Negotiating space : geographies of the British Columbia treaty process ...

• Main Author: Hyndman, Marian
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0090730; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0090730

In this thesis, I examine the silent but powerful role of cartography in the British Columbia Treaty Commission (BCTC) process given the context of the current perception that it is not progressing as hoped. I explore how the requirement for a spatial articulation of each First Nation's traditional territory as a prerequisite to negotiations, coupled with the cartographic method in which First Nations have chosen to meet this requirement, has frustrated the opportunity for agreement later on in the negotiation process by setting the stage for cross-cultural misunderstanding between neighbouring Aboriginal groups and between neighbouring Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups. I also look at how post-colonial literature itself has served to frustrate the treaty negotiation process. I argue that while cartographic theory has assisted in post-colonial analyses, freeing First Nations from the colonial gaze and enabling a modern-day treaty process, post-colonial geography has created a new construct, that of the ...