Canadian Indigenous Cartography as Colonial Resistance

ABSTRACT

This paper tracks how four Canadian Indigenous artists use maps to resist colonial ideas and powers. The artists’ maps are analyzed visually, along with their time and place-specific contexts to provide a comprehensive explanation of the role of each map in combating colonialism. This paper then explores Indigenous-led digital mapping organizations and how they empower Indigenous individuals and educate the non-Indigenous public, exemplifying the role of contemporary maps in colonial resistance.

1 Anker, Kirsten. “Aboriginal Title and Alternative Cartographies”. Erasmus Law Review, 1, 14-30, 2018. DOI: 105553/ ELR.000098 INTRODUCTION

Land displacement forms a core part of the Canadian Indigenous experience. Colonists use stolen land for resource extraction and profit, neglecting previous Indigenous stewardship. The colonial conception of land possession starkly contrasts with the Indigenous view of land as part of an interconnected system with natural resources and living beings. These clashing conceptions of land possession implicate maps in the perpetuation of colonialism. Indeed, the geographer Bernard Nietschmann claims that “more Indigenous territory has been taken by maps than guns...[and] more Indigenous territory can be defended and reclaimed by maps than guns”.1 Colonial maps erase Indigenous histories and center land ownership. Indigenous mapping practices are not about possession, and instead center land protection against degradation, personal connections to the land, and the impacts of colonialism. The four prominent artists Shawnadithit, Christi Belcourt, Sonny Assu, and CeeJay Johnson all produce maps that root Indigenous peoples to the land in unique ways, illustrating a temporal progression of relationships to specific territories. Shawnadithit used maps as witness statements to document the genocide of her people. Christi Belcourt exemplifies disastrous colonial land management practices through toponymy and cartographic keys. Sonny Assu incorporates map fragments into his art, giving insight into lost spatial memories from colonization. CeeJay Johnson’s combined beadwork map of Turtle Island allows current artists to explore their heritage in the face of colonialism and consider the future of their identities. Indigenous digi-

tal cartography organizations are also vital parts of Indigenous mapping. They embrace principles of accessibility and collaboration and simultaneously challenge viewers. Maps created by Indigenous artists and mapping organizations are effective tools in colonial resistance that enable Indigenous peoples to reassert their traditional stewardship of lands and waters.

2 Harris, Cole. “How Did Colonialism Dispossess? Comments from an Edge of Empire.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94, no. 1 (November 5, 2004): 165–82. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.14678306.2004.09401009.x.

3 Ralph T. Pastore and G. M. Story, “SHAWNADITHIT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/ Université Laval, 2003–, accessed December 9, 2021, http://www. biographi.ca/en/bio/ shawnadithit_6E.html. Figure 1 Shawnadithit. Untitled. 1828, pencil on paper, unlisted current location. Accessed at https://www. canadiangeographic. ca/article/ametunderstanding-beothuk.

SHAWNADITHIT

Shawnadithit, the last surviving member of the Beothuk, created maps to immortalize her people in the face of destructive colonialism. The Beothuk were an Indigenous tribe that inhabited modern-day Newfoundland. In the middle of the 18th century as English and French colonists established commercial fishing, the Beothuk escaped inland from the colonists in their historic coastal lands. Colonial coastal land possession created a “geography of resettlement”; the new human geography superimposed on historically Beothuk land, forcing them to move and abandon their way of life while navigating relationships with hostile settlers.2 When traditional livelihoods of fishing were inaccessible and the Beothuk were unable to fight back against settlers, this geography of resettlement led to mass starvation. Colonial attacks and kidnappings devastated the Beothuk, in addition to their forced resettlement. In December 1819, Shawnadithit witnessed the English colonizers kidnapping her aunt Demasduit, known as Mary March in English.

Williams Eppes Cormack, a Scottish-Canadian explorer who hosted Shawnadithit for several years labeled one map as “The taking of Mary March on the north side of the Lake” and “Captain Buchan visit 1810-11 on the south side of the Lake” (figure 1). As Cormack indicates, this pencil-drawing map depicts both Demasduit’s kidnapping on the north side of the lake in 1819, and an encounter with English Lieutenant Buchan on the south side of the lake which resulted in the death of two British colonists. 3 These contrasting stories placed together on the map illustrate that while the Beothuk initially had defensive power, they were not able to match the strength of the colonists in the long-term. The dotted lines delineate the paths that the British took in 1811. After traveling these paths, the British kidnapped Demasduit, illustrating how the British colonists traveled freely on the stolen land. The shapes and color palette in this map are simple, allowing Shawnadithit to exclusively focus on the stories at hand. The red in this map represents the Beothuk’s traditional ochre decorations and the blood of their demise, conveying how being Indigenous is tied to defeat from colonialism. Cormack gave Shawnadithit the pencil and paper and wrote the captions as part of his attempt to preserve Beothuk culture.4 However, his prioritization of culture over people reflects the possessive nature of anthropology and undervaluing of Indigenous individuals themselves. Shawnadithit’s lived experience strengthens her credibility in establishing this map and illustrates the personal impacts, in addition to the impact on the Beothuk, of colonial expansion.

4 Mitchell, Alanna. “Amet*: Understanding the Beothuk.” Canadian Geographic. Canadian Geographic Enterprises, May 13, 2021. https:// www.canadiangeographic. ca/article/ametunderstanding-beothuk.

CHRISTI BELCOURT

Figure 2 Belcourt, Christi. Goodland. 2007, Acrylic on canvas, 2008 Artspace Gallery, Peterborough, ON. Unlisted current location. Accessed at www. christibelcourt.com/ Gallery/gallery2008page 3f.html

Métis artist Christi Belcourt demonstrates how colonial conquest, which Shawnadithit experienced, leads to the destruction of Indigenous lands and peoples in her 2007 acrylic on canvas map, Good Land (figure 2). The right panel of this map is a colonial view of the Great Lake region, Belcourt’s home, and the left panel is an Indige-

5 Belcourt, Christi. “Reclaiming Ourselves By Name- Contesting Canada’s Colonial Names, By Language and By Map.” Briarpatch. Briarpatch Magazine, July 1, 2013. https:// briarpatchmagazine.com/ articles/view/reclaimingourselves-by-name.

6 Uluococha, Nna O. “Decolonizing Place-Names: Strategic Imperative for Preserving Indigenous Cartography in Post-Colonial Africa.” African Journal of History and Culture 7, no. 9 (September 2015): 180–92. https://doi.org/10.5897/ ajhc2015.0279.

7 Harris, 2004.

8 Lebedinskaia, Natalia. “Imaginary Lines.” Art Mur. Art Mûr Montreal, March 7, 2020. https://artmur. com/en/artists/sonnyassu/imaginary-lines/. nized version of the same map. Her exclusive use of blue and beige in the maps mirrors the simple color scheme of authentic colonial maps, causing Good Land to appear as a historical document. While many Canadian place names are derived from Indigenous languages, the public ignores the history behind them, causing the place names to be empty references that ignore the colonial genocide.5 In the right panel of Good Land, Belcourt uses contemporary “Canadian” place names and labels from historical and contemporary colonial maps. The use of colonial place names promotes the idea that land access only exists under colonial systems.6 So, the right panel of Goodland illustrates an erasure of Indigenous peoples and histories. However, the original place names and labels on the left panel of this map directly contrast with the right side and illustrate holistic Indigenous views of the land. Indigenous place names disrupt colonial narratives of land ownership and express geographic knowledge that revolves upon living with the land, rather than solely extracting from it. For example, in Good Land, the colonial map’s label of “Indian land” portrays the inland as occupied by “savages.” Indigenous people living on land that had not yet been “developed” according to colonial standards were viewed as backwards and lazy. Therefore, colonists viewed “developing the land” as a cultural necessity that would reform Indigenous people.7 The Indigenous label of “stolen land” illustrates how colonialism actually robbed Indigenous people of their land and their culture, rather than improve it. The cartographic keys in the bottom left of Good Land actualize the deadly contrast between colonial and Indigenous land management. The colonial cartographic key represents trees with dollar signs, while the Indigenous cartographic key describes trees as “lungs of the Earth” (Belcourt, 2007). This contrast illustrates how colonial land management practices are unsustainable, literally depriving the Earth of air. Cartographic keys typically show what resources can be taken from the land, but Belcourt subverts the typical colonial cartographic key of over-extraction from the land to illustrate the consequences of taking from the land. Belcourt’s contrast between the colonial and Indigenized map of her home region in Good Land foreshadows how colonial land possession leads to land degradation that neglects vital components of the interconnected ecosystem.

SONNY ASSU

Sonny Assu explores the personal impacts of colonialism in his 2020 series Landlines. This series consists of fifteen images in earth tones of turquoise and beige.8 Landlines is reminiscent

of pop art with its poster forms, sharp lines, and simple color palette. This color palette is similar to Good Land, however the white background and use of turquoise instead of blue further evokes a sense of modernity. This modernity allows Assu to comment on the present struggles Indigenous Canadians face in connecting to their historical land, and on his own challenges in connecting to his Ligwilda’xw/Kwakwaka’wakw background. The fractured maps and negative space in the background of the images in Landlines represent gaps in spatial memory and loss of generational spatial knowledge. Assu spent his childhood summers on Vancouver Island with his grandfather who was part of the local system of lands and waters.9 However, Assu struggles to maintain a connection to his ancestors and their historical land while living in the modern colonial world of resource extraction, consumerism, and environmental destruction. Personal stories like Assu’s are decolonizing because they provide a human element to maps that reaches beyond arbitrary boundaries.10 Assu’s personal experience grounds Shawnadithit and Belcourt’s maps, representing initial colonial contact and colonial land management principles in present-day cultural losses. Specifically, the copper shield in Landlines #7 is part of Indigenous northwest symbology that originally represented wealth and power (figure 3).11 Place-based knowledge is empowering and allows people to live in harmony with the land. However, the copper shields throughout the series have crossed eyes, causing them to appear helpless and reflecting how forced assimilation and land conquest deprive Indigenous Canadians of their homes and cultures. The effects of climate change, resulting in large part from neglectful colonial policies, further compound on the loss of place-based knowledge and prevent Indigenous Canadians from connecting with their ancestral lands and waters.

9 Lebedinskaia, 2020.

10 Palmer, Mark, and Korson, Cadey. “Decolonizing World Heritage Maps Using Indigenous Toponyms, Stories, and Interpretive Attributes.” Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 55, no. 3 (2020): 183–92. https://doi.org/10.3138/ cart-2019-0014.

11 Lebedinskaia, 2020.

Figure 3 Assu, Sonny. Landlines #7. 2020, acrylic ink on Stonehenge Archival paper, 2020. 2020 Art Mûr, Montreal, QC. Unlisted current location. Accessed at www.sonnyassu.com/ gallery/landlines

12 Wenzel, Abra. “Circling Covid: Making in the Time of a Pandemic.” Anthropologica 63, no. 1 (June 17, 2021): 1–13. https://doi.org/ 10.18357/ anthropologica 6312021350.

13 Ray, Lana. ““Beading Becomes a Part of Your Life.”” International Review of Qualitative Research 9, 3(2016): 363-378. https://doi.org/10.1525/ irqr.2016.9.3.363.

14 Wenzel, 2021.

15 Rodriguez, Jeremiah. “Beading Is Medicine’: Intricate Map Connects Indigenous Artists across Canada, U.S.” CTV News. Bell Media, April 7, 2021. Retreived from http:// ctvnews.ca/lifestyle.ca/ beading-is-medicineintricate-connectsindigenous-artists-acrosscanada-u-s.1.5378292. CEEJAY JOHNSON

Dakota and Tlingit artist CeeJay Johnson embraces the complexity of Indigenous heritages in the modern day in her 2020 “Bead Your State/Province Project” (figures 4 & 5). Johnson established this project during the first wave of COVID-19, when the surge in digital communication technology lowered barriers to involvement in Indigenous communities.12 Artists, primarily women, from every province, territory, and state across Turtle Island sent Johnson images of their beadwork. The public first voted on their favorite designs, maximizing community participation, and then Johnson digitally weaved the designs together to create a beadwork map of Turtle Island. Beadwork is a form of Indigenous storytelling that allows spiritual and relation-based knowledge to pass through generations. However, assimilation pressures disrupt this process.13 As digital communications technology expanded Indigenous communities during COVID-19, art has been a key pathway to building relationships and reclaiming identities.14 Beading is innately collaborative, so Johnson’s project capitalizes on the advantages of digital mediums and traditional art. The New Brunswick design, by Lenore Augustine from the Elsipogtog First Nation, consists of a yellow sun on a blue background, indicating an appreciation for nature. The fiddlehead plants in the background represent the multiple Indigenous communities in the province.15 Erica Dawn of Shinnecock, Choctaw, and Tsalgai descent beaded the Kentucky design of the state’s abbreviation “KY” and a horseshoe, which is a common symbol of the state’s identity and key tourist attraction. While Augustine focuses on the natural landscape of New Brunswick, Dawn centers recognizable aspects of modern Kentucky. Artists in this project grapple with creat-

Figure 4 Johnson, CeeJay. Bead Your State/ Province. Various beads, 2020. Accessed at https://www.ctvnews. ca/lifestyle/beading-ismedicine-intricate-mapconnects-indigenousartists-across-canadau-s-1.5378292

Figure 5 Johnson, CeeJay. Bead Your State/ Province. Various beads, 2020. Accessed at https://www.ctvnews. ca/lifestyle/beading-ismedicine-intricate-mapconnects-indigenousartists-across-canadau-s-1.5378292

ing beaded designs to represent multifaceted Indigenous and contemporary identities using the arbitrary colonial boundaries. Beaders from a single state, province, or territory cannot represent the multiple Indigenous groups within their region and must instead focus on conveying overarching Indigenous principles of being in relation to their homes. The artists in this project all embrace their Indigenous heritages through learning and relearning beading and combining their designs. The final digital piece illustrates how contemporary Indigenous mapping thrives upon the fusion of tradition and taking advantage of the present moment.

CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS MAPPING ORGANIZATIONS

Beyond the art of individual artists, Indigenous mapping organizations work on a large-scale to subvert colonial maps. Native Land Digital is an Indigenous led non-profit organization founded in 2018.16 The home page of the website displays a map indicating Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties (figure 6). The pastel colors demarcating these elements overlap with each other, reflecting how Indigenous land stewardship exists beyond random boundaries and that there is a great deal of cultural overlap. The pale blue and green of the water and forests is distinct, illustrating the centrality of nature to Indigenous groups. As Belcourt explores in Good Land, toponymy

16 Native Land. Native Land Digital, 2021. https:// native-land.ca/.

Figure 6 Native-Land Digital (map with Treaties, Territories, and Languages). 2021, online map. Accessed at https://native-land.ca/

17 Native Land, 2021. informs how viewers perceive territory and displaying original place names forces viewers to grapple with the violent history of Indigenous erasure around the world. The inclusion of languages and treaties compels viewers to consider not only who lives in their land, but also how these Indigenous people have lived and the way their land was stolen. The management of Native Land Digital also reflects the principles of collaboration, accessibility, and growth. They partner with academic institutions and organizations promoting Indigenous history. Beyond organizational partnerships, Native Land Digital has an open Slack channel that promotes transparency of organizational operations and ensures that involvement is accessible to people of all backgrounds and skill levels. Their interface is free, ensuring that the organization resists capitalistic pressures and that geographic information about Indigenous land is available. In claiming that “this map is not perfect – it is a work in progress with tons of contributions from the community”, the organization emphasizes how it evolves with new knowledge that viewers share.17 Applying standard mapping practices is not sufficient to resist colonialism because standard maps can draw Indigenous peoples into a capitalistic economy based on land degradation.18 Therefore, the maps of Native Land Digital explicitly prove overlaps in historical ties to the land, providing information about people who lived there, and existing as living documents that can be changed at any time. The Indigenous Mapping Workshop (IMW) empowers individuals to learn digital cartography techniques and create and improve platforms like Native Land Digital. IMW is part of the Firelight Group, an Indigenous owned Canadian consulting group that uses research to uplift Indigenous communities. IMW ensures that Indigenous communities, which are typically under-resourced, have adequate support to create

impactful maps. Geospatial technology can be difficult to grasp and access.19 So, IMW conducts annual workshops that educate Indigenous mapmakers of all levels in the use of geospatial technology to create culturally relevant maps. These workshops have been held in Canadian cities with substantial Indigenous populations, in typically overlooked northern communities, and online when gathering in person was not possible due to COVID-19.20 The geographic expanse that IMW covers reflects how issues of Indigenous land stewardship exist across Canada. Native Land Digital and IMW complement each other in the quest for disrupting colonial maps through the empowerment of Indigenous individuals and the education of settlers.

CONCLUSION

Shawnadithit, Belcourt, Assu, Johnson, and Native Land Digital and IMW exemplify Nietschmann’s claim that more Indigenous territory will be reclaimed by maps than guns. Each of the four individual artists mentioned here address a different moment in relating Indigenous mapping to colonialism. The transparency of the organizations leading and supporting Indigenous mapping efforts ensure that Indigenous cartography represents multiple Indigenous perspectives and experiences. This openness directly contrasts colonial power-seeking mapping efforts. The storytelling and collaborative components of Indigenous mapping allow it to transcend the limits of colonial mapping and be an effective tool for colonial resistance. 

19 Zhu, A-Xing, Fang-He Zhao, Peng Liang, and Cheng-Zhi Qin. “Next Generation of GIS: Must Be Easy.” Annals of GIS 27, no. 1 (May 18, 2020): 71–86. https://doi.org/10 .1080/19475683.2020.1 766563.

20 Indigenous Mapping Workshop. Fireflight Research Inc, 2021. https://indigenousmaps. com of Sciences 114, no. 24 (2017): 6238-43.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anker, Kirsten. “Aboriginal Title and Alternative Cartographies". Erasmus Law Review, 1, 14-30, 2018. DOI: 105553/ELR.000098

Assu, Sonny. Landlines #7. 2020, acrylic ink on Stonehenge Archival paper, 2020. 2020 Art Mûr, Montreal, QC. Unlisted current location. Accessed at www. sonnyassu.com/gallery/landlines

Belcourt, Christi. Goodland. 2007, Acrylic on canvas, 2008 Artspace Gallery, Peterborough, ON. Unlisted current location. Accessed at www.christibelcourt. com/Gallery/gallery2008page3f.html

Belcourt, Christi. “Reclaiming Ourselves By Name- Contesting Canada's Colonial Names, By Language and By Map.” Briarpatch. Briarpatch Magazine, July 1, 2013. https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/reclaiming-ourselvesby-name.

Harris, Cole. “How Did Colonialism Dispossess? Comments from an Edge of Empire.”

Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94, no. 1 (November 5, 2004): 165–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.2004.09401009.x.

Indigenous Mapping Workshop. Fireflight Research Inc, 2021. https://indigenousmaps.com

Johnson, CeeJay. Bead Your State/Province. Various beads, 2020. Accessed at https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/beading-is-medicine-intricate-map-connects-indigenous-artists-across-canada-u-s-1.5378292

Lebedinskaia, Natalia. “Imaginary Lines.” Art Mur. Art Mûr Montreal, March 7, 2020. https://artmur.com/en/artists/sonny-assu/imaginary-lines/.

Mitchell, Alanna. “Amet*: Understanding the Beothuk.” Canadian Geographic. Canadian Geographic Enterprises, May 13, 2021. https://www.canadiangeographic. ca/article/amet-understanding-beothuk.

Native Land. Native Land Digital, 2021. https://native-land.ca/.

Native-Land Digital. 2021, online map. Accessed at https://native-land.ca/

Palmer, Mark, and Korson, Cadey. “Decolonizing World Heritage Maps Using Indigenous Toponyms, Stories, and Interpretive Attributes.” Cartographica: The

International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 55, no. 3 (2020): 183–92. https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2019-0014.

Ralph T. Pastore and G. M. Story, “SHAWNADITHIT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed December 9, 2021, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/shawnadithit_6E.html.

Ray, Lana. “”Beading Becomes a Part of Your Life.”” International Review of Qualitative Research 9, 3(2016): 363-378. https://doi.org/10.1525/irqr.2016.9.3.363.

Rodriguez, Jeremiah. “Beading Is Medicine': Intricate Map Connects Indigenous Artists across Canada, U.S.” CTV News. Bell Media, April 7, 2021. http:// ctvnews.ca/lifestyle.ca/beading-is-medicine-intricate-connects-indigenous-artists-across-canada-u-s.1.5378292.

Shawnadithit. Untitled. 1828, pencil on paper, unlisted current location. Accessed at https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/amet-understanding-beothuk

Uluococha, Nna O. “Decolonizing Place-Names: Strategic Imperative for Preserving Indigenous Cartography in Post-Colonial Africa.” African Journal of History and Culture 7, no. 9 (September 2015): 180–92. https://doi.org/10.5897/ ajhc2015.0279.

Wenzel, Abra. “Circling Covid: Making in the Time of a Pandemic.” Anthropologica 63, no. 1 (June 17, 2021): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.18357/anthropologica6312021350.

Zhu, A-Xing, Fang-He Zhao, Peng Liang, and Cheng-Zhi Qin. “Next Generation of GIS: Must Be Easy.” Annals of GIS 27, no. 1 (May 18, 2020): 71–86. https://doi. org/10.1080/19475683.2020.1766563.

Editors-in-Chief LEA JOSEPH EVA SAYN-WITTGENSTEINT

Editors MARIA GHEORGHIU SEAN HALL OLIVIA KENNEDY LILLY LECANU-FAYET ELLA WISCHNEWSKY

Art Direction, Design GIULIA CARUANA giuliacaruana.com

Funding ARTS UNDERGRADUATE SOCIETY JOURNAL FUND

MCGILL UNDERGRADUATE GEOGRAPHY SOCIETY