Robert J. Talbot is originally from the Treaty 4 area, having grown up in Regina. He first became interested in the numbered treaties while an undergraduate student, when a chance encounter with former Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations president Perry Bellegarde convinced him that the treaties were more significant than his high school history texts had let on.Mr. Talbot is an Ottawa-based historian with an extensive interest in Aboriginal/governmental relations. He has been a researcher for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Canadian Heritage, has presented papers on Aboriginal and Canadian history at a number of important academic conferences, and has published in Mens: Revue de l'histoire intelectuelle de l'amérique française on the topic of anglophone-francophone relations in Canada. He is currently working toward the completion of a PhD in History at the University of Ottawa, where he has also taught Canadian history.