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 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.”

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Sparke notes that the use of cartographic tools was a pertinent component of the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan people’s efforts to disclose their sovereignty in a way that the Canadian court could comprehend and acknowledge. He reveals that there was a map that was cultivated for this exact purpose, and was given to Chief Justice Allan McEachern to unfold. In the process of unfolding the map McEachern avowed, “We’ll call this the map that roared” (Sparke, 468).

Sparke made a connection to the 1959 Peter Sellers movie entitled, “The Mouse that Roared”, which was known for its satirical depiction of the geopolitics during the Cold War. He suggests that the comment could have been interpreted as “a derisory scripting of the plaintiffs as a ramshackled, anachronistic nation” (468). However, Sparke also makes reference to Don Monet, a cartoonist working for the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en. Monet perceived McEachern’s reference to a roaring map as an evocation of the Canadian court’s resistance to the First Nation’s remapping of the land. It was suggested that McEachern’s remark was in response to “the cartography’s 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 other accouterments of Canadian colonialism on native land” (468).

Despite McEachern’s dismissal of the Gitxsan and Wet’swuet’en’s claims “to ownership, jurisdiction, and damages for the loss of lands and resources since the establishment of the colony” (470), the Supreme Court overturned his decision and opened up the opportunity of a new trial. As a result, this event has gained recognition for its immense turnaround in Canadian native rights litigation.

Personally, I think that by calling it “the map that roared” (468), McEachern wasn’t merely describing the map; he was speaking to the Gitxsan and Wet’swuet’en people themselves. The word, ‘roared’, made me think of other words like: ferocious, impassioned, intense, and fervent. I got the sense that the map was seen as something that frightened and unsettled McEachern— given that the Gitxsan and Wet’swuet’en people physically outlined their remapping of the land, it symbolized the serious threat of the detribalization and fragmentation of all that was familiar to him and within his control. Similarly, I think this sort of fearful reaction to a piece of paper serves as evidence of the power that cartography has over people. The map he was presented with was something that was unknown to him, “a genre of cartography in which Judge McEachern, on his own admission, was illiterate” (Paterson). While this is of course just my opinion, I do think that McEachern’s reference to the map as having ‘roared’ speaks to his recognition of the First Nation people’s impassioned fight for their claims, as well as his own surmounting fear of losing control over the division of land that could result. ‘Roar’ is a powerful, chaotic, and even fear-inducing word, so I think its usage here fits quite perfectly. By calling it “the map that roared” (468), McEachern acknowledges its power in facilitating a change he does not desire and demonstrates his dread of the Gitxsan and Wet’swuet’en people. In this regard, the word ‘roar’ serves two purposes here: it addresses both the First Nations people and Chief Justice Allan McEachern, too.

Works Cited

Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 2.3.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia, 2016. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

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.

Venetikidis, Aris. “Making sense of maps” TED. September 2012. Lecture.

“Wet’suwet’en First Nation: Rebuilding the Four Pillars of Our Community” Youtube. Youtube, 23 September 2013. 29 February 2016.