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The real deal: new ‘Authentic Aboriginal’ seal.

After 12 years, Aboriginal groups release logo, program to ID genuine First Nations-made products.

by Susan Musgrave 11 August 2010

Visitors to British Columbia want the real thing. They want to experience indigenous culture as it thrives and evolves, not as another roadside attraction viewed through a tinted window of a climate-controlled tour bus.

But how can you be sure your experience is bona fide? If you want to take home a piece of First Nations art and you’re not an expert, how can you be certain you’re getting work from a real Aboriginal artist? Enter “Authentic Aboriginal.”

After a 12-year process, industry partners—from galleries to wineries to cultural centres around the province—and a committee of Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC board members launched the authenticity program and unveiled a logo for Authentic Aboriginal. Certified operators can display the logo on their marketing material to help buyers easily identify genuine goods and businesses.

The logo represents how nature and people come together to form a vital Aboriginal tourism industry. It depicts an eagle feather, symbolizing the pinnacle of achievement, and human eye motif, representing vision towards the future, with the tagline “Authentic Aboriginal.”

In order to qualify, Aboriginal-run companies or artists must pass a rigorous screening by the Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC.

The first to get the designation: Haida Heritage Centre at Kaay Llnagaay, at Skidegate, Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands); NK’MIP Desert Cultural Centre, Osoyoos; St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino, Cranbrook; ‘Ksan Historical Village, located near Hazelton; and Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler.

www.hellobc.com

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Usage guidelines

We welcome you to use these story ideas as inspiration for your own stories about Canada. The CTC owns all rights worldwide. (Our images are also royalty-free and available for editorial print, broadcast and electronic use.) If you choose to reproduce these texts for editorial use only, please include the author's byline and "courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission." If you cut, edit or modify the text in any way, please include this note: "The text has been modified from the original." Thank you.

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Photo credit : Victoria Island, Northwest Territories © NWTT/Terry Parker - Background Image