A Washow Lodge Blog

Exciting day for Washow Lodge at Adventure Travel Summit

washowlodge — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:43:17 +0000

The Moose Cree First Nation and Washow Lodge were given significant recognition today as Becky Pelkonen accepted a scholarship award on their behalf from Teva and the Adventure Travel Trade Association in Charlevoix, Quebec. Attendees from over 50 countries and various travel businesses, media outlets, and organizations were in attendance. It was a humbling yet exciting day for Washow and we`d like to thank Teva and ATTA for the phenomenal recognition and award. Meegwetch from the Moose Cree!

Becky Pelkonen with Shannon Stowell of ATTA (left) and Liz Ferrin of Teva (right)

Washow does New York!

washowlodge — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:36:58 +0000

Washow Lodge is getting ready to visit with some of the top adventure travel providers and partners in the world. For all partners attending the Adventures in Travel Expo in New York, we look forward to visiting with you! Get in contact with Marketing & Development Manager, Becky Pelkonen at mdm@washow.ca to set up a meeting.

Washow Lodge selected for Adventure Travel scholarship

washowlodge — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:59:52 +0000

Washow Lodge has been selected by Teva and the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) as 1 of 3 candidates for a scholarship to attend the Adventure Travel and Tourism Conference in Quebec. Washow Lodge’s proactive community-based tourism strategies and sustainable tourism mandates likely set us apart in this competition – whatever the case, we are honored and look forward to sending a representative on behalf of the Moose Cree First Nation.

An exciting first award for us, we look forward to working towards more of its kind!

To read the press release, see here.

Meet Washow’s Managers

washowlodge — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:21:56 +0000

Well it is high time that we formally introduce ourselves. As Washow Lodge’s managers we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to finalize all programs, services, and info pertaining to Washow. Although a long process, things have been coming along grand and we look forward to opening Washow Lodge’s doors with the community as soon as we get our final stamp of approval at the end of this week.

Until that time, we’d like to introduce ourselves to those who don’t know us already:

Sinclair Trapper – “I’ve been hired as the Operations Manager for Washow Lodge. Although I’ve been based out of Moose Factory since I started on back in March, I will be spending most of my time out in Hannah Bay once Washow Lodge is operating. My traditional camp is out across the creek from Washow and my trap line is in that area, along the Harricanaw River and out to Hannah Bay. I have fond memories of growing up out there and harvesting the land and want to share those memories with guests. I will be making sure operations run smoothly and safely and I have a few good stories to share also.”

Sinclair Trapper on his homeland

Becky Pelkonen – “I’ve been working as Washow’s Marketing and Development Manager since February, 2009. I guess I’m an outsider to the community here, but feel like the James Bay region is becoming ‘home’ and I love and respect the Cree way of life. My passion lies in making tourism work for a community and making experiences incredible for guests in return. I’m so excited about how Washow Lodge is taking shape and feel our local Cree hosts have so much to offer. They don’t hold back in sharing their knowledge and stories and they certainly don’t hold back in sharing laughs either! We all look forward to hosting guests soon…welcome!”

Becky Pelkonen in Moose Factory

“NO more plastic bags!” says Moose Factory

washowlodge — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:02:18 +0000

Washow Lodge wants to congratulate the entire island of Moose Factory for committing to “go green” by banning plastic bags at all stores on the island. Northern Stores, Moose Cree First Nation, and the MoCreebec Council of Cree Nation have all committed to banning plastic bags. We all feel that it was a move that needed to happen and as a community-based business conscious of our own ecological footprint, we are proud of our community for taking this step. CONGRATULATIONS!

Greetings to MCFN from Nisga’a Nation

washowlodge — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:37:45 +0000

Please see below a message from Alvin of the Nisga’a Nation in Northern B.C.. Meegwetch, Alvin from Washow Lodge for your kind words…

“Greetings from the Nisga’a Nation, I come from the Nisga’a Community of New Aiyansh, which is located in northern British Columbia. Goggle Nisga’a and you will get on our governing body web-site Nisga’a Lisims Government. We are very interested (in Washow), this is a vision I saw for our children and youth, to keep the culture and tradition strong through our most valuable asset , our ELDERS. If you see it, you believe it, you will receive it.

Enjoy your new Journey, I know its going to be awesome

– Alvin”

Gathering of Our People (GOOP) 2009

washowlodge — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:01:13 +0000

GOOP is upon us this week in Moose Factory! Moose Cree First Nation’s annual Gathering of Our People was another success. It was nice to see some friendly faces this year and we look forward to reuniting with old friends and welcoming new visitors next year. See the fun as it comes hot of the press here.

Tonight is the last night including the community feast and a short presentation for the community on Washow Lodge. We’ll see all you local folks at the feast!

Gathering of Our People 2009 - Our Homeland, Our People

Hosting Sylvie Blangy

washowlodge — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:06:34 +0000

We were extremely proud and humble to have hosted our friend and ecotourism academic/consultant, Sylvie Blangy earlier this month. Sylvie has visted and worked with our community twice before and we were very enthusiastic to have her back. This time around, we worked with Sylvie on conducting a number of community engagement workshops on cultural rejuvenation, arts/crafts business development, youth programming, and tourism partnerships. She also had a chance to see the most recent developments out at Washow Lodge.

Sylvie has passed on a number of skills to our tourism department at Moose Cree First Nation for us to start conducting our own community workshops. The idea is to truly use Washow to benefit as many community members as possible. In the coming months we will be hosting a number of community-focused workshops out at Washow Lodge and we will welcome artisans, Chief & Council, youth, elders, and the broader community.

To see more of Sylvie’s work, contacts, and partners please vist her website here.

A happy reunion between Clarence Trapper and Sylvie in Moose Factory

Sinclair Trapper hosting Sylvie out on the land

Tuktu–Poro–Atihk Workshop & Conference

washowlodge — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:43:24 +0000

The Washow team (Sinclair Trapper, Clarence Trapper, & Becky Pelkonen) has just returned back to Moose Factory from an enlightening workshop in Ottawa on creating better partnerships and links between arctic-based aboriginal ecotourism providers and academic researchers/institutions. The workshop focused on indigenous peoples found in arctic areas and we made many new Inuit, Quebec Cree, Sami, and Orachen friends from across Canada and around the world alongside forward-thinking academics from the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Lakehead University, UNBC, and Acadia University, to name a few.

The most interesting outcome was discovering that the James Bay Cree share many of the same issues with other indigenous groups from across the globe. We all share the same concerns on cultural and environmental loss and degradation and find ourselves committed to the same cause – using ecotourism as a way to both rejuvenate and protect these sacred things for generations to come.

It was an intimate workshop facilitated by Sylvie Blangy, a leading aboriginal ecotoruism consultant (see here) who we also look forward to hosting in Moose Factory at the end of this month. Welcome, Sylvie and meegwetch to all those who shared their stories and expertise with us in Ottawa.

Sami representatives identifying stakeholders and partners within their regions in Norway and Sweden.

A gift from the Orachen in China presented to the Moose Cree First Nation and Washow Lodge.

The whole "community" gang! Community-level aboriginal ecotourism providers preparing for a great day out in Ottawa.

New Renderings of Washow Lodge

washowlodge — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:13:53 +0000

We’re really excited about the new renderings we had completed for Washow Lodge. We promise to have photography complete in the next couple of months – until then, enjoy our renderings! Simply click on the text below:

Washow Lodge aerial view

Washow Lodge eye level view