Indigenous Tourism BC 25th AGM + Celebration and Renewed Agreements with Provincial Tourism Partners

Throughout high school and University Jenna has always worked in tourism. During the summers in high school she worked in a variety of tourism jobs during the week, and on the weekends Jenna was on the Field Hockey BC provincial team. Jenna’s first job was working the front desk at the Nk’Mip Campground and RV Park, answering phones, booking reservations and doing site checks. The following summer she moved to the Campground store to work in retail for three years. Jenna assisted in ordering new product, taking count of existing product, and performed cash out duties. From there she went to work for Spirit Beach Watersports for two years where she coordinated bookings, handled contracts for boat rentals, and did end of the day paperwork. Jenna has also worked in the restaurant industry, as a server at the Spirit Ridge Resort restaurant and the Spirit Beach Cantina. While Jenna was attending University, she played on the Varsity Field Hockey team, volunteered at the Children’s Hospital, and in the summers, she worked for the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre (NDCC). Jenna started as an interpreter where she directed guided walks, handled snakes, and performed cultural programs such as sukʷnaʔqin traditional dancing, singing, drumming and powwow dancing of jingle and fancy. Once Jenna graduated University in 2020 with a BA in International Indigenous Studies with a minor in Law and Society, she was hired as the Cultural Coordinator at NDCC. Where she trains and assists interpreters, supervises day to day operations, organizes fundraising events, and assists in retail with orders. Jenna also works with sukʷnaʔqinx elders on nsyilxcən language documentation, transcribing and historical accuracy. Jenna has consulted and edited works for the town of Oliver, Osoyoos, Thompson Rivers University, and On This Spot Historical Tours. She has conducted cultural sensitivity training for non-Indigenous people. As current Cultural Coordinator and now Manager in Training, Jenna is taking the lead of designing the interpretive cultural experiences at NDCC. Through leading the design of the new replicated sukʷnaʔqin Okanagan village and pit house, cultural knowledge and accuracy is her number one priority. The Oliver and District Heritage Society approached Jenna at NDCC to be a consultant on a historical book forOliver called 100x100. Through multiple meetings and edits of their book, and by insuring the cultural and historical accuracy through upholding sukʷnaʔqin oral histories, on behalf of the Osoyoos Indian Band, they made her co-editor of the book (currently in print). Jenna was also recently hired by the Okanagan Nation Alliance Fisheries as Head Researcher to work with elders, collect data and write a report on the Cultural Significance of Chinook Salmon. Upholding the sukʷnaʔqin traditions, culture, knowledge and language has always been Jenna’s highest priority. Her passion is learning from her elders and speaking her Native language, nsyilxcən. To further this passion she has been committed to further her knowledge of nsyilxcən through two four year language cohorts. One is with the OIB language house; Jenna is on her third year and has received 4 certificates with over 700 hours of fluency. In the second cohort, partnered with NVIT, the Enowkin Centre and University of British Columbia Okanagan, she has obtained her language Certificate and is currently a teacher’s assistant, while receiving her language Diploma. After the Diploma, Jenna will continue for two more years and receive her Bachelor of Nsyilxcən Language Fluency Degree at UBCO with aspirations of obtaining her Masters. Jenna has a passion for learning and sharing sukʷnaʔqin language and culture with her community and with non-Indigenous people, and the way to do this is through Indigenous tourism.