Investigating the benefits and impacts of tourism development for the Tl'azt'en First Nation in northern British Columbia.

This thesis is the result of the research that was completed with Tl'azt'en Nation. Tl'azt'en Nation partnered with the University of Northern British Columbia to form a Community University Research Alliance (CURA). This CURA project funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) allowed me to look at the benefits (positive) and impacts (negative) of tourism development for Tl'azt'en Nation and the issues surrounding the development of tourism in traditional Tl'azt'en territory. The research for this project was developed with the assistance of the Tl'azt'en community, and various social science techniques were employed to gather data with these community members. Techniques included: tourism presentations, workshops and semi-structured interviews. Data gathered from the community members led to the discovery of new themes and community feelings that were unexpected at the outset of the research. The research showed that Tl'azt'en Nation is in favor of tourism development, yet additional elements also emerged throughout the community members' information sharing sessions. These alternate, unexpected elements showed that Tl'azt'en Nation community members are concerned about their culture, youth and elders. The work done in the community revealed that Tl'azt'en Nation is willing to develop tourism, but with the wish to protect and enhance their culture, youth and elders while doing so. --Leaf ii.