Mobilizing theory - Governing Transboundary Waters: Canada, the United States, and Indigenous Communities - page 36

Throughout the chapters that follow, I engage with literature related to the
politics of scale, border studies, and water governance to help understand the cultural
politics of transboundary water governance, particularly for Indigenous communities
in a postcolonial context. I explore how water governance can link to decoloniza-
tion and self-empowerment. I also show how performative and discursive tech-
niques help to actively rescale a region, challenge colonial boundaries, and also
work towards goals of self-governance.
The examples provided in this volume continue to challenge implicit assumptions
about the fixity of territorial scale, by analyzing the creation of social constructions
of virtual spaces through digital platforms. This is empowering particularly for
Indigenous communities whose goals of self-determination, self-governance,
environmental protection, and cultural revitalization often necessitate a reframing
or rescaling of fixed colonial boundaries to more traditional boundaries.
Box 2.1 Drawing the lines, treaty by treaty
The first treaty that helped define what is now known as the Canada-U.S.
international border was the Treaty of Paris . The 1783 Treaty marked the end
of the war between Great Britain and the separating colonies from the United
States. Under this Treaty, the 45th parallel established the border between
Lower Canada (Quebec) and New York State (including Vermont), while the
St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes became the boundary between
Upper Canada and the United States. For many years, this delineation
remained vague - and largely theoretical - due to the rugged and forested
territory and no clear boundary lines. However, the Jay Treaty of 1794 helped
articulate the boundary as a clear line, through the creation of the International
Boundary Commission. The Commission, which still exists today, was tasked
to survey and demarcate the 45th parallel - a task that proved more difficult
than expected due to rugged terrain, inclement weather, and basic survey
methods (Savelle, 1940; Barber, 1983).
It was not long after the Jay Treaty that the westward expansion of new-
comers led to the creation of a new treaty. The Convention of 1818 articulated
the boundary along the 49th parallel between Lake of the Woods (in what is
now Minnesota) and the Rocky Mountains (then known as the “Stony
Mountains”). However, to the west of the Rocky Mountains the 1818 Treaty
was more ambiguous, calling for “co-custody” of the territory that was referred
to as “Oregon Country” to the American settlers and “Columbia Department”
or “Columbia District” to the Hudson's Bay Company. During the period of
co-custody, settlers could claim land on behalf of American or British interests
(Savelle, 1940).