Challenger Map Of B.C. Deserves Pride Of Place

It did have its supporters -- Mike Harcourt, Grace McCarthy, Bill Bennett, Bill Vander Zalm, Glen Clark, tourist bureaus, and on and on. But none have had enough influence to persuade the government of the day to save it. Notably, there has been a real absence of support from this province's artistic community. "The art people," Clapp said, "don't think of it as an artistic endeavour, but I'm saying it is just as artistic as a Bill Reid sculpture." It's an apt comparison. If this were a Reid piece, or any native artifact for that matter, there would be no question as to its preservation. Anthropologists and curators would clamour for its protection, while the professional multi-cult crowd, which champions every culture but one, would beat its drums in time until the map found its way to a museum. But the Challenger can't get no respect. It's seen as an oversized piece of kitsch, a populist sideshow exhibit that started out as a basement hobby project and has long outlived its relevance. Of course, none of that is true. http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=e24f150f-eb1a-4696-ac7f-d7459547522c [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on April 18, 2007]

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