Researching Your Aboriginal Ancestry at Library and Archives Canada

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

Participation of Aboriginal People in Military Activities

Elders and Aboriginal soldiers in the uniform of the CEF, ca. 1916. Photographer unknown. Library and Archives Canada, PA-041366. Private Tom Longboat, the Aboriginal long-distance runner, buying a paper from a French newspaper boy, 1917. Photographer unknown. Library and Archives Canada, PA-001479.

Many aboriginal people have participated in the Canadian Forces through the years. For example, they were among the more than 600,000 Canadians who enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War (1914–1918). Although it is not current practice to mention the aboriginal origin of a soldier in his military personnel file, some do mention it. The Soldiers of the First World War (1914–1918) database at Library and Archives Canada contains military personnel files. It can be searched by the names of individuals. In addition, several hundred thousand images of the attestation (enlistment) papers from those files have been scanned and are available online. Scanning will continue until all are available online.