Assignment 2:6 – “We’ll Call this the Map that Roared”

Question 3 – In order to address this question you will need to refer to Sparke’s article, “A Map that Roared and an Original Atlas: Canada, Cartography, and the Narration of Nation.” You can easily find this article online. Read the section titled: “Contrapuntal (Contradictory) Cartographies” (468 – 470). Write a blog that explains Sparke’s analysis of what Judge McEachern might have meant by this statement: “We’ll call this the map that roared.”

 

To begin, a little context for those readers who didn’t choose this question and are wondering a) what contrapuntal means (or am I the only one who needed to dictionary.com that?), and b) who Judge McEachern is and why are we analyzing his language? In 1984, Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs claimed ownership of 58,000 square kilometres of territory; cartographic tools and arguments were used by both sides, the defense (the BC and federal governments), and the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en peoples, who used these tools in an attempt to “outline their sovereignty in a way that the Canadian court might understand” (468). It was when unfolding one of these maps that Chief Justice Allan McEachern stated, “We’ll call it the map that roared” (468); in his article, Sparke analyzes what McEachern might have meant.

Sparke suggests that McEachern may have been referencing  “the colloquial notion of a ‘paper tiger’” (468), which is a translation of a Chinese phrase that refers to something (a nation or institution) that appears threatening but is actually ineffectual and powerless. He then goes on to question whether McEachern’s statement was in reference to the film “The Mouse that Roared,” a 1959 satire about a fictional country that decides to declare war on the US with the aim to lose quickly and benefit from the financial aid that the US has historically provided. Both of Sparke’s suggested meanings imply that the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en nations are weak and unable to govern themselves. Unsurprisingly, McEachern dismisses the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en nations’ claims to ownership and jurisdiction. However, in 1997, after the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en nations filed a land title action with the Supreme Court (after years of failed negotiations), the Supreme Court decided to overturn Judge McEachern’s ruling. This decision set a new precedent for proving Indigenous title and giving oral history the same power as written testimony in the court of law.

Sparke also comments on cartoonist Don Monet’s interpretation of  Chief Justice McEachern’s reference to a roaring map. Monet asserted that the reference “simultaneously evoked the resistance in the First Nations’ remapping of the land: the cartography’s roaring refusal of…the… accouterments of Canadian colonialism on native land” (468). Sparke goes on to convey that the structure of Western court “serve[s] as an apparatus of colonizing state power;” the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan people entered negotiations knowing that they would be at a disadvantage, having to work within a colonial system. They repeatedly demonstrated the importance of their oral histories, language, and culture, and in doing so, undermined the court system (472).

So, while I would argue that the meaning behind Judge McEachern’s comment is that it was one of disdain, belittlement, fear, or ignorance, I am choosing to value and bolster Don Monet’s interpretation of the roaring map and experience it as a metaphor for the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan peoples determination, grit, and integrity in manipulating a colonialist system and winning (even though it took a disgustingly long time for the government to accept and honour their land claims).

I was really interested in this subject and looked into what the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Nations look like today, and if there have been more conflicts around land claims as a result of economic expansion in BC, and I found some interesting articles related to the TransCanada Corp.’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project and how it’s challenging both Western and Indigenous law and dividing Wet’suwet’en leaders. The conflict highlights tensions within Indigenous groups, where “painful trade-offs between economic development and ancient obligations of land stewardship” must be discussed (Hunter et al.).

These articles in the National Post and Vancouver Sun illustrates how issues regarding conflicts between Western and Indigenous values (and the implications of Western values being forced upon Indigenous groups) continue today. With disputes occurring between First Nations band councils (which are creations of the federal Indian Act) and the historic hereditary systems of governance as seen in the Wet’suwet’en opposition of the $40-billion LNG Canada development (Penner).

 

Works Cited

Beaudoin, Gabriel A. “Delgamuukw Case.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/delgamuukw-case.

The Canadian Press. “Five Things to Know about the LNG Pipeline Protest in Northern B.C.” National Post, 8 Jan. 2019, nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/five-things-to-know-about-the-lng-pipeline-protest-in-northern-b-c.

CONELRAD6401240. “The Mouse That Roared: Trailer (1959).” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Dec. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKOftmWGGXk.

“Delgamuukw Decision Anniversary Signals a Return to the Supreme Court.” The Wilp | Gitxsan, www.gitxsan.com/community/news/delgamuukw-decision-anniversary-signals-a-return-to-the-supreme-court/.

Hunter, Justine et al. “This Pipeline Is Challenging Indigenous Law and Western Law. Who Really Owns the Land?” The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail, 13 Jan. 2019, www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-a-contested-pipeline-tests-the-landscape-of-indigenous-law-who/.

Jang, Trevor. “Twenty Years after Historic Delgamuukw Land Claims Case, Pipeline Divides Gitxsan Nation.” The Discourse., 20 Mar. 2018, www.thediscourse.ca/reconciliation/twenty-years-historic-delgamuukw-land-claims-case-pipeline-divides-gitxsan-nation.

Procaylo, Nick. “Wet’suwet’en Dispute over Pipeline Deal Illustrates Complexities of Indigenous Law.” Vancouver Sun, 12 Jan. 2019, vancouversun.com/news/local-news/wetsuweten-dispute-over-pipeline-deal-illustrates-complexities-of-indigenous-law.

Sparke, Mathew. “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): 468-470. Web. 29 February 2016.