Canadian Association of Geographers, Canadian Cartographic Association 2025 Conference

The confluence of the Ottawa, Rideau, and Gatineau rivers welcomed geographers and cartographers over the week of May 20th-23rd, 2025 to celebrate the intersections of disciplines and the connections that ground them.

I attended this conference to connect with researchers across the country, and to reconnect with past mentors and colleagues. This landscape provided a lot of familiarity, while also bringing insight into how to move forward in a good way. This also means practicing cartography that is reflected of the landscapes that we are mapping.

In addition, I presented a modified version of the Treaties of the Salish Sea mural, and adapted the dimensions to fit a 48x48 poster. This map sparked conversation, and ultimately led to discussion about orientation and perspective. It also drove the point that the process of mapping is ongoing, and that there is no 'final iteration' - some maps can have multiple versions - up to 50 - and still never be the last modified representation.

While many of these conferences are opportunities to connect, they are also spaces to reflect. Whether that be my own academic privilege, or how I want to be introducing myself on the lands that I do not reside. There is still a long way to go for cartographers, and many of the thoughts that I have related to the cartography are answered through the fact that there really is no 'guideline' for these decisions. What we know is informed by the published work of Indigenous cartographers, and process of mapping, but not necessarily the cartographic decisions (what should be left in, what should be out, how should it be represented).

This is an ongoing conversation, and hope to further confront these thoughts during future conversations with knowledge holders, knowing this is a process of becoming.