Over the past eight years, Iskwew Air founder Teara Fraser has grown her business and her staff—including bringing her daughter, Kiana Hill, on as chief operating officer.SUPPLIED
Teara Fraser was 30 years old when everything changed for her. She was on an aerial tour over the Okavango Delta in Botswana, her first time in a small plane. As the pilot banked the aircraft, allowing Fraser to catch glimpses of the animals below, she felt something shift.
“I was conscious that I was experiencing something unforgettable, one of those magical moments which we can only understand when it has passed,” Ms. Fraser says. Immediately, she knew: she wanted to become a pilot.
Born in the Northwest Territories, Ms. Fraser’s childhood travel memories took place in her family’s car, road-tripping in British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories. So, this experience was entirely different. A week later, while accelerating down the runway in a small plane for the second time (this time, to go skydiving in Namibia), she had a similar feeling.
“It was the awe of witnessing the trees from the sky, just as a bird does,” Ms. Fraser, a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and the Métis Nation of British Columbia, says. “That view shifted something in me. It offered a new way of seeing, of understanding scale, perspective, and connection to land. It was from the sky that day that I fell in love with flight.”
A year later she became a commercial pilot, and in 2018 she launched Iskwew Air, making history as the first Indigenous woman to launch an airline in Canada.
Since then, Iskwew Air, which runs several flights a day between Vancouver’s YVR South Terminal and Qualicum Beach Airport on Vancouver Island as well as chartered flights across B.C., has connected visitors and locals across the western province — and not just geographically.
While Iskwew Air’s purpose is to safely transport passengers to their final destination, Fraser’s main motivation is her passion for sharing Indigenous culture and history and celebrating matriarchal leadership, which she considers an act of reclamation.
When she first started conceptualizing the idea for Iskwew Air in 2010, eight years before its launch, Ms. Fraser’s goal was clear, albeit challenging: To uplift Indigenous tourism and communities and make space in aviation for those who’d historically been excluded, particularly Indigenous women.
A trip to Botswana, where she took her first flight in a small plane, put a then-30-year-old Teara Fraser on the path to aviation success. First, she became a commercial pilot. Now, she’s the first Indigenous woman in Canada to start an airline.SUPPLIED
“Less than 3 per cent of airline executives, 7 per cent of airline pilots and 2.8 per cent of aircraft maintenance engineers are women-identifying,” she says. “Just imagine how few of those are Indigenous women.”
Seven years later, Iskwew has done just that. The airline boasts a diverse workforce with women at the helm and in essential roles, such as first officer, the member of the flight crew responsible for safety and flight operations, and aircraft maintenance engineers. The company also ensures that Indigenous culture and traditions are at the forefront of their operation and imbued throughout their day-to-day life. Their name, the Cree word for “woman,” is a natural conversation starter, speaking to the importance and value of women and uplifting them, while their fleet of airplanes fly the skies with Cree syllabics on their tails. Each of these aircrafts has been named in ceremony, taking off under the names of Sweetgrass Warrior, Strawberry Moon and Baby Bison.
Fraser’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2024, Iskwew Air received the 2024 Master’s North American Trophy from the Honourable Company of Air Pilots NA Region, in recognition of the airline’s initiative to expand airline service to Indigenous communities in remote areas of BC.
In 2025, Fraser was awarded the Entrepreneurial Leader Award at BC Business’ 2025 Women of the Year Awards, and Iskwew Air has achieved The Original Original Accreditation, a mark of excellence from the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) that assured visitors a quality tourism experience.
“Iskwew Air is a trailblazer for reconciliation in aviation and tourism,” says Keith Henry, president and CEO of ITAC. Not only has it created pathways for women-led Indigenous leadership in a predominantly male-dominated industry like aviation, but as Henry notes, “it also brings forward Indigenous worldviews and values into the travel experience, emphasizing care for people and the land.”
What’s more, businesses like Iskwew Air, which was founded on the Indigenous values of reclamation of reciprocity and love, show how these can contribute to the tourism industry’s bottom line. “Traditional Indigenous values, such as respect, reciprocity, and relationships, are powerful business principles,” Mr. Henry adds. “They ensure that growth is balanced with sustainability, that employees and places thrive alongside the business, and that visitors experience a deeper sense of authenticity and connection.”
In turn, these values create loyal customers who want to support businesses that align with their sense of purpose and foster long-term stability, as decisions are made with future generations in mind.
“In practice, this means Indigenous businesses often see strong community support, repeat visitation, and a positive reputation that translates directly into economic reconciliation and economic success,” he says.
Seven years after Iskwew Air launched, Ms. Fraser’s company continues to succeed; she’s growing and diversifying her workforce (including the addition of her daughter, Kiana Hill, as Iskwew’s chief operating officer) and expanding routes beyond Vancouver Island and into the world of cargo.
“To be better, to be more effective, to be safer, our industry needs diverse knowledge, ideas, wisdom, perspectives,” Ms. Fraser says. “I am proud that I walked my talk when it would have been far easier to surrender to the colonial and patriarchal system.”
One in a regular series of stories. To read more, visit our Indigenous Enterprises section. If you have suggestions for future stories, reach out to IE@globeandmail.com.