Canadian Genealogy Centre

How to Begin

Guides

Researching Your Aboriginal Ancestry at Library and Archives Canada

Part I: Researching Your Aboriginal Genealogy at Library and Archives Canada

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Status Indians

Under the Indian Act, an Indian is "a person who, pursuant to this Act, is registered as an Indian or is entitled to be registered as an Indian". The rules for eligibility for registration have changed often over the years.

Jurisdiction for status Indians has been exercised under the Indian Act through the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and its predecessor agencies. Therefore, most information on status Indians is in the archival records of this department. These records are called the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development fonds, and include the Indian and Inuit Affairs Program sous-fonds or Record Group (RG) 10. A brief description of the contents of RG 10 is available online and in a paper copy at Library and Archives Canada. (See Part II of this guide for detailed instructions on searching the RG 10 inventory on the Library and Archives Canada Web site.) Transcripts or digitized images of the actual documents in the RG 10 holdings are not yet available on the Library and Archives Canada Web site.

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