Genealogy and Family History

How to Begin

Guides

Researching Your Aboriginal Ancestry at Library and Archives Canada

Part II : Using the Library and Archives Canada Web Site

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To View the Outline of RG 10 Contents in the General Inventory database

1. Go to ARCHIVED - General Inventory database.
   (Note: It is recommended that researchers review the online help pages describing the features available in the a ARCHIVED - General Inventory database before beginning a search. To view these help pages, click on the Online Help button on the right-hand side of the ARCHIVED - General Inventory box.)
2. Click on Search the database to obtain the database's search screen.
3. In the field labelled "Title", type "Indian and Inuit Affairs Program sous-fonds".
4. In the section labelled "To limit the search", click on the toggle buttons for "Fonds/collections" and "Government Records".
5. Click the "Submit query" button.
6. One reference will come up on the screen. Click on the button to the right of the number "1".

The inventory description that then comes up on the screen gives the administrative history of RG 10, describes its scope and contents and provides the reference numbers and additional information. You can click on any of the items listed in the contents section for a description of that item and related finding aids. For example, clicking on Headquarters central registry system brings up a description of that series and a list of its contents. Clicking on the sub-series Black Series brings up a description of that series. Under "Finding Aid", electronic, paper and microform finding aids are described. The electronic finding aid is FA 10-13. You can use this type of information to initiate a search in the ARCHIVED - Government of Canada Files database.

The Web exhibition ARCHIVED - Aboriginal Documentary Heritage: Historical Collections of the Canadian Government 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.

The website presents three thematic sections with essays and selected documents about the Red and Black Series (the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs' administrative records of Aboriginal people from 1872 to the 1950s), Treaties, Surrenders and Agreements, and Aboriginal Soldiers in the First World War. This phase of the project features searchable databases of digitized records from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs (RG 10) fonds and the soldiers of the First World War. It includes records for the majority of the Red Series (documents dealing with Eastern Canadian locations in volumes 1855 to 2343 on microfilm reels C-11103 to C-11204), and the entire 524 records that form the Treaties, Surrenders and Agreements in the collection of Library and Archives Canada (LAC).

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