Echo Maker - by James Raffan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In an example of truth and reconciliation put into practice, Craig Macdonald spent decades creating a unique map of Temagami, developed through trust and experience, in partnership with the Teme-Augama Anishnabai.

James Raffan's biography of Craig Macdonald and how the Historical Map of Temagami came to be is a remarkable tale. In the mid-1960s, Macdonald began interviewing and travelling with Indigenous trappers and travellers. He became familiar with Anishinaabemowin and built a lasting bond with the traditional knowledge holders. Returning year after year to map the land, Macdonald painstakingly plotted traditional placenames, original shorelines, elevations, and traditional summer and winter travel routes -- including the documentation of more than twelve hundred canoe portages and winter snowshoe trails. His map is unique in the Canadian cartographic canon, and its genesis is a story that has never been told, until now.

Review Quotes

Echo Maker is the portrait of a memorable personality, an insight into his unusual family life and his career in the outdoors, and, almost as a bonus, a detailed account of adventure expeditions based on traditional Aboriginal routes and techniques.

-- "Theo Dombrowski, The Miramichi Reader"

Craig Macdonald learned at a young age that Indigenous map making is not simply about producing a two-dimensional piece of paper. With a deep respect for Indigenous ways of knowing -- Anishinaabemowin, ancient spiritual practices, and empirical knowledge gained over thousands of years -- Macdonald, collaborating with an exceptional community of knowledge keepers, created a living archive. This map is a bagajigenan - a gift embodying the true spirit of the treaty relationship.

-- "Dale Turner, professor and Teme-Augama Anishnabai member"

With a creative blend of oral history, radio archives, court records, interview transcripts and personal recollections, James Raffan leads us through a multidimensional landscape of time, space and cultural memory ... Part geography, part anthropology, part memoir, part author introspection, Echo Maker charts a course through rugged lands, waters and ice that have defined the lifeways and pathways of a people much older than Canada itself.

-- "Marie Wilson, Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada"

About the Author

James Raffan, a friend and travelling companion of Craig Macdonald for more than forty years, is a bestselling author and one of Canada's most authoritative voices on canoes, wilderness travel, and the North. He lives in Eastern Ontario.