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THE BRANDON SUN • Lake Life • SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2024
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pect of reconciliation cannot be overlooked. “My ancestors were real- ly prominent in the Riding Mountain area. This was their sustainability… we need to be in part of the economy, be- cause we’ve been out of it for so long,” Smith said. “There’s no better way to put reconciliation (into) action than in supporting tourism and indigenous owned and operated businesses.” The Turtle Village website references a way of being called Minobimaadiziwin — an Anishnaabe term meaning “the good life.” Smith said that Minobimaadiziwin is all about harmony within ourselves, harmony with relatives, and harmony with the environ- ment. “It’s also known as a sacred and holy state where good- ness prospers. So that’s what we want to remind people is to get back into nature, enjoy the simple way of life,” she said. This is Turtle Village’s first full year in business and Smith is already adding more shells. She has found that many of the people who come to enjoy Turtle Village are young pet owners who want to bring their furry companions with them, so there will soon be two more pet-friendly shells available to rent. She is also working on mak- ing the interior of the turtle shells into a storyboard of her culture’s traditional ways. Each turtle shell will show a piece of that story. Eventually, Smith hopes to start offering inter- pretive sessions to visitors so that they can learn even more. While Turtle Village is lead- ing the way on sustainable, Indigenous-led tourism, Smith believes it will be in good com- pany before too long. “We just need to do better… and teach the next genera- tion that you can do all these things, but you have to have responsibility.” » cmcconkey@brandonsun.com
The village is just steps away from numerous hiking and biking paths and the lake. Restaurants and shops are only 20 minutes away on foot. Starting Turtle Village was natural for Smith. She previ- ously worked as the housing manager on Gambler First Nation for 10 years. It was through this career path that she saw the effects of the housing crisis first-hand with real people in her community. Smith wanted to make shel- ters with better lasting materi- als — ones that would produce less waste and require less upkeep. She and her partner built their cabin in a similar manner to the shells in Turtle Village, which is what inspired her to start the business in the first place. She said she wanted to be able to share that way of living with others. “We do our part to actual- ly practice being kind to the environment. In all terms, we walk through it in our daily life. Our business, and the way we run it, shows that we care about the environment and the future of the sustainability of the area,” Smith said. Turtle Village is the first of its kind in Manitoba. Smith does not know of any other busi- nesses offering sustainable accommodations like hers, nor are there any other Indig- enous-led accommodations businesses in the Clear Lake area. Scholars say that supporting Indigenous entrepreneurship is an essential part of reconcil- iation. Shyra Barberstock, an Indigenous scholar from Keb- aowek First Nation in Quebec, said in her graduate school thesis: “When Indigenous en- trepreneurs use social innova- tion to create unique business models that incorporate de- colonizing processes, societal transformation will occur in the form of reconciliation.” While the innovation of Tur- tle Village is an achievement in and of itself, the economic as-
Exterior of a turtle shell in Turtle Village, which is open year-round.
The cozy interior of a turtle shell that can be rented in Wasagaming campground.
Turtle shell and a hammock. (Submitted photos)
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