this treaty has been wrinkled for more than 100 years: “celebrating” treaty 9 and challenging archival practice

join us on 27 november to hear sean smith, senior archivist archives of ontario, speak about "treaty 9: the james bay treaty" the presentation will begin at 7:30 pm. 

in 2013, the archives of ontario (ao) travelled with treaty 9 to moose factory. at the time, the request by the chief and council of mushkegowuk was seen as a unique and discreet situation and dealt with accordingly. over the last 18 months, though, ao staff have travelled with the treaty on three separate occasions.

sharing the treaty has not only become a significant point of engagement with indigenous communities in northern ontario, it has also challenged long held beliefs about archival practice and what it means to make records available.

since our first visit to moose factory, the ao has come to understand the importance of this document to indigenous communities in treaty 9 territories leading it to question its responsibility in not only preserving a significant record but in also making it available. this presentation will explore a number of questions related to the ao’s experiences in sharing treaty 9. it will also provide the ao with an opportunity get reacquainted with the heritage community in and around thunder bay, to share some of its recent initiatives and to explore ways we can be working together to reduce the distance between thunder bay and toronto. 

this presentation is part of the 2018-19 thunder bay historical museum society's lecture series sponsored by the department of history. since 1908, the thunder bay historical museum society has been regularly holding talks on a wide range of topics on the fourth tuesday of each month at the thunder bay museum (425 donald street east) from september to april. all presentations are free and open to the public.