Allan Memorial Institute

• The ruling comes after a group of Indigenous women known as the Mohawk Mothers called for an emergency court hearing to halt excavations at the site.
• In October 2022, the Mohawk Mothers obtained a temporary injunction against McGill to stop any excavations.
• In April, Québec’s Superior Court approved a settlement allowing the Mohawk Mothers to investigate unmarked graves at the site.
• Read more:
  Inside the search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools — Podcast

Defining mapping

• McGill’s lawyer argued that mapping means making a map with points or zones where different archaeological techniques should be applied to find human remains.
• When all the zones were drawn, the panel could be disbanded because the mapping was over.
• This interpretation distorts and extensively simplifies the process of mapping the unmarked graves of children.
• It reduces mapping to a mere checklist item, detached from the ever-changing reality on the ground.
• While this initial mapping serves as a starting point, the panel should remain involved as the map evolves.

Colonial vs. decolonial perspectives

• Observing the courtroom proceedings, I was struck by the enduring presence of colonial assumptions about cartography.
• Indigenous communities continue having to advocate for and defend their cartographic methods in order to uphold their connections and duties to the land.
• A truly decolonial mapping project centres and respects Indigenous geographical knowledge and protocols, and includes involvement of Indigenous communities in the process.