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Let's Talk Treaty! A Conversation with Crystal Gail Fraser and Sara Komarnisky
Location: Schmeichel Entrepreneurship and Innovation Building (SEI), Grand Hall (room 1110)
Date: Monday, November 23, 2026
Time: 1:30-3:30 p.m. with reception to follow
Save the date: Registration information and additional details to come
Save the date: Registration information and additional details to come
Join us for a conversation with historian Crystal Gail Fraser and anthropologist Sara Komarnisky, co-authors of Talk Treaty to Me: Understanding the Basics of Treaties and Land in Canada (HarperCollins, 2026).
Treaties are ongoing relationships that continue to shape nearly every aspect of life in Canada, yet many of us were never taught what they actually mean. In this accessible and engaging new book, Fraser and Komarnisky trace treaty-making from agreements among Indigenous Peoples long before European contact, through the era of Crown treaties, to present-day land claims, self-government agreements, and the ongoing work of reconciliation. Along the way, they take on questions of Indigenous sovereignty, Métis scrip, unceded territory, land acknowledgements, and Land Back, offering readers a clear-eyed view of treaty relationships and the roles, rights, and responsibilities that come with living on treaty and Indigenous lands.
The authors will share how this book came to be, why understanding treaties matters for every person living in Canada, and facilitate a discussion of what meaningful next steps toward truth, reconciliation, and respectful treaty relationships can look like. Treaties are not only historical agreements but ongoing relationships that continue to shape responsibilities among Indigenous Peoples, governments, institutions, and residents today.
The event is an invitation to think locally. Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, and Lūnaapéewak, and on lands connected with the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum between the Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee, as well as the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796. The region is also home to neighbouring communities, including Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, Oneida Nation of the Thames, and Munsee-Delaware Nation. The conversation will invite us to draw connections between this broader history and the treaty relationships and responsibilities that continue to shape the region around Western University.
Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Dellelce Family Bookstore, and a reception will follow the conversation.
About the authors:
- Crystal Gail Fraser is Gwichyà Gwich'in and an associate professor of history and Native studies at the University of Alberta. She is the author of the award-winning book By Strength, We Are Still Here: Indigenous Peoples and Indian Residential Schooling in Inuvik, Northwest Territories.
- Sara Komarnisky is a researcher and public scholar based in Yellowknife, NT. She is the author of Mexicans in Alaska: An Ethnography of Mobility, Place, and Transnational Life.
Organized by the Faculty of Social Science, the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, and the Faculty of Science.