John Haldane drums and sings for visitors he guides to Pike Island, an ancestral home of the Coast Tsimshian, near Prince Rupert, B.C. Haldane’s woven hat is decorated with a weasel pelt. (Doug English, Special to QMI Agency)

Vancouver's sprawling international airport seems an unlikely gateway to British Columbia's aboriginal tourism industry.

But amid the fast food outlets and people pitching credit cards are towering totem poles, carvings, and one of Bill Reid's masterpieces, the Jade Canoe, whose image graces the back of our $20 bill.

So this was a fitting jumping-off point for a memorable trip to northern B.C. last June.

For six days I was introduced to arts and crafts, artists and craftspersons.

To museums and cultural centres, the remains of ancestral villages and massive lava fields.

To a Haida woman who serves visitors a traditional feast in her home.

To a Nisgaa man teaching others to carve a 10-metre totem.

Those experiences will be shared in future columns.

Not that many years ago, there was considerable doubt aboriginal tourism would ever develop. But it has, and in virtually every province and territory.

What constitutes aboriginal tourism, and how and where you can get a taste of it?

A contact in aboriginal tourism says it means attractions and activities majority owned by aboriginal people. That could range from helping paddle a dugout canoe, to joining hands and dancing at a pow-wow, to relaxing at vineyard resort and spa.

It might also include enterprises that aren't owned by aboriginal people but which tell their story. Petroglyphs Provincial Park, north of Peterborough, is a good example. While run by the province, it protects and displays the largest concentration of aboriginal rock carvings in North America, and its interpretive staff is First Nations.

Aboriginal owned or not, they should share one key element - cultural authenticity.

A good source is a list of what are described as "Canada's significant 28 aboriginal cultural experiences.'' They're outlined in a booklet published by the Aboriginal Tourism Association of Canada and the Canadian Tourism Commission. Visit www.aboriginaltourism.ca/significant.php.

Here are four examples that give you some idea of the range of activities:

• An Essipit whale-watching excursion in the St. Lawrence River estuary, just east of Tadoussac in Quebec. This is also an opportunity to meet Innu people and learn about their history, traditions, and current lifestyles. Visit www.essipit.com

   

   

• The Great Spirit Trail, encompassing eight First Nations communities, most of them on Manitoulin Island, which focuses on nature-based and cultural tourism from an aboriginal perspective.

   

  If pressed for time, you could make a small bead and leather item or a dreamcatcher during a two-hour course at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M'chigeeng. Or there's the self-guided Mnidoo Mnising Art Tour, where artists open their working studios to guests, answer questions and provide demonstrations. Visit www.city.stratford.on.ca/naturally/index.asp.

   

• Temagami Anishnabai Tipi Camp, on Bear Island Lake, north of North Bay, which operates retreats that, according to its website, "foster a sense of belonging to creation.''

   

  One is all-inclusive four-nighter that includes campfire story-telling, a tour of Bear Island's historical sites and coffee with a native artist, a hike with a picnic lunch, a program on healing plants, and a visit to a rare old-growth pine forest. There are also two-night weekend programs and women's retreats. Visit www.temagamitipi.com.

   

• Great River Journey's seven-night "river safari'' from Whitehorse, in the Yukon. Guests board a piloted riverboat with a local guide for a 600-kilometre-long trip during which they stay in wilderness lodges. Visit www.greatriverjourney.com.

Aboriginal tourism is probably strongest in British Columbia, where there are 203 First Nations groups alone. Its Aboriginal Tourism Association says B.C. has "the greatest diversity of aboriginal peoples in North America.''

Six of the 28 "significant'' experiences listed in the booklet mentioned earlier are there. One of the six is in the hauntingly beautiful Haida Gwaii, the subject of next week's column.

Mail can be sent to Doug English, c/o The London Free Press, P.O. Box 2280, London, Ont. N6A 4G1; faxes to 519-672-1824