Applying Density and Hotspot Analysis for Indigenous Traditional Land Use: Counter-Mapping with Wasagamack First Nation, Manitoba, Canada

Abstract

Traditional land-use studies display specific locations used and occupied by Indigenous Peoples in their ancestral lands to sustain their land-based livelihoods. Indigenous communities use these maps to reclaim their territories by demonstrating their current land-use and occupancy that extends vast distances beyond their reserves. To support the protection of ancestral territory against the threats of resource extraction by outsiders, we applied the density and hotspot mapping approaches to display the concentrated land use areas of 49 harvesters of Wasagamack First Nation in Manitoba, Canada. In contrast to the conventional land use mapping, which presents the land use areas as points or spots on the map, density and hotspot mapping shows areas of intensive land use and cultural significance. This paper reinforces Wasagamack Anishininews' view that their entire ancestral territory is sacred and vital to the Wasagamack First Nation and supports their case for their traditional territory's self-governance. If integrated with Wasagamack Anishininews' community development goals, the density and hotspot mapping approach can facilitate land use planning for sustainable conservation of important areas for the well-being of Wasagamack First Nation.

Mining versus Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas: Traditional Land Uses of the Anisininew in the Red Sucker Lake First Nation, Manitoba, Canada

“…Each RSLFN participant's shared stories, mapping, and photos provided Indigenous knowledge of the land. These data were recorded on maps and videos or audio tapes, based on the participant's preferences [72][73][74]. Territorial maps of Manitoba and Ontario at the 1:50,000 scale were used.…”

“…Traditional land uses are undertaken in a sustainable, regenerative way, based on a strong reciprocal relationship with the land and water, and a culture of stewardship [5,6,32]. Traditional land uses include hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, ceremony, spirituality, education, and land stewardship [14,15].…”

“…We applied the ESRI geographical information system (GIS). A map biography for each interviewee was prepared using shapefiles from the digitized maps [72][73][74]. Data from all 21 interviews were mapped into thematic maps, hotspot maps, density maps, and summary maps [15,72].…”

“…Settler-colonial states largely ended during the national liberation movement era post-World War II, but not for Indigenous people in Canada and in several other countries. Indigenous people continue to struggle for self-determination and Native land protection against colonial intrusion, including critical mineral development in RSLFN's ancestral territory [14,15]. This paper discusses the role of self-determination and traditional land uses [16] for biodiversity and conservation in the RSLFN territory, through a two-eyed seeing approach [17][18][19][20][21].…”