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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Membership and Commutation Files

The membership files document all aspects of membership including acceptance, re-entry, refusal, transfer, loss of status by marriage and so on. A commutation is a legal action provided for in the Indian Act by which an Indian woman who married a non-Indian relinquished her right to annuities or any other regular cash payments by accepting a lump sum payment, ending in this way her financial connections to a band. Most of these records are arranged by the name of the agency; the names of bands are also mentioned in some descriptions.

Inventory descriptions relating to membership and commutation can be obtained from the General Inventory database using the keywords "membership" or "commutation" at the series and government records levels, and file information can be obtained from the Government of Canada Files database using keywords such as the names of bands or agencies as explained in Part II of this guide.

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