Researching Your Aboriginal Ancestry at Library and Archives Canada

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

School Records

Aboriginal students at St. Paul's Indian Industrial School, Middlechurch, Manitoba, ca. 1901. Photographer unknown. Library and Archives Canada, PA-182251.

School files may contain such useful information as a pupil's name, age, gender, band number, parents' names, religion, agent's recommendation, medical examinations, grade of enrolment, level achieved and even police report in the cases of truants and runaways. Individual information is documented in many file blocks.

Cecilia Jeffrey Boarding School, Kenora District, Admission and Discharges, 1902-1945. Library and Archives Canada, RG 10, vol. 11396.

File information can be obtained from the Government of Canada Files database using a combination of keywords such as the name of the school (for residential schools) or agency (for day schools) along with words such as school, admission, discharge, returns, report or application. General information on school records can be obtained from the General Inventory database using the above keywords at the series and government records levels. Unfortunately, there are few individual student files in RG 10. In the cases of residential schools, the name of the school must be known for a search. Many of these documents have access restrictions.