPTRN takes place within the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council, and the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation.
Join the conversation!
Web: www.IPTRN.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/IPTRN
Twitter: @PolarTourism
Email: 2018iptrn@gmail.com
Program Overview
Day 1: Friday, June 22 - Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre
17:00-18:00 – Cultural Centre Tour [Registered delegates only]
18:00-21:00 – Conference Opening and Cocktail Dînatoire [Registered delegates and invited guests only]
Day 2: Saturday, June 23
9:00-16:00 - Yukon College, Room A2206
Research Paper Sharing Session I: Theme – Culture [open to the general public]
Research Paper Sharing Session II: Theme – Sustainability [open to the general public]
Panel discussion: Ten years of the IPTRN [open to the general public]
This panel discussion looks at polar tourism research before the IPTRN was formed, how the network has contributed to advance polar tourism research in the decade since its formation, and where the sub-field of polar tourism might head in the decade ahead.
19:30 - 21:30 - The Old Firehall, Whitehorse
IPTRN / Nakai Theatre Collaboration [Open to the general public @ $15 for non-IPTRN delegates]
Hosts and Guests in Polar Places
Whether a guest or a host, our encounters are ripe with the unknown and potential for ... Join a team of Whitehorse’s finest improvisors for an evening of surprise, laughter and fun. Working entirely off the top of our heads, and responding to audience suggestions, you'll witness theatrical happenstances that make you laugh, maybe cry, and that may even spark new ideas about the impact polar encounters have on hosts and guests of all shapes and sizes.
Day 3: Sunday, June 24
9:00-14:30 - Yukon College, Room A2206
Research Paper Sharing Session III: Theme – Planning and Management [open to the general public]
Research Paper Sharing Session IV: Theme – Experience [open to the general public]
14:30-16:00 - Delegate Tours [Registered delegates only]
SS Klondike Heritage Tour and Talk
Join Parks Canada at the SS Klondike for a guided tour of this historic property, an original Yukon River paddlewheel boat, followed by a talk with Cathy Hines, Heritage and History steward, educator and Board member of the Yukon Historical and Museums Association (YHMA).
KDCC Storytelling with an Elder, Tea and Bannock
The Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre is pleased to host you for a story and sharing tea and bannock with an Elder. Discover the history of the people of Kwanlin Dün, their Land Claims and Self-Government achievements, and their journey back to the river and the revitalization of traditions in language and culture.
Arts walk hosted by Lue from Lumel Glassblowing Studio and Michele Emslie from Yukon Arts Centre
We are pleased to showcase some key players in the Yukon capital city’s arts community. Join your guide and local artist Lue Johnson of Lumel Studios on a walking arts tour through an Artists Cooperative, a literal underground arts scene, and a visit to Canada’s most northerly glass-blowing studio. (Lumel is one of four Yukon finalists for the 2018 Yukon Innovation Prize, for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
16:30 - 17:30 - Whitehorse Visitor Information Centre
Journeys to Adäka (Film) – 60 minutes [open to the general public]
Journeys to Adäka is the story of seven indigenous artists who look to the past for the strength to overcome a legacy of hurt, becoming cultural giants and leaders in the process. This one-hour documentary follows its subjects as they prepare for the Adäka Cultural Festival in Whitehorse, Yukon, inviting viewers into carving sheds, kitchens, and community halls. In these spaces, artists and their families are reconnecting with their ancestors, healing, and moving personal mountains to each find their light. The process is familiar – rehearsals, training, crafting – but the backdrop of distant northern communities and the intimate access serve up both difficult lessons and inspiration. Journeys to Adäka paints a moving portrait of self-empowered indigenous communities at an inflection point in our history. This documentary was produced in association with Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association.
Day 4: Monday, June 25
8:00 - Travel to Dawson City by coach [registered delegates and invited guests only]
Interactive knowledge in motion workshop: Building a pan-polar research agenda, collaboration opportunities, and a future vision for polar tourism
The knowledge in motion workshop will begin in Whitehorse with an introduction and knowledge capture after each session. While travelling between Whitehorse and Dawson City a World Café-type of activity will be facilitated on the bus: true knowledge in motion. Following the final sessions in Dawson City, more information will be captured and a summary will be presented on the final day of the conference. This workshop aims to identify research gaps, collaboration opportunities, and a vision for the future of tourism research in the polar regions.
Day 5: Tuesday, June 26
9:30-14:00 - KIAC Ballroom
9:30-10:00 Welcome and Dawson City Opening
10:00-12:00 - IPTRN and YFNCT/ADÄKA COMMUNITY WORKSHOP [Open to the general public – lunch is provided]
Artists, Community-Building, and the Opportunities of Tourism
Artists are key cultural producers in the circumpolar north. Their work is increasingly linked to community building, community revitalization, and, for Indigenous people, to cultural empowerment. This interactive workshop forms part of the IPTRN /Yukon First Nation Culture and Tourism (Adäka) collaboration, and will involve Saami artist Fredrik Prost and Dawson City artists. Using a “Fishbowl” conversation technique, the workshop will also engage audience members to consider how artists and their work can connect community building, to cultural revitalization, and support new economic opportunities, including those made possible through tourism.
In the conversation: Fredrik Prost is a Saami artist from the northernmost part of Sweden. Active as a Saami handicrafter for over twenty years he works with traditional materials and design with a modern and personal style. As a graduate from the three year programme of the Saami school of traditional crafts he had the best teachers available and has for the last thirteen years worked independently. Fredrik has had a number of exhibitions both in Sweden and internationally and has also won several awards with his art. Much inspired by the old stories and mythology Fredrik works among other things with the Saami drums telling stories about the Saami culture and nature based philosophy. http://www.fredrikprost.com/the-company/?lang=en.
Jackie Olson a true Dawsonite, born and raised! She is a Tr’ondek Hwech’in member and a strong advocate for the community. Jackie is a professional artist and has exhibited nationally and internationally. She embraces every opportunity to engage and learn from others.
Aubyn O'Grady is an artist-researcher whose performative work spans from creating a feminist pro-wrestling league to assembling an amateur synchronized team that performs in lakes to examine human relationships to bodies of water. Most recently, Aubyn has become the Program Director of the Yukon School of Visual Arts in Dawson City, Yukon, and she is also a PhD student in the Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
Lulu Keating is an award-winning writer, producer and filmmaker who calls Dawson City home. Her films cover all genres: documentaries, dramatic features, animated shorts and experimental films. She has produced independent films with the NFB, CBC and History Television. Her films have screened at festivals from Chicago to Copenhagen and her work has been honored with numerous awards around the world. Currently, she is in development on a feature-length drama, KLONDIKE KALAHARI, is editing an animated film, and is writing a novel. Keating is active on regional and national organizations, serving on numerous juries and boards.
13:00 – 14:00 - Education Forum: What’s new in tourism education and how do we integrate research insights from “the ends of the Earth”? [Open to the general public]
This Forum is an opportunity for faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students, industry operators and community members to share their thought on issues and trends in tourism education. Members of the audience will be invited to share their, experiences, ideas, and dreams for how tourism education near and about the poles might advance in the 21st century. How do we consolidate the digital age with the need to keep our “hands on the land”? How do we teach and learn in a transcultural environment? How do we as teachers and students innovate, but equally so, how to our institutions adapt? What is the role of community engagement? This forum is an important opportunity for the IPTRN, as a research network, to connect with the University of the Arctic’s Thematic Network on Northern Tourism – a complimentary group focused on the integration of research into teaching and the development of collaborative courses and degrees. The forum will be facilitated by Dr. Pat Maher.
14:30-16:00 – Delegate Tours [Registered delegates only]
Rockerbox and Gold Pour demonstration - Dawson City Museum
Museum Director Alex Somerville will give a demonstration of 19th-century placer gold mining techniques. Using replica equipment to share the material and immaterial cultural heritage of placer mining in the Klondike, Somerville will elaborate some of the cultural values articulated in the proposed UNESCO site nomination associated with placer mining in the Klondike.
Hike through History - Parks Canada
When you hear “Klondike” do you think of hardship, golden opportunity, or land? Relationships with this particular land changed drastically before, during and after the heyday of the gold rush. Take a hike with a guide to a spectacular viewpoint and gain a unique historical perspective.
Hammerstone Tour - Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre
Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre is a gateway into Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in heritage. Our knowledgeable staff brings the Hammerstone Gallery to life, sharing our story of life before the arrival of the gold seekers. Hear tales of life on the land, survival skills, leadership, and the strength and success of our community today.
18:00-19:30 - Fireman’s BBQ Dinner [Registered delegates only]
19:30-21:30 - Adventures in Scavenging Klondike-Style (with option to catch last show at Gerties 22:00-23:00)
Your Yukon hosts have crafted a tour of one of Canada’s most iconic Gold Rush Towns, Dawson City, also home of the Tr’ondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site (2020 nomination in progress). Expect to explore, discover and solve mysteries and clues, while walking through the unpaved streets of this historic and unusual place. Your escapade concludes at the famous Diamond Tooth Gerties, the only operating Casino and traditional dance hall operating in all of Canada’s North. A not-for-profit, it is run by the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA), and its profits are directed back into the community.
Day 6: Wednesday, June 27
9:30-16:30 – KIAC
Research Paper Sharing Session V: Theme – Heritage [open to the general public]
Research Paper Sharing Session VI: Theme – Policy & Politics [open to the general public]
14:30-16:30
IPTRN and YFNCT/ADÄKA COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS [open to the general public, with lunch included beforehand]
Local Language Use in Tourism Settings: Supporting the Development and Revitalization of Indigenous Languages through Community-Centric Initiatives
This workshop will engage you to consider the use of tourism as a means of supporting the development and revitalization of Indigenous languages. Participants will explore Western and Indigenous views on the purpose/value of language and take part in a scavenger hunt and group discussion aimed at understanding the potential to support increased visibility and accessibility for speaking communities. Join us for a fun and lively discussion of this critical issue.
Facilitator: Kelly Whitney-Gould, PhD completed a doctorate at the University of Otago, New Zealand in 2014. Her research and applied work focusses on the culturally appropriate use of local language(s) in community-based tourism settings and the development of language-based tourism programming. Today, Kelly resides in Haida Gwaii where she works with local organizations to support regional tourism development, and delivers and teaches courses on the visitor industry, and continues to do research in her field.
18:30-20:30
Closing Dinner Cruise [Registered delegates only - please be ready to board at 18:15 as the boat departs at 18:30 sharp!]
To close the 6th IPTRN in Dawson City, we’ll have dinner while we enjoy a nostalgic journey aboard the only operating paddlewheeler in the Yukon, the Klondike Spirit. For more information on our vessel, please go to: www.klondikespirit.com
Day 7: Thursday, June 28
7.30 - Travel to Whitehorse by coach [registered delegates and invited guests only]
9:30-13:00 - Tombstone Territorial Park Hike
We’ll take a bit of a detour on our way back to Whitehorse from Dawson City and enter Tombstone Territorial Park. Stunning roadside landscapes along the Dempster Highway will journey with us to the interpretive centre (located at km 71.5) , where we’ll prepare for an interpreted 2.5 hour (4 km) hike up Goldensides Mountain (210 m elevation). Be prepared to take one of the planet’s best views home with you!
19:00 - Arrive Whitehorse
Friday, June 29 to Thursday, July 5, 2018
Adäka Cultural Festival
At its idyllic location at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre on the Whitehorse waterfront, the Adäka Cultural Festival shines with awesome energy, arousing inspiration, pride, and excitement in the thousands of artists, visitors, and supporters who attend the Festival each year.
For festival schedule information, go to: http://www.adakafestival.ca/
The Adäka festival is produced by the Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association (YFNCT), who are collaborating with the IPTRN on its community workshops, in Dawson City and Whitehorse (as part of the Adäka program).
Friday, June 29, 10:00-12:00 - KDCC - Adäka Cultural Festival
Indigenous Artists, Community-Building, and the Opportunities of Tourism
Indigenous artists are key cultural producers in the circumpolar north. Their work is increasingly linked to community building, community revitalization, and, for Indigenous people, to cultural empowerment. This interactive workshop forms part of the IPTRN / Yukon First Nation Culture and Tourism (Adäka) collaboration, and will involve artists from the circumpolar north and Yukon. It will engage audience members to consider how artists and their work can connect community building, cultural revitalization, and support new economic opportunities, including those made possible through tourism. Artist and audience perspectives on whether or not these objectives are mutually supportive will also form part of the discussion.
In the conversation: Fredrik Prost is a Saami artist from the northernmost part of Sweden. Active as a Saami handicrafter for over twenty years he works with traditional materials and design with a modern and personal style. As a graduate from the three year programme of the Saami school of traditional crafts he had the best teachers available and has for the last thirteen years worked independently. Fredrik has had a number of exhibitions both in Sweden and internationally and has also won several awards with his art. Much inspired by the old stories and mythology Fredrik works among other things with the Saami drums telling stories about the Saami culture and nature based philosophy: http://www.fredrikprost.com/the-company/?lang=en. Fredrik will be joined by Yukon Indigenous artists.
Mathew Nuqingaq, Iqaluit NU
Mathew Nuqingaq is a master jeweller, silversmith, metal artist, sculptor, drum dancer, photographer and educator. He is also the owner of the Aayuraa Studio in Iqaluit, which he founded as a jewellery workshop over ten years ago. Here, he designs and produces his own creations as well as welcoming other local and visiting artists to work at one of his studio’s ‘benches’. He focuses on how to use non-traditional materials (i.e. silver, copper) to produce Inuit inspired jewellery and sculpture. He is one of the six artists that co-created the mace for the Nunavut Legislative Assembly. He is also an accomplished performer and speaker who receives annual invitations to international festivals and conferences. He was co-founder and past chair of Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association, and now he is on the Board of Directors for the Inuit Art Foundation. He is a recent recipient of The Order of Canada for his work in promoting Inuit Arts and mentoring aspiring and emerging artists.
Margaret Nazon, Tsiigehtchic, NWT
Margaret’s use material the same way a painter uses paint and brush to create beautiful art. Her inspiration comes from the land, the awe-inspiring cliffs and hills along the Mackenzie River, and the scenic Dempster Highway. Her recent body of work of celestial beadwork brings the cosmos to life using traditional beading techniques with her fascination of images from the Hubble space telescope.
Marilyn, Yadultin and Dūsts’ā̀dle
Marily Jensen, Inland Tlingit and Tagish Khwáan from the Carcross/Tagish First Nation; belonging to the Dakhl’aweidí Clan under the Tagish Keét Hít (Killerwhale House) Killerwhale crest in the Southern Yukon Territory. Marilyn holds a B.A. Anthropology, University of Alaska, and an M.A. Indigenous Governance, University of Victoria, BC. Marilyn spends most of her time thinking, breathing, living and engaging in traditional dancing, singing and drumming with the Inland Tlingit dance group she founded and leads; the Dakhká Khwáan Dancers who are committed to representing their art form with the highest respect to authenticity and excellence. Since 2007, they have danced across the Yukon, Alaska, British Columbia and at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, New Zealand, Washington DC, Taiwan and numerous other places.
Saturday, June 30, 10:00-12:30 - Association franco-yukonnaise (AFY), 302 Strickland Street
PLEASE NOTE: You must register for this workshop, please Contact: tourism@yfnct.ca
Local Language Use in Tourism Settings: Supporting the Development and Revitalization of Indigenous Languages through Community-Centric Initiatives
This workshop considers the use of tourism as a means of supporting the development and revitalization of Indigenous languages. Participants will explore Western and Indigenous views on the purpose/value of language and take part in a walkabout and small group discussion aimed at understanding the potential to support increased visibility and accessibility for speaking communities. Join us for a fun and lively discussion of this critical issue.
Facilitator: Kelly Whitney-Gould, PhD, completed a doctorate at the University of Otago, New Zealand in 2014. Her research and applied work focusses on the culturally appropriate use of local language(s) in community-based tourism settings and the development of language-based tourism programming. Today, Kelly resides in Haida Gwaii where she works with local organizations to support regional tourism development, and delivers and teaches courses on the visitor industry, and continues to do research in her field.
The Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association (YFNCT) is a non-profit organization that is committed to growing and promoting vibrant and sustainable arts/culture and tourism sectors. YFNCT offers training, a booking/referral service, networking opportunities and co-operative marketing for First Nations artists, performers, cultural centres and tourism entrepreneurs in Yukon. YFNCT works closely with arts/culture, tourism and government organizations to maximize opportunities within the sectors.
For information on the YFNCT, go to: http://yfnct.ca/
JUNE 13 Thank you to our collaborators, partners and sponsors (1).pdf