NZTRI Administers Workshop Training at Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, Canada

The Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park opened in 2007 as a world-class tourist attraction designed to engage visitors in authentic cultural experiences with the Siksika People, members of the Blackfoot Confederacy of central Canada. For centuries the Blackfoot knew about Soyopowahko, or Blackfoot Crossing a well-known river crossing essential to follow the migrating herds of buffalo and an important meeting place of historical and cultural significance. Today the Park welcomes approximately 40,000 visitors a year and is the only First Nation owned and operated tourist attraction in the Canadian Badlands. 

As part of a contract with Canadian Badlands Ltd, and Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, NZTRI and Kalahari Management have been conducting a needs assessment for training and mentoring staff at the site over the past six months. From May 17th-21st, five workshops were delivered addressing interpretation, business viability, marketing, restaurant/culinary experiences, and giftshop/admissions. The program, designed as a train the trainer program, not only mentored staff but also provided managers with the tools to run the program on their own in the future. Some of the highlights included working with staff to generate a podcast on the impacts of the residential schools for the website. 

   Restaurant culinary workshop team

Response to the program was extremely positive with one participant commenting, “Thank you for the great job. I enjoyed the information, it was well presented and I now have more information to improve my work area.”