From June to October of 2017, the original document of Treaty 7 came home, 140 years after it was signed. An ongoing exhibit at Fort Calgary examines the lasting impact of this foundational agreement.
Treaty 7 covers most of southern Alberta. It is an agreement between the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, Tsuut’ina, Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Wesley First Nations and the Government of Canada for access to land for settlement. The negotiations took place over several days, and involved both spoken promises and a written agreement. Some of the promises were broken the day after treaty was signed. The exhibit highlights the differences between oral and written histories of the event, the treaty itself, and what it means today.
The National Archives gave final approval for the loan of the original document to Fort Calgary a month before the exhibit was to open, resulting in a very tight timeline.
Role: Interpretive planning, research, writing
