Name
Tracing the Flow of Treaty Relations in the Salish Sea.
Description
Cartography, as an ever-evolving discipline, necessitates ongoing critical engagement with the question, “Who is the map for?” This inquiry is particularly pertinent in addressing the colonial narratives that have historically shaped mapping practices, especially in ways that relationships between First Nations peoples and the state – such as treaties, reserves/reservations, and land claim areas -- are represented. The Coast Salish Peoples, the original Nations of the Salish Sea, maintain teachings, laws, governance systems, and land tenure practices that predate colonial settlement and continue to thrive today. In the Salish Sea bioregion (similar but not identical to the territories of Coast Salish peoples), historic and modern-day treaties have established foundational relationships between Indigenous communities and the settler states of Canada and the United States. The transboundary nature of the Salish Sea complicates conventional mapping practices, as political, legal, and geophysical boundaries often fail to align with how Indigenous peoples themselves see and practice their territorialities. As non-Indigenous scholars who are committed to the goals outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (including Call to Action 62), we aim to take on work to educate the public on treaties. Invited by Associate University Librarian, Reconciliation Ry Morran (also the founding director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation) to contribute to a large, highly visible public installation at the University of Victoria’s McPhearson Library, that goes beyond land acknowledgements; to evoke the geography of treaty relations of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples on whose traditional territory the university stands in broader context of the varied treaty relations. Through a process of cartographic reclamation, our map is informed by scholars in the field of decolonial cartography (Lucchesi, 2020; Tucker & Rose-Redwood, 2015, Thom, 2009), and puts dialogue into practice to emphasize interconnectedness, and point out challenges of dominant power structures.
Session Type
Poster
Abstract ID
234
Speaker Name
Leah Fulton
Speaker Organization
University of Victoria