NEWS RELEASE
PLENTY CANADA
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Plenty Canada is pleased to announce a $200,000 Government of Canada investment to help support the integration of Indigenous linguistic, artistic, cultural and historical elements within the Niagara Geopark Trail Network and Plenty Canada’s Great Niagara Escarpment Indigenous Cultural Map. The investment, through the Tourism Growth Program, delivered by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), will support the development of unique and informative Indigenous tours and learning opportunities throughout the Niagara Region.
“This innovative partnership will further strengthen Plenty Canada’s impacts within southern Ontario, advances that have made the Niagara Region one of the most celebrated and effective examples of reconciliation within the nation,” said Tim Johnson, senior advisor to Plenty Canada. “Our intent is to deepen our research of Indigenous trails — and destinations along those trails — to create authentic sustainable tourism opportunities.”
The project will benefit from the strengths of both organizations. The Niagara Geopark’s Trail Network will expand its database to highlight Indigenous linguistic, artistic, cultural, and historical destinations and be made accessible online and through various existing mobile applications. Indigenous knowledge holders, linguistic experts and artists will work to support the development of authentic experiences that add value to sustainable tourism within the Niagara Region.
“We are grateful for the support from FedDev Ontario in making this project a reality,” said Perry Hartwick, Chair of the Niagara Geopark. “In partnership with Plenty Canada, the Niagara Geopark Indigenous Trail Network will not only enhance the visitor experience but will profoundly contribute to the preservation and promotion of Indigenous culture and history.”
The project is also being supplemented by a grant of $25,000 from the James A. Burton & Family Foundation to complete the program funding request. The Foundation supports 2 innovative initiatives that serve to strengthen community supports related to health, education, dramatic arts, and Indigenous knowledge among many other interests.
“The Government of Canada knows the value in supporting Indigenous organizations which showcase the unique experiences, teachings, and culture of southern Ontario Indigenous history,” said the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. “Plenty Canada’s work to integrate Indigenous elements within the Niagara Geopark Trail Network and Great Niagara Escarpment Indigenous Cultural Map will be a wonderful addition to the Niagara Region.”
Previous FedDev Ontario investments to Plenty Canada supported the creation of two masterful Indigenous public artworks awaiting installation in the Town of Lincoln’s forthcoming Sho’aríshon Neutral Nations Park, and the retrofit of the Indigenous organization’s main offices to increase its programming space, provide full public access, and achieve carbon negative status through energy efficient building practices combined with solar power generation.
Other Plenty Canada projects that have had a profound effect within southern Ontario include the establishment of The Great Niagara Escarpment Indigenous Cultural Map, the Greenbelt Indigenous Botanical Survey, the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Network, which is now the official organization convening the UNESCO Niagara Escarpment Biosphere and successfully defended its 10-year UNESCO designation earlier this year, and, with the Niagara Parks Commission, the publication of Landscape of Nations: Beyond the Mist, a hardcover coffee-table book that presents 13,000 years of Indigenous history within the Niagara Peninsula.
When adding in the current project with Niagara Geopark, the implications for Indigenous cultural and historical sustainable tourism, and environmental preservation, are significant.
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