The Cruise Task Force is an initiative led by the City of Prince Rupert and the Prince Rupert Port Authority. The goal of the program is to align all the stakeholders of the Cruise Industry and facilitate projects that will improve Prince Rupert as a destination for the immediate 2011 cruise and tourism season. PREDC (Prince Rupert Economic Development Corporation) acting on behalf of the City of Prince Rupert and District of Port Edward has taken an active role in the Cruise Task Force. Currently the task force is examining the feasibility of several longterm projects which came out of discussion groups and brainstorming sessions.

Members of the Task Force are also working on initiating on a number of short term programs in time for the first Norwegian Star call on May 19th. Some of the new programs which will be in place for this cruise season include: the creation of the Prince Rupert Market (located in the Atlin parking lot in Cow Bay) featuring the Salmon Berry Trading Co., local retailers, independent excursion operators, food vendors and entertainers, a street entertainment/busker program and a Cruise Visitor Guide.

Conferences and Trade Missions

Recently Prince Rupert has played host to several major conferences and trade missions, bringing in a variety of delegates ranging from youth groups, to high level municipal and provincial leaders.

Recently, over 1,000 attended the Aboriginal Youth Conference in Prince Rupert. The 4 day “Gathering Our Voices “ conference is one of the largest national Aboriginal youth conferences in Canada and had many different events such as a dance, a talent show, an afternoon show display of traditional dancing and plenty of workshops.

Our community also hosted a delegation from Ketchikan Alaska from April 8 – 10 as part of a Trade Mission. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough brought a contingent of 30 individuals to participate in various networking events, presentations and tours.

Also in April, the highly successful National Aboriginal Business Opportunities Conference made its first ever visit to Prince Rupert.

Starting April 12th and wrapping up April 14th, the NABOC attracted approximately 250 delegates made up of representatives from First Nation communities and various private sectors. The main themes for the Prince Rupert conference was Energy, Mining, Tourism, Transportation/Infrastructure & Project Financing and also held sessions and workshops on a variety of business opportunities, all while providing unique networking opportunities for Aboriginal communities to get together with private sector businesses and discuss business opportunities, joint ventures and partnerships.

In May Prince Rupert will host the 53rd North Central Local Government Associations AGM and Conference at the Lester Centre of Arts. As a result approximately 200-250 local Government leaders from 100 Mile House, North to the Yukon border, West to Haida Gwaii, and East to Valemount will meet to deliberate issues affecting northern communities, and to pass resolutions.