1st Nation Overseas Tours
Northern First Nations Japanese Initiative
Executive Summary:
OCE Japan welcomes the opportunity to assist the Yukon 1sT Nation group, in their desire to come to Asia and present their native dance, art and business to the people of Asia and to learn about Asia. Over the past 20 years, Yukon has seen little of the Japanese income spent in Canada. This proposed ‘Asia Tour ‘will not be the first. We make our presence felt in many places that lead to and from the Yukon. Leaving a footprint for others to follow. This is our ‘first footprint ‘We are inviting you to join us. The plan at this time is to prepare for a tentative departure date of 2006;April 18th to May 03. The group includes business people, artists, drummers and dancers and the coordinators.
Northern First Nations Japanese InitiativeMission Mandate
The intent of our initiative is to establish capacity building between First Nations heritage, trade and culture with international markets. There is an opportunity to bring artists to Japan to assist with creating a Yukon Art Gallery in Tokyo. The economic advantage of having a Yukon Gallery- import/export product store in Japan will stimulate and broaden Yukon foreign markets. We are concentrating trade relations in Tokyo as a means to interconnect and bridge a cluster ‘global mobilization’ import/export model. The portfolio of this trade mission is intended to attract new partnerships and business opportunities to the Yukon. We are seeking to provide a forum for marketing the Yukon - specificallyFirst Nations art, culture and lifestyle. We aim to broaden the existing eco tourism industry in our territory. It is intended to synthesize the gap between service and product delivery. This collaborative initiative will strengthen regional cultural groups and together we will generate a cohesive strategy intended to promote the healing and prosperity for all peoples.
Exhibition artists: Keith Wolfe Smarch- Carcross, Alexander Dickson –Teslin, Ed Smarch of Whitehorse with Linda Bonnefoy, organizational consultant.