Aboriginal Peoples

Montagnais People making a bark canoe, Murray Bay (Pointe-au-Pic), Quebec, ca. 1863. Photographer: Alexander Henderson. Library and Archives Canada, PA-149709.

In order to determine if one of your ancestors was of Native origin, you should first compile a Family Tree. Census indicate each individual'sethnic origin. Some mention of Aboriginal individuals can be found in Parish Registers, Land, Military Records and Publications.

Research at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada holds records of the Department of Indian Affairs (RG 10) dating mainly from the late 1800s. The records are usually arranged by band, agency and district.

For information about searching Native ancestry, we recommend the following:

• Researching Your Aboriginal Ancestry at Library and Archives Canada
  This is a new guide designed specifically for the genealogist.
  
  
• Aboriginal Peoples - Guide to the Records of the Government of Canada
  This guide contains an overview of Aboriginal History in Canada.
  
  
• Aboriginal Resources and Services
  This Web page provides links to additional sources and to libraries and other organizations that hold records and books relating to Aboriginal Peoples.
  
  
• Aboriginal Documentary Heritage: Historical Collections of the Canadian Government
  This Web exhibition recounts first-hand information illustrating the complex and often contentious relationship between the Canadian government and Canada's Aboriginal people from the late 1700s to the mid-20th century.

Research Online

Native Soldiers - Foreign Battlefields [www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/other/native]

Useful Web Addresses

Project Naming
An ongoing project to identify Inuit people represented in Library and Archives Canada's collections of photographs.

Red and Black Series [www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/red-black/index-e.html]

Treaties, Surrenders and Agreements [www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/treaties/index-e.html]

Recherche dans des sources publiées

Tracing your Aboriginal Ancestors in the Prairie Provinces: A Guide to the Records and How to Use Them, édité par Laura M. Hanowski, publié par la Saskatchewan Genealogical Society, 2006.

Research in Other Institutions

For Newfoundland and Labrador, consult the Aboriginal Ancestry [www.therooms.ca/archives/aboriginal_ancestry.asp] page on the Web site of the Rooms Provincial Archives Division.

Use AVITUS to find other Web sites about Aboriginal Ancestry such as guides produced by Nova Scotia, Ontario and Manitoba Provincial Archives.

Related Topics

Land Grants to Veterans