Technical Mapping Training in Thunder Bay April 22-23

Terry Tobias visited Thunder Bay in partnership with Neegahewen College to provide Best Practices of Occupancy Mapping. He wrote Chief Keri's Moose which is a great online resource and a standard for Community Lands Planning. During the workshop, Tobias offered some Best Practices including some points below. Tobias is dissapointed with mapping over the past 40 years as directed by government to map FN values. This can and never should be done.

Define your primary objective, remember that OMNR always asks for everything to be mapped. You can either record and map it all to a lower standard, or only research specific themes and research them well. A map cannot tell the whole story.

Recording oral history is different from occupancy mapping. One gives meaning and value to the land for FN which can never be mapped. Never give OMNR values on a map. Occupancy mapping is different and shows where FN travel and use the land. 

Be specific with what you want to record, dont use hunting and fishing as themes, use specific fish and animal species. If you would like to have the map recognized in court, it needs to be accurate and specific.

When using occupancy mapping, use the following to show FN usage on a map.
Map Biography - Category Map - Thematic Map - Hodegepodge Map
(individual stories) (moose kill) (moose hunt) (all data showing high usage)

Data Layers -
Harvesting Sites, TEK, Travel Routes, Fixed Cultural Sites, Place Names.
(fur animals) (wildlife habitat) (routes) (grave sites) (FN names)

Ensure your project and the original information can be passed on for at least the next 100 years. Make it fun and something the community can be proud of.

We hope to continue the training and pass on more info as we develop the training schedule together for hosting FN partner communities and online.