b'TOURISMNorthern tourism company Okpik Arctic Village offers fishing expeditions as well as sampling of local food like muktuka powerful way, to connect people to theKisoun Taylor believes that his business,medicating ourselves, housing ourselves. land, says Kylik Kisoun Taylor, founderand others like it, are thriving not onlyAs more Indigenous people move back and CEO of Okpik Arctic Village (formerlybecause of increased interest from theto those food systems, they are naturally Tundra North Tours). Most people aretravelling public, but also due to broaderincorporating them into their business.very disconnected from their environ- societal shifts. I think one of the biggest ment. Being able to go out on the land,reasons is that Indigenous people them- The reality is that more Indigenous learn whats edible, learn whats medicineselves are starting to embrace this trend,people are out on the land harvesting,thats a very, very strong way to recon- he says. I wouldnt even use the wordfishing, trapping, Kisoun Taylor adds. nect somebody to their environment.trend. I think it is more like a culture revi- It is actually much better. Our land is talization, reconnecting to the culture likemore productive when people are on it, Kisoun Taylor,whoisofInuvialuit,weve always done: feeding ourselves,utilizing it in a sustainable way. I also think Gwichin and Scandinavian descent, grew up in Ontario, but moved to Inuvik in 2003. In 2006, he called upon traditional skills for living on the land that he hadOUR SERVICES:learned from his family to start his busi-ness, originally under the name Up North Tours. Today, he welcomes visitors toCommunity Risk & Hazard the North for fishing, observing the rein- Assessmentsdeer herds, and sampling local food like muktuk (made from whale). Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Planning & ConsultingEmergency Exercise Development & ImplementationWildfire Community Assessments, FireSmart Assessments & Resiliency PlanningResponse Support including ICS Support & Relationship ManagementGIS Mappingwww.nikaanii.ca780-860-9775admin@nikaanii.ca CERTIFIEDOkpik Arctic Village founder Kylik Kisoun TaylorAboriginal BUSINESS REPORT 39'