Every Mapping Project Needs a Fire Keeper: Lessons from the Kanehsatà:ke Land Defense Mapping Project

Abstract

This paper explores the critical yet often overlooked aspect of maintenance in decolonial and Indigenous mapping projects. Indigenous communities across Canada have developed alliances with university researchers to develop mapping projects that communicate their relationships to land to outsiders. However, without ongoing maintenance and care, maps can deteriorate or be repurposed in ways that can be harmful to Indigenous communities. I introduce the “fire keeper” as a person or group of people tasked with maintenance, care, and responsibility for the life cycle of maps incorporating Indigenous data. Using the Kanehsatà:ke Land Defense mapping project developed with a Kanehsatakeró:non Land Defender as a case study, I describe how the role of the fire keeper facilitated the adaptation and evolution of the map in response to the Land Defender’s changing objectives. Maintaining the Kanehsatà:ke Land Defense mapping project became an exploration of options rather than a rush to deliver an output. Based on a series of four semi-structured interviews that I conducted with (1) a campaigner, (2) a digital media strategist, (3) university students, and (4) a Québécois history enthusiast, the Land Defender was able to make strategic decisions about how the Kanehsatà:ke Land Defense mapping project should be deployed and which objectives and audiences, if any, would best support the reclamation of Kanehsatakeró:non lands while also protecting their geospatial and archival intellectual property. The paper concludes by encouraging mapmakers to dedicate more time, energy, and resources to map maintenance than they currently do.