Holly Spence: Building Manitoba's Indigenous Tourism Industry

Indigenous Tourism Manitoba's work runs in two directions at once: on one side, indigenous business owners who need support getting market ready, connected to funders, and connected to each other. On the other, a public that often can't name a single indigenous-owned business. As CEO, Holly Spence has spent her career building the links on both sides, work she ties directly to what reconciliation actually requires.We're talking:Holly's own experience learning to walk between two systems, from Peguis First Nation to the city, and what that taught her about the barriers other business owners faceA persistent myth about who pays taxes, and what the numbers actually showTourism as a form of self-determination: who controls the story determines who profits from itHer case for why indigenous-led tourism might be the strongest driver of reconciliation in the provinceHolly also talks about what it took to get here, including a system that wouldn't count $400,000 in business equipment as collateral because it sat on reserve land. But the throughline of the conversation is bigger than her own path: it's about who gets to tell the story of a place, and who profits when they do.Learn more about Indigenous Tourism Manitoba