“It’s taken me years to understand the depth of care and attention that the First Nations have brought to this landscape that we live in.” — Maureen Fraser 

In the heart of Načiks (Tofino), a small bakery is much more than a place for bread and pastries, it’s a community hub where activism, education, and connection come together. For nearly 50 years, the Common Loaf Bake Shop has been a gathering place for social action, driven by owner Maureen Fraser’s commitment to conservation, climate action, and allyship with Indigenous communities.

Maureen’s early support for the area’s Tribal Parks and her role in helping to secure a UNESCO designation for Clayoquot Sound reflected the Common Loaf’s role as a meeting and organizing place during protests against logging old-growth forests in the 80s and 90s. “There was always posters up, […] a big sign in the window that said, this business supports the preservation of Clayoquot Sound,” she recalls. This made it an ideal place for visitors to learn about the movement to protect the sound, including  nearby Meares Island. “I made no bones about the fact that that’s what this business supported,” she explains. Maureen made it the bakery’s mission to protect the region as best as it could. 

She remembers a defining moment that came from Moses Martin, a former Chief of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, who described the forest as a garden in the Tribal Park declaration. He explained that a garden requires care, respect, and an understanding of how to behave within it—an idea rooted in thousands of years of Indigenous stewardship. This concept shaped Maureen’s own perspective. Today she remains focused on finding new ways to protect what exists, strengthen conservation efforts, and make sure more people can participate in and benefit from this shared vision.

You’ll also learn about:

• What it means to treat the Tofino area and forests as a shared garden.
• How businesses can support education, advocacy, and community well-being.
• Food’s role in connecting people.
• The need to create diverse economic opportunities around Tofino. 
• Why community decisions must include all beings—human and non-human.

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Show notes

?iisaak Pledge —A commitment to practicing respect for the land, culture, and people of Tofino, inspired by the Nuu-chah-nulth teaching. 

Clayoquot Sound — An ecologically rich region covering 350,000 hectares of ancient temperate rainforest, ocean inlets, and coastal marine life.

Tourism Tofino — Tofino’s official not-for-profit destination marketing and management organization.

Tribal Park Allies — A certification program collecting a stewardship fee.

Episode transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been lightly reviewed for accuracy.

Maureen Fraser: It’s taken me years to understand the depth of care and attention that the First Nations have brought to this landscape that we live in. And that’s what was being described in this Tribal Park Declaration, was this is a garden, we have been taking care of it for millennia. We’re trying to educate people on why being part of a group like the Tribal Park Allies that supports First Nations taking care of their territory, why that is important.

David Archer: Welcome to Travel Beyond. I’m David Archer from Destination Think, recording from Haida Gwaii, the territory of the Haida Nation off the north coast of British Columbia in Canada. On this show, we look at travel’s role in making a better world, and we highlight leading destinations and changemakers. Our guests are taking local action that the world can learn from.

They’re helping to regenerate ecosystems, communities, and economies. And they’re often making positive change happen from the bottom up. Many of the voices we’ve highlighted are part of the Destination Think Collective, a peer group of ambitious, forward thinking destinations working toward a better future for travel and the planet. Members represent places like Banff and Lake Louise in Canada, Seattle in the U. S., Copenhagen in Denmark, Queenstown Lakes in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and several others.

Okay, let’s go back in time for a moment. It’s 1993, imagine you’re visiting Tofino, British Columbia, with all of its trees and ocean and splendor. And after a long day of surfing and maybe a nightcap. You wake up the next morning in desperate need of a cup of coffee.

So, you put on your shoes, get in the car, and head into town, and that’s where you find the Common Loaf Bake Shop. And there, as you chew on a blueberry muffin, your eye catches the bulletin board, where it says, This business supports the preservation of Clayoquot Sound. What does that mean? Well, as it turns out, the Common Loaf Bake Shop would be an ideal place for 1993 you to learn about the decade long movement to protect the sound, including the old growth forests on nearby Meares Island.

In fact, a logging blockade that summer would become the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, when 856 people were arrested in a peaceful protest. But, back in 93, you’re just a visitor to this small town, enjoying the hospitality. And by the way, if you remember visiting Tofino in 1993 and had an experience like this, please do let me know, because the effort to educate visitors and locals in the shop is largely thanks to today’s guest, Maureen Fraser.

Maureen began her bake shop almost 50 years ago, and aside from providing stellar baked goods, it slowly became a meeting and organizing space for activists, and it was also a place where visitors might learn something about the local environmental movement. Maureen has held many roles in the community, including municipal councillor, non profit board member, and environmental advocate, but throughout her career she’s brought a higher purpose into her work by advocating for conservation, climate action and allyship with Indigenous communities. And I got the chance to speak with her about her business, the Common Loaf, which has become something of a Tofino institution. It seems that sense of community spirit is still going strong here. When I visited in 2024, I found signage teaching me different Nuu chah nulth expressions for what the weather is like.

The local radio station also happened to play a segment about the Nuu chah nulth word of the day. This atmosphere reflects the business’s commitment as a member of the Tribal Park Allies program. And speaking of radio, Tourism Tofino’s Executive Director, Brad Parsell, has a weekly local radio show called Tourism Talk, where Maureen has made an appearance.

Before we dive into today’s interview, here’s Brad.

Brad Parsell: Hi, I’m Brad Parsell, Executive Director at Tourism Tofino. We’re proud to sponsor this second season of the Travel Beyond podcast, based here in Tofino, presented by Destination Think. You know, our guest today is such a legend on the west coast of Vancouver Island, uh, Maureen Fraser.

I recently had her on our radio show, Tourism Talk, and I should explain what that is. So, for the last little while, Tourism Tofino has been hosting a talk show on the local radio station in Tofino called Tourism Talk. It was frankly inspired by the Travel Beyond podcast that you’re listening to now. Uh, and it’s a way where we can have some more informal conversations amongst ourselves in the community.

Uh, and, uh, everybody can sort of hear them in real time. And, uh, I had Maureen on the show very recently, and we were sort of talking about her journey and what she’s seen in Tofino and her hopes and dreams for the future of Tourism Tofino, and it was just incredible. So I’m so excited that we get to give her this platform on this podcast to talk a little bit about the same set of things that we chatted about on our local radio station. Maureen’s been absolutely instrumental in the Tofino business community for a long, long time, for decades, and has been instrumental in the fight to preserve and protect, uh, the environment and the old growth rainforest in this part of the world.

She was a, uh, she’s been on the board of directors for Tourism Tofino for more years than I can count. So she’s been very instrumental to our own organization and she runs Common Loaf Bake Shop here, which is, we’ve been to Tofino as an absolute gem. So, uh, I’m not gonna say too much more, but thank you so much for listening and enjoy this interview with Maureen Fraser.

Maureen Fraser: I’m Maureen Fraser, uh, I own and somewhat operate the Common Loaf Bake Shop, uh, and have done so for the last 50 years. Uh, in Tofino here. 50, 50 years. Wow. Yes.

David Archer: Great. Yeah, amazing.

Maureen Fraser: Pretty astounding. Yeah.

David Archer: Yeah. Yeah. It really is. Yeah. Um, so I was gonna ask you what your connection is to this area. I imagine it has a lot to do with this particular shop then.

Yeah. Can you tell me a bit about that?

Maureen Fraser: Okay. Yeah. I, uh, I came to Tofino for the first time in, uh, 1974, just like so many others, just as a tourist. Um, I came in specifically, um, because coming from Toronto, I had just read about the brand new National Park. So I thought, okay, I’ll go all the way out to the West Coast.

I was on my way to South America and, uh, in my van, like a good 70s. Right, van life. Yeah, yeah. 

David Archer: A trend that continues today.

Maureen Fraser: And, uh, and I came. I was on the beach, walked on the beach, got hungry, came into town expecting to find like a national park town like Banff and Jasper and instead there was this tiny little community that was a fishing village and it had almost nothing that tourists would be looking for, including, it did not have a bakery, and I was looking for a cinnamon bun.

David Archer: I know that feeling. 

Maureen Fraser: So I, uh, I thought, whoa, this is, I mean, this is such a fabulously beautiful place. I could come back here and build a bakery and so I kind of filed that away and headed on down to South America, where I was for the next year traveling around. And, uh, and then I came back and built the bakery.

David Archer: Wow.And you came back in 1974.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah, the end of 70. No, it was 75. I came back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

David Archer: Wow. One thing I know about you is that you have long been an advocate for conservation and climate action as well. Would you say that’s fair?

Maureen Fraser: Absolutely. Yeah

David Archer: And I was wondering for those unfamiliar because we have listeners from all over the place in many countries so, can you give us a little bit of background on the Meares Island protests? Um, in the eighties and nineties and your involvement there.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah. Okay. Because basically that’s what started my environmental consciousness basically was, um, I mean, living here in the seventies, Tofino did not have logging happening in the, you know, within our view scape, but driving out to Port Alberni.

You know, it was quite clear, um, the type of logging that was being done, and at first I just kind of, you know, that’s, that’s just the way things are. Um, but it was just, it was so ugly, and um, you know, swaths of hillside that you had gotten used to looking at, green and vibrant, were suddenly, the next time you drove out of town, were were just like a bomb had been dropped on them. Splintered wood, no trees left standing.

David Archer: Right, so we’re talking about clear cut logging.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah, clear cut logging, which was exceedingly ugly and exceedingly damaging, as we kind of figured out over time, to the, um, to the soil. Um, it just ripped everything apart and left devastation that then the next heavy rainfall just washed all the soil down the hillside and into the rivers, killing the salmon.

So it, you know, in 1979, uh, a good friend of mine, um, came into town one day and said, there’s loggers and they’re out tying ribbons in, on the forests in, on Meares Island. And I, I stopped and I, you know, I asked them and they said they’re getting ready to come in and log on Meares. And that was the first that anyone had heard about it.

Um, panic kind of went through the community in that our water comes from Meares Island and it is our front yard. It’s the view that Tofino has. So the concept that our front yard was going to look like those awful clear cuts that we saw on the way to Port Alberni kind of galvanized the community. Not the whole community.

A significant number of them, including the Municipal Council, um, so, so there was, you know, conversations with the Ministry of Forest, with the logging companies, and then in the end, there was, the provincial government decided to set up a, what did they call it, a planning committee discuss how logging could or should be implemented.

Um, happen on Meares Island and they involved the community and the, I don’t, yes, the First Nations were involved, fisheries was involved. Basically your, you know, standard kind of planning process. Um, so that started in the 80s and went for about two or three years. And then, um, basically, uh, the company, MacMillan Bloedel at that point, just finally gave up on the planning process and said, this is what we want to do, and they just presented their own plan, and the government said, okay.

David Archer: Really?

Maureen Fraser: So they did two or three years of yeah consultation or what have you and then and then okay, we’ll go with your plan, which, I mean, what they were planning was, you know, they, they said, we will protect your watershed, um, so that your water is okay, and, uh, we will do it, you know, in increments, and blah, blah, blah.

They had made some changes, but, uh, nothing that was going to basically, um, change things significantly.

David Archer: So what was the reaction locally then?

Maureen Fraser: Well, the reaction locally was during, during this previous couple of years, while the planning process had been going on, um, a group of people, and I was part of them, um, uh, got together and formed the Friends of Clayoquot Sound and labeled ourselves an environmental group.

David Archer: Yeah.

Maureen Fraser: Or we got labeled an environmental group. And we started to just communicate with other environmental groups about the issue. At that point, um, I think, uh, Western Canada Wilderness Committee had been formed in Vancouver. So there was some other nascent, um, uh, groups that were and Sierra Club. Sierra Club was already in existence.

So we started to communicate with those groups to, you know, make some, some plans on what we could possibly do, um. And one of the things we did was we decided to organize a festival. It was, uh, at Easter time, so we called it the Meares Island Festival. And, uh, invited people to come to see Meares Island. And to see the area.

David Archer: So you had it over on Meares Island, yeah.

Maureen Fraser: Well, we know, we didn’t have it on Meares Island. It was Springtime, and at that point, um, the trail that’s presently on Meares Island was not developed. You know, people had been over there and had seen these unbelievably huge trees and ancient trees, which took everybody by surprise.

Maybe not everybody, me, took it by surprise. Sure, yeah, okay. Because, um, I, you know, I was used to looking at Meares Island from a distance. It wasn’t, uh, you know, I wasn’t going over there and walking around in the forest. Clearly, this was something the First Nations had been well aware of for millennia.

What sort of, uh, huge trees were actually on this island. And they had been using them. For millennia also. Anyway, we organized this festival, invited everybody to come. We, um, asked the, uh, to locate if they wanted to take part in it, and they said yes, and they came to the festival, we held it, we were going to hold it on the Village Green, it was a torrential Southeaster that was happening that weekend, of course, and so we had to abandon all plan of being outside and move everything to the gym at the school, uh, and so there we were, we set up bleachers and stuff, in the afternoon, uh, Tla-o-qui-aht, um, elders and, uh, council came, and Moses Martin was the chief of, uh, the Tla-o-qui-aht at that point.

And they read this declaration, and it was a declaration of Meares Island as a tribal park. And this was a brand new concept for all of us.

David Archer: So you didn’t know that they were going to read this before the event? 

Maureen Fraser: No, no. We didn’t know what they were going to do. So, so this, this was fabulous. It was just this articulation of, articulation of thousands of years of use of a landscape.

Use and care, um, uh, for a landscape. Articulated in, uh, in a few paragraphs, you know, this is what can and should happen on this land and we invite you all the rest of us to use it in this way.

David Archer: Yeah, and I just stopping on Moses Martin for a moment. I saw a short video of you mentioning Moses Martin and his description of what makes a tribal park. Can you describe why that’s why that is so impactful?

Maureen Fraser: Okay, well, one of the things that, um, that was in this Tribal Park Declaration that Moses read, um, was the description of Meares Island as a garden, and, you know, to, to my, uh, Western eyes, um, this was a surprise, this was a, kind of a new concept, and, but then, thinking about it, um, and, and, you know, over the years, that, um, awareness has developed.

This certainly wasn’t something I got right away. It’s taken me years to understand, um, the depth of care and attention that the First Nations have brought to this landscape we live in. Um, and that’s what was being described in this Tribal Park Declaration, was this is a garden. We have been taking care of it for millennia.

We’re inviting you to join us in this garden, but there are, you know, kind of, there’s ways of behaving in a garden. And that’s what we want you to be aware of and to, to do when you’re in our garden.

David Archer: Yeah, it sounds, you know, from, from my Western ears as well, it sounds like, um, you know, a statement that, that might have come across is like, this is not a wild territory, right?

This is a, this is a garden that we take care of and, and therefore respect it.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah.

David Archer: I know that there were some blockades and things like that that came later. Um, can you tell me about how you were involved with that? And, and was the Common Loaf involved with that, with this effort as well?

Maureen Fraser: Um, yes. Common Loaf, um, was. Um. The first blockades, um, which happened around Meares Island, um, happened in, uh, 1984, in the fall of 1984. As part of, of how to deal with this threat, the Tla-o-qui-aht, um, specifically the Martin family, set up a camp at Sisychus, which was the spot that the logging company planned to come ashore and

David Archer: And the blockade was chosen at that location.

Maureen Fraser: Exactly. Although at that point, it wasn’t so much, this was the First Nations, the Martin family, were basically just exerting their presence. They built a small cabin. Um, they began to live there. They, uh, started to carve a canoe. Joe Martin and his, his father and brothers started to carve a canoe on the shore.

Basically, a demonstration of First Nations. use and occupation of the land, which had been going on, as we said, for millennia. And so they were supported in that by the Friends of Clayoquot Sound. You know, it, you know, there was food that needed to be brought. There were, you know, just, just the logistics, things like that.

So, um, so there were a number of people involved in supporting that. Personally. My, uh, I had just had a brand new baby, Lee, and um, and my partner at the time had just gotten a job as an exchange teacher in London, England. So we moved to London, England in August of that year, 1984. And so I wasn’t around for any of this.

This was, but I had been a director of the Friends of Clayoquot Sound and very active in everything that was leading up to this so not from a personal point of view can I talk about what happened but just from having heard about it for decades now the occupation of Sisyphus occurred in the fall and then later in December that’s when the logging company M& B showed up to start their work and that’s when Moses Martin Invited them to come in to their garden into his garden, um, but to leave their chainsaws behind.

And that was a very galvanizing statement. And then things went into courts and various other things happened. But that, um, the result of that was a Supreme Court decision to, um, say that logging could not occur on, Meares Island until treaty had been settled. So, that meant that Meares Island was just taken off.

You know, it was no longer under threat.

David Archer: Because it’s unceded territory. 

Maureen Fraser: Unceded territory, and treaty needed to be settled. Because what the First Nations, uh, what Tla-o-qui-aht were able to show through a very expensive court case, was that they had occupied the entire island for as long as anyone knew. Right. And had evidence all over the island of trees that they had culturally modified and other sites that they had been occupying.

David Archer: Was there support from the rest of the community as well?

Maureen Fraser: Let’s just say the Friends of Clayoquot Sound, for sure.

David Archer: Yeah.

Maureen Fraser: There was probably no other groups, per se, who were supporting it.

Um, in, you know, in coming years, uh, groups like the, uh, Chamber of Commerce, um, supported various, um, activities, um, logging protests and stuff, but at that point, no. Um, but there were other groups from out of town, Western Canada Wilderness, et cetera, were in support.

David Archer: Let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about the Common Loaf.

You’ve already told us a little bit about how it came to be, um, and today it’s quite a bright and vibrant space, but can you describe what you feel its role is in the community these days?

Maureen Fraser: I guess I’ve always, um, seen it as a meeting place. Um, when I was, um, having kind of made this little decision that I was going to come back and build a bakery, and then I continued on, as I said, traveling to South America.

The whole time I was traveling for that next year, I was looking at where I, you know, the places I went to, the places I, as a, a traveler, wanted to be in, um, and just making decisions on, okay, if I wanted, if I built a bakery, then what would it look like, uh, and what would I want to have happen in it? And it, it was basically a place that someone could come in and hang out and enjoy.

Yeah, and just be a traveler sitting writing a postcard. Yeah.

David Archer: Yeah.

Maureen Fraser: So, so I had that idea. Um, I guess I was very much anticipating that Tofino was going to become a tourist destination. So, yeah, I had that thought in my head already, for sure.

David Archer: So, between this and your experiences in environmental protection, does, does that bleed over into your business vision or mission as well, like how, 

Maureen Fraser: yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then, you know, as things, um, you know, we kind of entered a decade or more, almost two decades of ongoing, um, protests over logging plans in Clayoquot Sound. So the bakery became kind of a meeting place and an organizing place for all of that to happen.

Uh, and, and just a place for, uh, magazines, newspapers, whatever information, like an information source for the visitors. Frankly, to inform who, you know, the people who were visiting us, um, about these issues that we felt were so important and why we felt they were so important. So, that was front and center.

There was always, you know, posters up, whatever, a big sign in the window that said this business supports the preservation of Clayoquot Sound. I made no bones about the fact that that’s what this business supported and um, what it felt, what, you know, that was our mission was to be protecting as best we could Clayoquot Sound.

David Archer: You know, we hadn’t had the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada yet. But do you feel that it was in that sort of spirit as well as thinking about how, how tourism or how businesses can kind of bring settlers and Indigenous people together?

Maureen Fraser: Um, that’s, I mean, we were working on some of that specifically during the Meares Island days.

And then I was fortunate enough, uh, after 93, um, when the big protests were happening that had, you know, 800 or more people arrested in Clayoquot Sound. Um, I was chosen to sit on, um, what was called the Central Region Board, which was a provincial and First Nations management board. Essentially, it was a completely new concept, um, in that this board was given the management, uh, of Clayoquot Sound.

And it was five First Nations, the five First Nations of the Central Region, and five, um, government appointees, and I was one of those appointees. So, so I got to spend the next eight years, I think it was, um, sitting with hereditary chiefs, many, many days of the month talking about and looking at plans that were being proposed for Clayoquot Sound, logging plans, fishing.

Mining everything. Yeah. Um, looking at those plans and, and hearing, uh, the elders and hereditary chiefs talking about what they felt and what their history had been, what their experiences of these places had been, and why they were important to them. Uh, it, it was, it was an invaluable experience.

David Archer: It sounds like a lot to absorb, right?

Maureen Fraser: Oh. Absolutely.

David Archer: Is that part of what led to the UNESCO Biosphere, um, designation?

Maureen Fraser: Well, the UNESCO Biosphere came out of the Central Region Board. So, we were the ones, um, who proposed the Biosphere designation and, um, and because we represented this group of, of, of people, uh, it was, uh, it was accepted, you know, and, and then, you know, all the other organizations had to come on, like the districts and the provincial government, et cetera, et cetera.

But, but because it was coming out of this body that was representing the First Nations and supposedly the provincial government, then this had a standing, I guess.

David Archer: Yeah, had some weight to it. Yeah, that must have felt very momentous.

Maureen Fraser: It did. And, and yeah, I look back with great pride. That being one of the things that came out of that group.

David Archer: Do you feel any similar momentum happening or looking forward to some in the near future?

Maureen Fraser: We’re constantly kind of thinking about where we can go next and how to, how to protect where we are and, and, and, and keep, well, protecting where we are and increasing those people who are Aable to be taking part and benefiting from what is happening here. So, issues of equality.

David Archer: Yeah, can you say a little bit about that? 

Maureen Fraser: Well, that’s, I mean, issues of equality, that’s, um, through the 80s and 90s, that was one of the, um, controversies in this community, in Tofino, was, sure, there were certain businesses, such as myself, and bed and breakfasts, and kayak shops, etc., who were benefiting from, the tourism community, or the tourism economy, but who else in the community was benefiting? Instead, they felt perhaps they were being, um, you know, left out. Um, and so it took, it took a while for those benefits to start to float out to the rest of the community, so that more and more people could I mean, so they would see it in, you know, public infrastructure and things that everyone can use.

Maureen Fraser: That, and just that, I mean, I think it probably took a bit of time to realize that the local Tofino Co op um, was benefiting from the fact that a lot of visitors were shopping at it, and so we all then benefited from the fact that the co op could grow, but it took, it took a bit of time to recognize that, oh yeah, well, that’s because it’s a tourism economy, so those sorts of things, and, and just that, um, as we were talking earlier, oh, we’ve got some great music events happening, or we’ve got these festivals that are happening, well, they’re happening because um, there’s a tourism economy to support it, and yet we are all benefiting from that.

David Archer: Are there any good examples besides the Tribal Parks Allies program of trying to move that economic balance happening?

Maureen Fraser: Well, and here’s one of the problematic ways of balancing it, is that the whole vacation rental, Airbnb, issue, which is like it’s now an issue. Basically, that was one of the early ways by which local people could start to benefit from the tourism economy.

And that was an important, that’s an important balance to have. You don’t want to just have large resorts. Fortunately, you know, our resorts are mostly local owned, et cetera, but still. It’s, um, we don’t want all of the visitation staying in, in those kind of accommodations. So, so by spreading it out, vacation rentals, Airbnbs, local people were able to benefit very directly from the tourism economy.

Again, there’s a balance required there. 

David Archer: Yeah, and pull.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah, yeah. And so, lack of housing, um, has then kind of caused everybody to realize that, okay, There has to be some limits on that also.

David Archer: Do you have any advice for other businesses in terms of how they can support reconciliation efforts?

Maureen Fraser: How, you know, looking at how they can support the creation of this community that we want to do together. You know, every, every business has, has different opportunities. Um, for me, it’s, it’s been I’ve always felt it’s so easy being in a food business.

When I was in Toronto, the job that I had was as a social worker. And I, I was happy to leave that job because I could never, ever as a social worker, provide enough to, to help the people who need it were needing help. It was always not, never going to be enough, and I was always dealing with unhappy people at some point.

And I guess when I first started this business as a, you know, giving, you know, providing food to people, I suddenly realized that I was making people happy. Food makes people happy. And the providing of it has been a joy. I’ve been just so lucky to be in this kind of business. So, for me, providing food for a community in whatever way at the protests, providing food for the people who are protesting, was an exceptionally easy way for me to be helping that.

David Archer: So you used your strength, essentially. 

Maureen Fraser: Yeah, and each business has a different strength that they can offer.

David Archer: So, in the last few years, the Tribal Parks Allies Program has started. And I believe that Common Loaf is a part of that?

Maureen Fraser: Oh, yeah. Yeah. 

David Archer: Can you tell me what it’s like to be a part of that, uh, that program?

Maureen Fraser: It, it just feels like the right thing to do.

David Archer: And, and tell me what it entails as well.

Maureen Fraser: Well, it entails, uh, so on our, um, uh, every sale that we make, there’s a 1 percent is added to the, uh, to the sale price. And that, uh, gets given to the tribal parks. I usually do it once a year, add up all of that amount and give it to them.

And, uh, yeah, taking part in events that they do and speaking. I mean, we’ve got signs up, Tribal Park Allies signs. 

David Archer: Yeah, some language, uh,

Maureen Fraser: Definitely language. And, um, the kind of the newest thing that they’ve come out with, um, or that has been developed, uh, lately has been the, uh, the ʔiisaak pledge, which is so fabulous and I, so it’s, uh, trying to figure out how to best be putting that up again in the same way that we were educating, um, people during the protests, during the logging protests on, uh, just the whole issue of environmental protection and why it was so important.

We’re trying to educate people on why being part of a group like the Tribal Park Allies that supports First Nations taking care of their territory. Why that is important.

David Archer: Are there any other things in the community that tourism enables, you feel?

Maureen Fraser: Well, I mean, it, what tourism enables is there are just organizations now in the community.

I’m thinking of the municipal government, you know, the expansion of the municipal government, Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Tofino, just different organizations that are now here at the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust, which is fabulous. So what we now have in the community are, um, is an opportunity for people to be here in jobs that are not resource extraction jobs, which is what this community was when I first got here.

You know, everybody was in gumboots and Stanfields because they were, they were all working, uh, out of doors. And, uh, and fishing and

David Archer: logging.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah, yeah. And now there’s an opportunity for a wide range of, of occupations in the community. Which, it, uh, just expands, expands the, uh, kinds of people who are able to be here.

David Archer: Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that to, that Tofino can support tourism year round? Like, or the environment around Tofino can, can handle that?

Maureen Fraser: Um, I think so. Although, I mean, we will always be blessed with ten feet of rain a year. Yeah. And, and that will always, um, keep a lid to a certain degree on things. You gotta be prepared for that

David Archer: if you come in the winter, for sure.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah, yeah. And I can remember even back in the, in 1988 when, uh, we were in the middle of the Sulphur Passage protest at that point, and we were getting a lot of newspaper coverage, and, and, and, newspaper person who was interviewing me said, you know, she was asking, you know, what we were looking for, you know, we were trying to stop logging so that the tourism industry could expand, et cetera, et cetera.

Um, and, uh, and she said, you know, if you thought about the fact that if you actually achieve what you are looking to achieve, you might not want to live here anymore because it will become.

David Archer: Do you feel Tofino has become too successful?

Maureen Fraser: We are definitely at, at a turning point. Uh, Tofino, uh, as a, as a municipality only has so much of a land base.

And we definitely, uh, don’t have enough water. We’re at a point where we’re going to have to be making a decision on do we, do we, uh, try to get water from Kennedy Lake, which would then be an infinite amount of water, allowing for an infinite amount of of development, or do we recognize that there are limits to the growth, uh, that we all have to be taking account of?

David Archer: How do you think those decisions can be made?

Maureen Fraser: As a community, as community, well, and I use that term, um, when I say community, I’m, I’m not meaning just the community of Tofino, I’m, I’m meaning the community of Clayoquot Sound, uh, and all. Frankly, it’s the community of the creatures that are here. It’s the trees that are here.

It’s the fish. It’s, it’s, it’s everything. All of those parts of our community, um, need to be part of that decision. Frankly, that is the direction that I would like us to be going big with, is thinking of the potential for this, for Tofino to have something like the Banff Centre. So we’re, we’re, it’s, you know, the Tofino Centre for Environmental Studies, Tofino Centre for the Arts, Načiks for the arts, whatever, let’s, um, let’s embrace that educational component and for ourselves as a community, but also, um, for the visitors and for anybody who wants to come.

David Archer: Yeah, because the Banff Centre of the Arts is internationally known for what it does. And so you feel like some, an institution. In Tofino like that would go a long way.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah, exactly. Let’s dream big.

David Archer: Yeah, for sure.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah.

David Archer: Let’s zoom out a little bit, time wise. Okay. What do you want Tofino to be like in 50 years? 

Maureen Fraser: Oh, God. Mmm. Well, I’d like to see the Načiks Center for Environmental Education and Arts and, uh, And I want to see, uh, the beaches and the forests that surround us still here and, uh, a thriving community.

David Archer: How do you see your role in the community?

Maureen Fraser: I guess I’ve, I’ve always just wanted to be a part of it. To be helping in whatever way I could. To be engaging in whatever part of the community. I could. And I, I was on council for a number of years. Yeah. Uh, I’m involved in the Arts Council. I’m involved in the Heritage Society.

All of those things that are parts of the community that I’m personally interested in. Just by, just showing up to things. Okay. As a community member is so, so vital and important. Just giving that example. Continuing to show up to things and being an example by doing so.

David Archer: That sounds like good advice for people who want to be engaged in these sorts of things.

Maureen Fraser: Yeah. It’s, that’s the first basic thing. It’s just, you gotta be there.

David Archer: Do you have any advice for visitors who are coming here, uh, who want to help make Tofino a better place?

Maureen Fraser: Read the ʔiisaak pledge and follow it. It basically says it all in a nutshell. Being aware of where you are, being respectful, and giving back.

David Archer: What’s the thing that gives you the most hope right now?

Maureen Fraser: This is a tough time for hope, right at this particular time. But, frankly, every time I walk out onto the beach, surrounded by this environment, I’m, whatever worries I’ve had, kind of just lift up. And, uh, that’s what gives me hope, is just the natural world around me.

David Archer: Thank you so much for your time today. It’s been great to have you.

Maureen Fraser: Thank you.

David Archer: This has been Travel Beyond presented by Destination Think. And you just heard from Maureen Fraser at the Common Loaf Bake Shop in Tofino, BC. For more resources and show notes, visit our website at DestinationThink.com. This episode was hosted, produced, and has theme music composed by me, David Archer, Sarah Raymond de Booy, my co producer, Lindsay Payne, Jamie Sterling, and Cory Price provided production support.

We’d like to thank Tourism Tofino for sponsoring this season of Travel Beyond and for being a member of the Destination Think Collective, which is a growing group of very ambitious destinations that care about the future of travel and the planet. If you’re interested in learning more about that or joining, you can send us a note through the contact form on our website.

And if you like what you hear, please take a moment to give us a five star rating to help more people find our show. Thanks so much for listening, and we’ll be back with more next week.