Meet Patti
The Backstory
In 2022, in the face of an unpredicted non-renewal rental lease and a pending mortgage in 2023, there presented a wild window of opportunity to wander - to explore Canada, to live the experiences that I have been promoting, advocating for and stewarding my entire career in our country.
At home, my children are thriving adults, my fixed address is in flux, my consultancy business has gone remote - now more than ever. Now, I was faced with an opportunity to be mobile, unattached, untethered.... in Canada!
I started by purusing the myriad of National Parks I had yet to experience. I then researched The Great Trail (aka the TransCanada Trail) as I had been to the far north end in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, and cycled and hiked all over the Yukon and parts of Ontario. I wanted this to be my connector.
You miss 100% of the chances you don’t take. This is my Lemonade Story!
I started building a route that would connect the coasts, trails, parks, communities, and myself - to my country - get off my own beaten path and get curious about First Peoples lands and culture, the nature of communities and the beauty of national skies.
This trip is being documented in writing, web, vlogging and photography. Imagine if my trip provides inspiration and curiosity for other Canadians to choose Canada for travel and in turn, spurs Canadians to invest in our small businesses and in an industry that remains hardest hit and longest to recover - the visitor industry.
Proud Canadian:
Proudly born in our Nation’s capital, I was raised in Nova Scotia, invested in French Language in University, moved to the north for work and adventure, started a family with a lovely northern man, built a life above the 60th Parallel and have been serving and working for Canada these past 20 years.
I want to engage with Canada in a new way and through the lens of a visitor/traveler - not off the beaten path per se but off MY beaten path.
Tourism Development Specialist:
Over Patti’s career, she has been invited to work on tourism product development, communications and planning in Culinary Tourism, UNESCO World Heritage Site Nominations, rural tourism development, Destination Marketing Fee programs and structures, and Indigenous Tourism development including: legacy planning, events, business planning, authentication programs, organization capacity and more.
Untethered:
Untethered means so many things. The kite analogy prevails - never regretting those life milestones of children, a husband, a mortgage, a job….. My proverbial kite has had a string anchored to the ground, firmly holding in place my entire life - today there’s no string.
My adult children are my anchor but support this adventure. My work is remote and my clients and contracts support remote experiences - especially post COVID; this is the future of work. I am between a rental lease and a pending mortgage on a new place while it’s constructed.
Go Patti Go! Choose YOU! Choose travel! Choose Canada!
Education:
With a Bachelor of Arts, French Major, Patti Balsillie is formally trained in both official languages of Canada and has an excellent working knowledge, both written and verbal in each.
Patti has an International Corporate Director Designation (ICD.D), completed in 2017.
In 2013 Patti joined Explorer Quotient Authorized Trainers (EQAT’s) in Canada, bridging the knowledge of the Explorer Quotient with Destination Canada with marketing and product development insights for small business operators in the north and across the country.
She was national valedictorian in 2006 of the Canadian Association Executive (CAE) designation program.
Patti has led and completed dozens of workshops and programs in Strategic Planning, Public Engagement and Participation, Emergency Measures Communications, Business Planning, Advocacy Development and Implementation and more.