On Friday, September 21, an official statement was released concerning the launch of Iskwew Air located in Vancouver International Airport. This is the first airline that has been independently founded and run by an Indigenous woman in Canada whose name is Teara Fraser. A Hay River native, Fraser, whose birthplace near the Great Slave Lake lends her a love for the natural charms of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, has taken exploration to new altitudes. Iskwew, signifying “woman” in the Cree language, is the culmination of Fraser’s forty-seven years of living, with fifteen of those having been dedicated to piloting experience. This includes both extensive safety training to become the skilled pilot she is today, and the moment when she first found her wings, the moment that started her journey in the air.
Fraser found her heart in the skies mid-runway of a small aircraft during an excursion in Africa. Since then, she has steered aircraft for Hawkair, found in Terrace, British Columbia, and has established her own photography business. It could be said that her accomplishments as an entrepreneur found its roots in this business, which she opened in 2010, specializing in the capturing of aerial images. The business name, Kîsik Aerial Survey Inc., with Kîsik meaning “sky” in Cree, expressed a message fitting to Fraser’s vision. As her empowerment began in the sky, so did her spirit, which speaks for the adventures of nature and her First Nations pride.
Image obtained from: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1125425/autchtone-metisse-premieres…
It is no surprise that Canada derives part of its beauty in its remote lands and hard-to-reach areas. Over the years, aviation has been seeing a decline in pilots who voluntarily travel to these places. This has always been a driving concern of Fraser, who drew inspiration for Iskwew Air from her experience with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Vancouverites cannot forget the influx of tourism that crowded the city streets at the time, and neither did Fraser. Seeing as the First Nations communities were such an integral part of Canadian heritage, Fraser desired to increase tourism to Indigenous areas. It was her aim to expand on the opportunities for tourists to journey out into BC’s natural obscurities that were wild with raw beauty.
Her own vision follows the footsteps of those who have already paved the path of female aviation in the past. As if Hay River was a breeding home of strong female entrepreneurs and aviators, Laveran Martel-Harvey comes to mind, whose ownership of Wolverine Air Ltd. & South Nahanni Airways echo a rising altitude of female empowerment. Fraser’s story can be shared with a similar pride to when history was made earlier this year by two female pilots, Raven Beardy and Robyn Shlachetka, who became Manitoba’s first women Indigenous medevac team.
Iskwew Air is scheduled to launch its first flights on March 8, 2019, a most fitting day to make a statement, as it is also International Women’s Day. Iskwew Air has garnered widespread support, from Musqueam elders to members from the British Columbia Aviation Council, as such a rare event is expected to impact an industry whose majority is made up of men. It can be agreed upon that this is a “kind of statement,” according to Heather Bell from the BC Aviation Council, that truly inspires females to dare the boundaries of any specialized field. This is in hopes of equalizing the representation of sexes in industries, as there is a growing “time to show the world what is possible,” said by Fraser herself.
Canada is taking a lively step simply from matching the recent movement Fraser has made in our nation’s aviation history. Even though Iskwew Air has not yet launched its first flight, Fraser’s recent success already spans our sky to admirable heights. This is not only to say that Indigenous people deserve more appreciation in our nation; it is both powerful and simple in saying that women are as bold as they dare their wings to stretch.
Images obtained from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiNQihk3u_0
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1125425/autchtone-metisse-premieres…
Quote obtained from:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/first-indigenous-woman-t…