(Re)purposing cadasters: When ecclesiastical archives advocate for Indigenous land rights

This paper reflects on the potential and limits of repatriating state-sanctioned historical materials and repurposing them as “counter-archives” for Indigenous communities. This proposal aligns itself with the epistemic shift in archival studies which promotes a processual approach to archiving (archive-as-subject) rather than an extractive one (archive-as-source). Instead of taking colonial archives at face value or dismissing them entirely for their erasures, scholars and artists are finding new ways to approach, produce, and share them. This research expands the scope of counter-cartography and historical geography by identifying different data sources that can be mapped. Mandated by a Mohawk Land Defender, I have compiled ecclesiastical archives, cadasters, and land registries from the Seminary of St. Sulpice into a “counter-archive,” then turned them into a geospatial database for use in GIS. Historically these ecclesiastical records were used by the Seminary to claim Indigenous territories, erase Indigenous presence, and attract settlers to the Seigneurie du Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes, an area spanning 540 km² west of Montreal. The repurposed counter-archives can be used as tools for critical public discourse around Indigenous land rights. Given genuine Federal will for reconciliation, this methodology mapping land dispossession from archival cadasters and land registries could expand to other locations across Canada.