Land Surveying: an Institution That Has Shaped Canada
Land surveying: An institution that has shaped Canada National Surveyors Conference – March 1, 2017 Dr Brian Ballantyne Under a spell As Nina Simone suggested, let me put a spell on you by describing how land surveying has shaped Canada. The spell focuses on surveying as an institution, using a cunning mélange of infrastructure, innovation, ideas, ideals, individuals, imagination and Indigenous lands.1 ‘Cause here’s the thing: Surveying defines Canada. The spell largely ignores2 Champlain, Radisson, Groseilliers, Holland, Thompson, Fidler, Pond, Hearne, Mackenzie, Palliser, Rae, Dennis, Moberly, Weaver, Deville and their ilk, for a bunch of reasons. Many of them were courier de bois, fur traders, explorers and mappers; not land surveyors.3 They have been much celebrated elsewhere.4 And; focusing solely on individuals runs the risk of discounting surveying as an institution. The spell also ignores survey systems, which are also described elsewhere: 5 This spell-binding chat is structured in three parts: - Embedding surveying as part of Canada’s psyche; - Regaling with 10 colourful vignettes; - Speculating about future contributions. From here on, the term “surveyors” means both “land surveyors” and “arpenteurs-géomètres.” Similarly, “surveying” means the parcel/boundary work that has been done by surveyors over these many years, and that continues. The goal is to get all up in your grill:6 To show that, as each fardel of land was demarcated, surveying became part of the fabric - the very warp and weft - of Canada.7 1 I to the 7th as it were. 2 Nor are colonization roads, watercourses as highways, the internet of things, geo-referencing road networks, pipeline rights-of way, subdivisions, Lenin’s dialectical materialism or Kant’s categorical imperative discussed.
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