A Richmond aviation entrepreneur will be recognized for her lifetime achievements at the 15th B.C. Indigenous Business Awards.
Teara Fraser, founder and CEO of Iskwew Air and proud Métis woman, is the winner of the Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement.
Fraser has dedicated her life to empowering Indigenous youth and women. She was the first Indigenous woman to launch an airline in Canada.
She also founded the Indigenous LIFT Collective, a non-profit, and launched the Give Them Wings initiative to allow Indigenous youth to explore the aviation industry.
“You see the world differently from the air. Getting my wings, gave me wings for everything else in my life,” said Fraser, who became a certified pilot in 2002.
Her foray into the industry began with her first flight in a small airplane in an aerial tour over Botswana’s Okavango Delta in 2001.
Fraser remembers “every detail” about the experience.
“I was inspired by the wonder of flight and thought that pilot had the coolest job ever,” she said.
“That experience changed everything, and I returned home and immediately started my flight training.”
Starting an airline during a global pandemic
Fraser founded Iskwew Air, which stands for “woman” in Cree, in 2018. The airline received its operating certificate in 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared.
The airline managed to survive the worst of the global pandemic, but it will face a long path to financial recovery, she told the Richmond News.
Not only did the airline have to take on more debt than it originally planned, but it’s also dealing with increased costs, supply chain challenges and an “unprecedented labour shortage of pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers,” Fraser explained, adding that 80 per cent fewer commercial pilot licences were issued in 2022.
“Although I knew starting a small airline would be difficult, I could never have imagined how hard it would be during a global pandemic,” she said.
Last year, Iskwew Air signed a memorandum of understanding with Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to uplift Indigenous tourism and promote sustainability in aviation. It has since spawned “multiple opportunities to collaborate.”
Economic reconciliation starts with working together
Fraser was named one of WXN Canada’s top 100 most powerful women, top 25 women of influence, YWCA Woman of Distinction and was included in DC Comics’s Wonder Woman anthology highlighting 24 “real world heroes.”
Her work also extends from acting as an advisor, coach and designer in the aviation industry to improving access to remote Indigenous communities and promoting responsible land stewardship.
She recently founded Elibird Aero, an aerotech venture aiming to be Canada’s first all-electric flight training unit.
“We are committed to increasing knowledge, awareness, and confidence in zero-emission aircraft to support more widespread adoption of zero-emission aircraft bringing us closer to a net zero future,” Fraser explained.
The venture has placed deposits on two all-electric flight training aircraft and is collaborating with the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace to launch a training program in 2024.
To successfully empower Indigenous communities and businesses, Fraser thinks the government, the public and Indigenous businesses should work together.
“Co-creating the conditions for Indigenous businesses to thrive is the single most natural, swift, and effective pathway to economic reconciliation in our country,” she said.
Fraser will be honoured at a gala ceremony on Nov. 1 at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The gala is open to the public and tickets can be purchased online.
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