Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Apr 14/00) - They've come and gone, but the question of what they'll say about Inuvik lingers.

Last week, 260 economic development professionals from across Western Canada participated in the Catch the Spirit 2000 conference hosted by Western Arctic Business Development Services (WABDS).

In the months of planning preceding the ground-breaking conference for the community, WABDS general manager Patricia Black said a successful event could place Inuvik firmly on the convention map and attract more much-needed attention and dollars. She stuck by that proposal as Catch the Spirit wrapped up last Wednesday.

"It was perfect and we had 260 very happy participants," she said. "We wanted to see what Inuvik could do, and the fact that the delegates loved it sets us up for the future. Inuvik can build on this success and host similar conferences as many as four times a year."

Guests - mainly members of publicly-funded Community Futures business projects - arrived in time to participate in the Muskrat Jamboree before sitting down to three days of workshops and cultural events. They also shopped for art, took in dog-sled rides and travelled to Tuktoyaktuk.

Black had anticipated the guests would inject as much as $500,000 into the local economy, through travel, accommodation and food.

"When you're looking at convention travel it's all subsidized by their offices, so the delegates don't have to spend any money to get here," she said. "That means they save it and spend it all personally. The delegates all said they'd spent from $500 to $1,000 for things like crafts, on top of their airfare, food and registration."

Delegates provide feedback

Black said the biggest challenge of staging the conference was its sheer size, and feeding and housing the delegates.

WABDS flew former Peppermill restaurant chef Gerhardt Erler up from Calgary for the occasion and made use of the Finto Motor Hotel kitchen. The visitors filled Inuvik's hotels and overflowed into townhouse and residence lodgings.

While all the delegates raved about the food, the housing arrangement met with varying degrees of success. Most guests, particularly younger ones like Steve Greene from Mackenzie Economic Development out of High Level, Alta., said they were flexible and the row housing was fine, while others disagreed.

"We got stuck in a row house and if I had to come again, I wouldn't. It reminded me of business trips to China," said Wayne Davis of the South-West Alberta Business Development Centre in Pincher Creek, Alta.

Davis' colleague, David Mulholland, described the six-day charter that took about 150 delegates from Edmonton as somewhat restrictive. He added it was fantastic to experience the local culture, but six days made for a long trip and organizers should have made more information available about what they could expect in Inuvik and how to arrange trips like the one to Tuktoyaktuk.

Still, with Pincher Creek set to host next year's Community Futures conference, both Davis and Mulholland were taking careful notes and had an equal number of good things to say about Inuvik. The pair - like everyone interviewed - praised the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex as a wonderful facility where a variety of events could be staged simultaneously.

Les Erickson from the Entre-Corp Business Development Centre in Medicine Hat, Alta., said the workshops were "really good," as was the opportunity to network and share ideas. He said ideally, the Inuvik office could learn from its southern colleagues how to make an even bigger impact in the community.

"Culturally, the North has different issues from us in southern Alberta, but there's also a universality of themes," he said. "Each of our organizations is grassroots and about people helping people, and this is about how to organize to react to the different economic conditions we face."

Judy McMillan-Evans from Highwood Business Development in High River, Alta., said this was her fifth conference and praised the clock-work organization WABDS maintained.

"I've been to some where they ran three or four hours behind schedule, but everything clicked here," she said. "The food was great, the speakers were great. It was a fantastic opportunity to come to see this side of the world, and the hospitality was amazing."

Asked if she'd wished WABDS had done anything differently, Black said she might have arranged shuttles to take guests to and from their lodgings to the complex. A sudden cold snap made walking around Inuvik a chilly experience.

"The only thing we hadn't expected was the weather," she said, "but that's one thing we can't control."