Aurora Village is about to roll out a “strategic pivot” that will create dozens of local jobs and grow the business, its new operations manager says.
Marie-Soleil Lacoursière has switched from working for large mining firms like Kinross to running one of the largest tour operators in the NWT.
A former contract negotiator at Ekati and global manager at engineering group Sandvik, Lacoursière said she sees in Aurora Village a company that “can diversify itself and grow tremendously.”
Owned by former NWT premier Don Morin and wife Gladys, Aurora Village opened outside Yellowknife in 2000. Tourists can spend nights in heated and illuminated teepees as they await the northern lights, or take part in snowshoeing, dog sledding and cultural activities during the day.
Lacoursière said she began running the business in December, taking over from Hideo Nagatani. In a press release, the company said Nagatani will retire in April after more than 20 years as a “vital contributor and leader” at the business.
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“We are on an aggressive path,” Lacoursière said of her plans.
While she didn’t set out exactly what is coming up – she said announcements will follow – Lacoursière said her goal is to “create 100 new local jobs within the next few years” and she believes that may be an underestimate of what’s possible. (At the moment, she said, Aurora Village has 60 staff members.)
“It’s extending our offering. We definitely want to strengthen our cultural programming. We want to make investment in our guest experience, so large enhancements to our guest experience on site but always reflecting our Dene and Métis roots,” Lacoursière told Cabin Radio on Wednesday.
That will involve equipping northern Indigenous employees with skills, she said.
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“We do have a heavy traditional component, and that’s a unique opportunity for some of our local people who maybe don’t see themselves working in an office 8am to 5pm to work outside with their hands, connected to the land in an environment that’s really traditional and appealing to them.”
Aurora Village’s announcement that it will follow a new strategy to grow the company comes at a time when the NWT is searching for its next economic drivers.
Diamond mining is failing, beset by tariffs and cheaper lab-grown alternatives. The territory is looking to military investment and major infrastructure projects as replacement economic pillars. While each of those appears promising, the full scale of that investment may be many years away and its effects not immediately felt.
In the meantime, Lacoursière argued, Aurora Village is already acting.
“I find there’s so much talk going on around this and that in the future, and we see snippets of lots of people travelling to lots of places for talks. And these talks are very important, and they’re strategic, and I get it,” she said.
“But what we’re doing at Aurora Village is now. It’s an impact that will be not 15 years from now – we’re already starting it, we’re working on it, and we’ve already seen some results this year. OK, we’re not creating 10,000 jobs, but we’re creating jobs now with no talk.
“You need big projects but, at the same time, government needs to pay attention to folks like us who have the capacity, desire, ambition and bold dreams to make an impact in the economy, not in 10 years but literally yesterday.”
