Hilton Quebec’s Indigenous ownership charts a new business path for four First Nations

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Rising 23 storeys across the street from Quebec’s Parliament buildings, the Hilton Quebec has long offered panoramic views of Old Quebec, the majestic St. Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains beyond.

But now the Hilton, a landmark hotel in Quebec City’s skyline since it opened in 1974, is notable for something you can’t see – its Indigenous ownership.

High-end, family-run hotels offer something more than just luxury - they can feel like home

In early 2025, four First Nations partnered on a deal to buy a majority stake in the Hilton, as part of a major venture outside their traditional territory and into the hospitality sector. For some of the Indigenous communities involved, it’s their first time buying into an off-reserve business not related to an energy project, mining or other natural resource sector.

“It’s a symbolic hotel,” said Fred Vicaire, the chief executive officer of Mi’gmawei Mawiomi Business Corporation, the economic development company owned by the Mi’gmaq of Gespe’gewa’gi, one of the four First Nations in the hotel deal. “The most significant part is the fact that you’ve got multiple nations partnering up together to do this investment. We don’t usually see those multinations partnerships. So it’s a statement in itself.”

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The partnership to buy the hotel, which will still be managed by the Hilton, brought together the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach, the Mi’gmaq of Gespe’gewa’gi, the Huron-Wendat Nation and the James Bay Cree Nation. They called their partnership Atenro, which means “friendship” in the Wendat language. Under the deal, each First Nation will get a seat on the hotel’s board of directors.

The new hotel ownership structure means revenues from the Hilton will go back to each community as part of a limited partnership. In the case of the Mi’gmaq of Gespe’gewa’gi, they will go to the band’s economic development arm, to be reinvested by its chiefs and councils in community projects, Vicaire said.

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The $85.6-million deal is also unique because each First Nation has its own distinct heritage, language and aspirations for the hotel project and had to find common ground, sometimes with little history of previous co-operation. The Naskapi Nation is based near Schefferville in northeast Quebec. The Huron-Wendat Nation is an Iroquoian-speaking community based in Wendake, north of Quebec City. The James Bay Cree come from the province’s far north. And the Mi’gmaq of Gespe’gewa’gi represent three Indigenous communities in eastern Quebec and New Brunswick.

They bought a majority stake in the hotel after the 23-storey, 569-room building underwent a $70-million renovation in 2020, while preserving its modernist style popularized in the 1970s. The new owners say they hope to begin using the Hilton as a space to share elements of Indigenous design, crafts, cultural activities and food, although those changes are still in the works.

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Atenro also plans to collaborate with Hilton Quebec, and minority owner InnVest Hotels, to offer employment and training programs for members of Indigenous communities. It says all current staff will be retained, although they’re getting training to better understand their new owners’ Indigenous values, said Andrew Germain, the marketing adviser at Tourisme Autochtone Québec.

“Although a lot of the workers are from Quebec, few of them really know who we are as Indigenous people and so it was important to train all the management and everyone in the operation that they know what it means now to be Indigenously owned,” he said.

For the James Bay Cree, their ownership stake in the Hilton is especially symbolic. In the 1970s, as the hotel was being built, their people were being displaced by the James Bay Project, a massive hydroelectric-power development on their traditional lands started without their consultation. Today, they co-own a hotel across the street from the seat of the government that initiated that controversial project, and begin a new chapter that brings them a step closer to the Cree’s goal of financial autonomy, said Henry Gull, president of the James Bay Eeyou Corporation.