For Ontario Treaties Recognition Week, join Crystal Gail Fraser and Sara Komarnisky in conversation about their nationally bestselling book, Talk Treaty to Me.
About the book:
Treaties cover much of Canada. Some were established thousands of years ago, with Land and animals, and others date back to the time when Europeans first arrived in North America. These agreements make it possible for all of us to live, work, play, and profit on these Lands. Additionally, treaties have profoundly shaped the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. In Talk Treaty to Me, Crystal Gail Fraser and Sara Komarnisky untangle the complexities of treaties and set forth a path to a greater understanding of all our roles, rights, and responsibilities.
With a quick-reference timeline, maps, and black-and-white photographs throughout, Talk Treaty to Me concludes with a call to action and specific, tangible steps that all of us can take every day to support truth and reconciliation.
Dr. Crystal Gail Fraser is Gwichyà Gwich’in, originally from Inuvik and Dachan Choo Gèhnjik (Tree River) in the Northwest Territories. She is the granddaughter of Marka and Richard Bullock (maternal) and Gwen and Robert Fraser (paternal), and the daughter of Juliet Bullock and Bruce Fraser. Dr. Fraser is a historian and Associate Professor in the Department of History, Classics, & Religion and the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. Her research, teaching, and community work focus on histories of residential and day schooling in the North, Indigenous childhoods, and relationships between colonialism, education, genocide, and human rights in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Sara Komarnisky is an author, researcher, and public scholar who has published and presented on topics ranging from the lifeways of multigenerational families of Mexicans in Alaska, to art and craft made by Indigenous patients at tuberculosis hospitals, to community-driven health and wellbeing policy and programming, to 150 Acts of Reconciliation, and more recently, to an emerging art/research creation project exploring Northern practices of (social) repair. She has experience leading complex projects through from start to finish, with a focus on building and maintaining strong relationships while allowing for creativity, fun, and innovation throughout. Sara is of Ukrainian settler ancestry and grew up in Holden, Alberta. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia where she was a Vanier Scholar. She is excited about the potential of the future art centre because she thinks it can be a much needed intellectual and creative space in the NWT. She has lived in Sǫǫ̀mbak'è (Yellowknife) since 2018 with her husband and two children. Sara loves to garden, fish, ski, and paddle on local lands and waters.
Novel Idea will be onsite selling copies of Talk Treaty to Me: Understanding the Basics of Treaties and Land in Canada.
Light refreshments will be provided.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Interests & Lifelong Learning | Indigenous Cultures and Learning |
