Decolonial maps & atlases

Decolonial maps & atlases

Native-Land.ca - non-academic project to decolonize maps of indigenous territories. Maps potentially function as colonial artifacts and represent a very particular way of seeing the world – a way primarily concerned with ownership, exclusivity, and power relations.

The Decolonial Atlas - The Decolonial Atlas is a growing collection of maps which, in some way, help us to challenge our relationships with the land, people, and state. It’s based on the premise that cartography is not as objective as we’re made to believe. Volunteer project.

Yellowhead Institute Treaty Map - Indigenous perspectives on treaties in Canada, 1763-present, describes the context, negotiation process and terms of treaties – as well as the implications of failing to honor them.

First Peoples' map of BC - weaves together information on Indigenous peoples’ languages, arts, culture, and connection to place across the lands now referred to as British Columbia.

11 Nations Autochtones & Centre d'amitié autochtones - from Amnesty International, this map identifies the 10 First Nations and Inuit in Quebec, and locations of 55 Indigenous communities and friendship centres. (PDF)

Landgrabu.org: Indigenous Land Granted to Universities an interactive map that is part of a massive project invesitgating and detailing exactly where and how the United States funded 52 land-grant universities with 11 million acres of expropriated Indigenous land.

UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger - Browse vulnerable, endangered and extinct languages, using the search tools or zooming in the map. Focus on Canadian Aboriginal languages by selecting "Canada."

Residential School Locations in Canada (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada) - The TRC provides a listing of the schools in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, with a link to a map showing locations of schools.

Interactive map and data visualization database of MMIWG cases -  data for the map and database is sourced from CBC's publicly available data and information submitted to Safe Passage, a project developed by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) to help individuals learn more about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Canada.

Canadian Geographic Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada (2018). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Metis Nation and Indspire.  (print, reference, in library use only)

Volumes 1 - 4, with reference maps, sections on Truth and Reconciliation, the history of residential schools and a glossary of Indigenous terms in Volume 1.

Decolonial maps - selected articles

Cindy, S. G., & Mandawe, E. (2017). Indigenous geographies: Research as reconciliation. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 8 (2).

Engler, N. J. & Scassa, T. & Taylor, D. F. (2013). Mapping Traditional Knowledge: Digital Cartography in the Canadian North. Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 48(3), 189-199.

Louis, R. P., Johnson, J. T., & Pramono, A. H. (2012). Introduction: Indigenous Cartographies and Counter-Mapping. Cartographica, 47(2), 77-79. 

McGurk, T.J. & Caquard, S. (2020). To what extent can online mapping be decolonial? A journey throughout Indigenous cartography in Canada. The Canadian Geographer 64(1): 49-64.