Corporate
Marketing | Leadership | Development | Partnership
ITAC is proud to support the development of the Indigenous tourism industry in Canada through programs targeted to Indigenous-owned or controlled tourism businesses at all stages of development, as well as to existing and new regional Indigenous tourism associations. Browse our current programs at https://indigenoustourism.ca/corporate/. Contact ITAC for more information at Info@IndigenousTourism.ca.
The 2021 ITANB Board of Directors is as follows:
Patricia Dunnett
President & Chair
Organization: Metepenagiag Heritage Park Inc., Red Bank Lodge
Website: www.metpark.ca
Website: www.redbanklodge.com
Bio
Patricia Dunnett is Mi’kmaw of Metepenagiag First Nation and is the President and Chair of ITANB. She serves on the board of directors of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) a national group of Indigenous tourism operators that have worked hard to bring Indigenous tourism to the International forefront.
She attended Oulton Business College. Patricia grew up during a time in that two Nationally recognized archaeological sites Augustine mound and Oxbow Site, were brought to the public’s attention by her late grandfather Joseph Augustine in her community.
In the past 20 years, Patricia has always worked in front line tourism service of delivering an authentic indigenous experiential tourism since 1997 with its first offering. Working from the ground up in the Red Bank Lodge since 2001 and then the Metepenagiag Heritage Park since 2007, Patricia is now the General Manager of the two properties carrying on the legacy of her grandfather’s infamous revelation of an ancient burial ground of the M’kmaq 3,000 years ago. The Metepenagiag Heritage Park Inc., is the first Indigenous iconic attraction in the Maritimes offering experiences, tours, exhibit, and short film depicting a story of the Metepenagiag.
Patricia is an artist and has a passion for creating traditional arts and crafts was derived from wanting to learn about her own heritage and to carrying on the traditional skills of her people. Patricia is married to her husband Jeff and has four adult children.
Montgomery Paul
Board Member/Entrepreneur/Councilor
Organization: Wolastoq Boat Tours & Charters
Website: www.wolastoqboattours.com
Bio
Montgomery Paul is a Wolastoqey entrepreneur from St. Mary’s First Nation in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Mr. Paul is tied to many of his family’s successful businesses. He was the acting Captain for Wolastoq Boat Tours, one of his family businesses. But since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he’s had to close his business this year. One of many businesses harshly hit by the pandemic crisis unfortunately.
He also handles much of the on-line and social media presence for Silvers Limousine Service and their newest addition the Party Bus. Mr. Paul has successfully graduated from the JEDI Incubator Program in 2017 and has successfully graduated from the JEDI Accelerator Marketing Program in 2018. He also won the 2017 Innovation Challenge. Monty is also an elected official, as a councilor for the St. Mary’s First Nation and studied International Hospitality Management (Cook Apprentice) at Holland College in Prince Edward Island. One of the many talents Monty has in the tourism industry.
Kim Nash-McKinley
Board Member/Director, Economic Development
Organization: St. Mary’s First Nation
Website: www.stmarysfirstnation.com
Bio
Kim Nash-McKinley is Wolastoqey from the St. Mary’s First Nation in Fredericton, NB. Kim graduated from Saint Thomas University in Indigenous Studies. She has twenty-five years of serving on a variety of Boards and Commissions at the local, provincial, regional and national levels; experience as Chief Executive Officer for various non-profit organizations and currently a board member on the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce and on New Brunswick Health Council. Nash-McKinley is a member of the Indigenous Clean Energy Network since May 2017; this is a collaborative network designed to support Indigenous communities embarking on clean energy projects.
Nash-McKinley has served on the Advisory Council for Violence Against Aboriginal Women and has served as the inaugural Anglophone Co-chair for the New Brunswick Voices of Women’s Forum; and is an advocate for Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls.
Nash-McKinley has shared her skills and knowledge with her communities in a variety of sectors and is currently employed as the Director of Economic Development for St. Mary’s First Nation.
Karen Narvey
Executive Director
Organization: Nigmag Consulting
Bio
Karen Narvey is a Mi’kmaw, originally from Esgenoôpetitj First Nation by the Miramichi Bay and now lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She’s graduated from Bachelor of Arts (Native Studies) from St. Thomas University in ’84. She is now Executive Director for the Indigenous Tourism Association of New Brunswick. Karen also started her own company Nigmag Consulting in 2010 as she wanted to help First Nations people access funding for their businesses, social programs, and or grass roots projects. Hence, the name of her company reflects this “Nigmag” means Kinship or Family.
Karen recently retired in April 2021 from the Dept. of Tourism, Heritage and Culture (THC) after almost 23 years of service. She has served as Project Executive in Product Development in Tourism for 11 years, one year secondment with Post- Secondary, Employment, Training and Labour (PETL) in Indigenous Education. She went back to tourism for three years in digital assets in Content and Web Site Development. She was then appointed to the Heritage Branch at Archaeological Services as a Mi’kmaq Heritage Specialist from 2013-2019. In Dec. 2019, she transferred to Arts, Culture and Commemorations Branch at THC until April 2021. She served as an ex-officio board member representing the Province for the Metepenagiag Heritage Park Inc. (MHP) and seconded to the Heritage Park as a coordinator to help implement a five-year business strategy and the repatriation of artifacts back to the community.
Since her retirement from the government, she is still serving on the MHP board of directors and ITANB and is busy laying down the foundation and the mobilization of the organization during the Covid-19 pandemic. She’s an active member of various committees and boards.
Indigenous tourism is her passion and would like to see the First Nations communities gather their resources and talents to participate in the tourism industry to showcase and share their vibrant culture and heritage.
Shane Perley-Dutcher
Board Member/Entrepreneur/Artist/Councilor
Organization: Aduksis Jewellery Designs
Bio
Shane Perley-Dutcher is a Wolastoqey (Maliseet) mixed media artist from the Nekotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. He trained at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, earning a Diploma in Natives Art Studies and Jewellery Manufacturing graduating with honours and distinctions. Shane draws his design inspiration from Wolastokiyik Traditional knowledge and contemporary aesthetics.
After graduating from NBCCD and from the Atlantic Business College, Shane created his business Aduksis Jewellery Designs and continues to grow the Aduksis Brand and challenge himself as a mixed media artist and jewellery designer, with custom pieces found in private and public collections across Canada and internationally.
Shane uses natural traditional materials such as birch, cedar, spruce, and ash in his work. He also uses non-traditional materials like copper, silver, gold and platinum to create unique lines of jewellery and one of a kind sculptural pieces. Shane gathers his traditional materials for his art because it maintains his connection to the land. Building on this relationship will always be part of his creative journey.
Shane is also an elected leader in his home community of Wolastoqiyik Neqotkuk and as a Councilor, uses creativity through various projects to inspire change. Shane is in charge of Indigenous tourism development within his community.
Carol Alderdice
Board Member, Treasurer
Organization: Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick (TIANB)
Website: www.tianb.com
Bio
Carol Alderdice is the President and CEO for the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick (TIANB). Prior to this, she worked for the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture in Fredericton for 14 years as Manager, Web Technology.
Carol is fluently bilingual and has a varied background in Marketing and Communications with a little IT added to the mix. She worked at Nortel Networks, Headquartered in Brampton, Ontario for 20 years in a variety of Corporate and Marketing positions. For her last 10 years at Nortel Networks, Carol was Senior Manager (C level), responsible for Sales, Product Line Management, Marketing, Training and Implementation of Nortel’s 9-1-1 integrated desktop solution across North America.
Cynthia Howland
Board Member/Executive Assistant to Chief
Organization: Passamaquoddy Recognition Group Inc.
Website: www.qonaskamkuk.com
Lynn Francis
Board Member/Director, Economic Development
Organization: Elsipogtog First Nation
Website: www.elsipogtogband.ca
Jean-Francois Mallet
Board Member/Director of Business Development
Organization: 3+ Economic Development Corporation
Website: https://3plus.ca/
Bio
During his young career, Jean-Francois worked as a project coordinator for the international office at Université de Moncton, as a lecturer of marketing at the same institution, as a market access officer for Joint Economic Development Initiative (JEDI) and is now Director of Business Development for 3+ Economic Development Corporation. While gaining different skills and knowledge while, Jean-Francois always travelled both during his studies and while working, which helped him develop not only tangible but also intangible skills i.e., problem solving, multi-cultural communication, adaptation, autonomy and more.
As a Market Access Officer for Joint Economic Development Initiative, one of his main tasks was to manage and coordinate business incubators and accelerators, which provided him the opportunity to work closely with many Indigenous entrepreneurs. He also had the opportunity to provide training sessions on Entrepreneurship in most of 15 First Nations in New-Brunswick which helped him build not only great working relationships but also friendships. One project that he is very honoured to have being part of was the Indigenous Reconciliation and Awareness Module which focuses on educating people on Truth & Reconciliation and how to be more inclusive in a workplace.
An achievement that he is also proud of during his time as a professor is that he was responsible for a humanitarian mission in Haiti with the theme being based on the benefits of sports for social development (acted as mission co-chief for 4 years), which every year was a great success.