Locating Yourself Using the Canadian Geographic Indigenous Atlas

This event is part of the 2023 Celebrate Learning Week, taking place from May 2–9, 2023.

Registration is full for the morning session. We are hosting this same session in the afternoon of May 9. Please register for that session here.

Guided by Indigenous perspectives, ways of knowing, ways of being about relationships and relationality, this workshop will utilize the Canadian Geographic Indigenous Atlas to discuss and explore your positionality in place and territory. We will be considering our own personal history to make connections with local territory and the places we have lived. Moreover, we will find ways to relate to each other through reflexive processes by examining and sharing how we came to be in the places we were and are as well as our impacts in those territories.

During the 90-minute session, participants will be given time to explore the Canadian Geographic Indigenous Atlas to further their learning about the traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples as well as historical events as they view the timeline. Additionally, they will also be asked to locate their home communities on the map using a pylon and answer a series of questions to introduce themselves to other participants. The questions will provide an opportunity to reflect upon their family histories, the territory they are in, whose stories are being told in that territory, and how colonialism has impacted the people and lands of that particular territory.

About the Canadian Geographic Indigenous Atlas:

Canadian Geographic has worked extensively with Indigenous and Indigenous Ally educators from across what we know today as Canada to create the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. The map “re-maps” and “de-maps” (Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, 2023) colonial versions of traditional Indigenous territories. This workshop will assist students, staff, and faculty “in understanding past, present, and future of Indigenous Peoples in Canada” (Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, 2023). The 25’x35’ map works to decolonize maps and mapping and will provide an opportunity for participants to experience a view of what we know today as Canada from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples.

References

• Donald, D. (2012). Indigenous Metissage: a decolonizing sensibility. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. 25(5), 525-535.
• Donald, D. & Glanfield, F. (2011). Culturally Relational Education In and With an Indigenous Community. Indigenous Education in Education. 17(3), 72-80.
• Gaudry, Adam (2023). Maps. Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. Canadian Geographic. https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/forewords/maps/. Retrieved on February 10, 2023.
• Indigenous Peoples Map of Canada (2023). Canadian Geographic Education. https://cangeoeducation.ca/en/maps/indigenous-peoples-atlas-of-canada/. Retrieved on February 10, 2023.
• Koleszar-Green, Ruth (2018) What is a Guest? What is a Settler? Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 10(2), 166-167.

Facilitator:

• Naim Cardinal, Indigenous Programs and Services

Note to Non-UBC Participants:

In order to register for this program, non-UBC faculty, staff, and students will need to create a UBC Basic CWL. To do this, please go to the CWL page and scroll down to the accordion tab that reads “Basic”. Follow the instructions there for creating and activating a Basic CWL, then please return to this page to register for the program.

This event will be hosted in-person on UBC Okanagan Campus.