Echo Maker

In an example of truth and reconciliation put into practice, Craig Macdonald spent decades creating one of the most significant maps in Canadian history, developed through trust and experience, in partnership with the Teme-Augama Anishinaabe and the Temagami First Nation.

The story of the Historical Map of Temagami is a truly remarkable one. Starting in the mid-1960s, Craig Macdonald began to learn from Indigenous trappers and travellers from coast to coast to coast, with a special emphasis on the traditional lands and winter ways of the Teme-Augama Anishinaabe. He became familiar with Anishinaabemowin, and interviewed traditional knowledge holders. When it came time to share his learnings to his teachers and mentors, he also learned basic cartographic skills and archival research methods and compiled a unique historical map of traditional winter and summer travel routes and original shorelines and trails for the community and the people.

For the first time ever, details of this incredible map are reproduced in this book with a full telling of how the map came to be and what it means for everyone involved.

This map was successfully used to confirm the Teme-Augama Anishnaabe and the Temagami First Nation's land claim against the federal government of Canada, and it stands as an example of truth and reconciliation in practice. The map protects the traditional knowledge of the people and Craig Macdonald, for his efforts, was given a new name: Echo Maker.