‘It was one such map of Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en territory (Exhibit 102) that Chief Justice Allan McEachern was beginning to unfold when he declared, “We’ll call it the map that roared”‘ (Sparke, 468).

In the article, Sparke discusses the themes of property and colonialism; we see the histories of disputes over land claims, and the repression of the First Nations with regards to their rights. But what we also see is the beginning of Canadian Native rights with the turnaround of a cartographic based trial of Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en territory.

Sparke analyses this quote by Judge McEachern as evoking the resistance in the First Nations’ remapping of the land. We moreover see this association of a “roaring map” with that of a roaring tiger, who is battling these outside forces in hopes of maintaining its property and placement. This statement by Judge McEachern gives a lot of imagery into the though process of the colonizers. In their eyes, they are attempting to fix, maintain, and essentially westernize this land that has been ruled and organized by ‘animals’. The reader sees this idea of a roaring animal that is attempting to breaking out of its cage. It is the First Nations who are demonstrating their “roaring refusal of the orientation systems, the trap lines, the property lines, the electricity lines, the pipelines, the logging roads, the clear-cuts, and all the other accoutrements of Canadian colonialism on native land” (Sparke, 468). The image by cartoonist Don Monet, “A Map that Roared,” really explains this idea of breaking away from the imposition of the Western idea of mapping and colonization.

I think that there are separate ways of looking into this statement by McEachern. From his perspective, the roar is seen as just complaints and changes of Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en with regards to their version in mapping the territory. It is merely a complaint but nothing that he is worried about, whereas Don Monet’s illustration gives the idea of powerful First Nations peoples that are willing to stand up to the colonial order. This roaring tiger is breaking apart from the map it was placed onto and is roaring for a return to its original order.

What is so interesting to me is that land claims are still occurring throughout Canada. In BC, there are some final agreements that have only just come to a end within the past couple years. I wonder if the trials and discussions today are similar to that of Canada’s beginning? Are the First Nations still oppressed by the government with regards to their territories, and their claim to ownership? I would be interested to look into this further.

Works Cited:

Government of Canada. “British Columbia – Final Agreements and Related Implementation Matters.” Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada; Communications Branch. N.p., 05 Apr. 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Sparke, Matthew. “A Map That Roared and an Original Atlas: Canada, Cartography, and the Narration of Nation.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 88.3 (1998): 468-70. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.