Voyageur Days 2007, Mattawa, Ontario
Congratulations to all involved in Mattawa’s Voyageur Days 2007. Mattawa’s population more than triples each year when it hosts Voyageur Day during the last weekend of July. There are activities for all and professional concerts are held each evening at Explorers’ Point. Voyageur Days appears to be larger and more successful each year all during a time when North Bay’s Heritage Festival is getting smaller and appears to be in trouble.
While the community of Mattawa has every reason to be proud of Voyageur Days and there is no doubt the success of the event goes along way to generating awareness for Mattawa, I’m often left thinking about the environmental, social and economic impact of such events. Does Voyageur Days improve the overall quality of life of Mattawa and the surrounding communities or does it create a negative impact on our environment and a few extra “hamburger flipping” positions? What is the real economic impact of Voyageur Days and how many good paying jobs with benefits (except for those involved in creating the event) are created?
At a recent presentation I made to the Federation of Northern Municipalities (FONOM), there seemed to be wide-spread agreement around the table that we need to shift our focus away from tourism and towards activities that create a better return for our communities. Politicians and communities leaders on the east coast of Canada seem to have figured out some time ago that attracting higher paying technology jobs is a much better strategy than focusing on tourism or even call centres.
A recent news item on BayToday.ca said that “the unified region made up of Bonfield, Calvin, Mattawan, Papineau-Cameron and Mattawa have just adopted a new marketing name and visual brand to effectively identify the region to compete for business and tourism in the 21st century. The new name “Mattawa Voyageur Country” is intended to build on the geographic and historic attributes of the area.” I have to admit that I was quite surprised to hear that I was now living in the “unified region” of Mattawa Voyageur Country and in my opinion this new name is designed to promote what else but tourism and not telework.
If you have an opinion, I’d love to hear from you.