Records Relating to Aboriginal Peoples

Children playing at Big Trout Lake,
Northern Ontario, January 1956
John Macfie
Black and white negative
Reference Code: C 330-13-0-0-172
Archives of Ontario, I0000499

The Archives of Ontario holds many records relating to Aboriginal Peoples. Only a limited number of these records are available through our Microfilm Interloan Service.

Please see our Aboriginal People in the Archives: A Guide to Sources in the Archives of Ontario for a more complete listing of records relating to aboriginal peoples.

The following records are currently available on Interloan:

• Solomon Y. Chesley Fonds - (F 451)
• A.E. Williams/United Indian Bands Of Chippewas and Mississaugas Fonds (F 4337)

This microfilm consists of 5 journals written by Solomon Y. Chesley, who was at various points in his career, Superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, Member of the House of Assembly and Mayor of Cornwall. The journals emphasize Chesley's career as an Indian agent. They document his travels to various reserves in Ontario, negotiations and mediation with the aboriginal leaders, ceremonies and customs. They also document Chesley's opinions on various significant events in mid 19th century Canadian and international history, including the debates on the Clergy Reserves, Representation by Population, the Fenian Raids, and the movement of the Canadian capital.

For a more complete description of these records click here to visit our Archives Descriptive Database.

These records are available on microfilm reel MS 2640. To order this reel you may:

• Consult the reel(s) in our reading room at 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd., Toronto.
• From the Interlibrary Loan Department of your public library, order reel MS 2640. These reels cannot leave the borrowing library, so make sure to order them from a library that has a microfilm reader.

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This microfilm consist of documents collected by A. E. Williams, a collector and researcher of Canadian aboriginal history. The vast majority were created by or collected on behalf of the United Indian Bands of the Chippewas and Mississaugas, an ad-hoc grass roots movement of Ontario First Nations to assert their claims regarding land, monies owed under the 1850 Robinson Treaties, and unceded hunting and fishing rights. The most active bands were the Chippewas of Christian Island, Georgina Island and Rama, and the Mississaugas of Rice Lake, Mud Lake and Scugog, and the Hiawatha. There is evidence that bands from the North Shore of Lake Huron and even as far as Fort William participated in this movement. The movement was operative from 1903 to sometime around 1920.

For a more complete description of these records click here to visit our Archives Descriptive Database.

Use the table below to identify the microfilm that you require. Use the "Find" command on your web browser to find every listing of a specific band or location or link directly to the listings for one of the following series:

• G. Mills McClurg Correspondence
• G. Mills McClurg - Research Notes and Transcripts
• United Bands - Accounts and Census Lists
• United Bands - Minutes and Resolutions
• United Bands - Legal Documents
• United Bands - Miscellaneous
• John Monague Correspondence
• Law Firms' Correspondence
• Walter Simon Correspondence
• Indian Office/Department of Indian Affairs
• Miscellaneous Historical Documents
• A E. Williams Research Materials
• Published Materials

Once you have identified the reel(s) that you require you may:

• Consult the reel(s) in our reading room at 134 Ian Macdonald Blvd., Toronto.
• Order the reel(s) from the Interlibrary Loan Department of your public library, quoting the appropriate MS number. These reels cannot leave the borrowing library, so make sure to order them from a library that has a microfilm reader.

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G. MILLS McCLURG - CORRESPONDENCE (SERIES F 4337-1)

This microfilm consists of files of correspondence to and from G. Mills McClurg as Secretary and Treasurer of the United Bands. As there was no original order, grouping of the units has for the most part been imposed.

For a more complete description of these records click here to visit our Archives Descriptive Database.

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This microfilm contains transcripts of documents pertaining to First Nations and Treaties in the British Public Record Office and Library and Archives Canada, and notes taken by McClurg in the course of his research on behalf of the United Bands

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This microfilm contains accounting records, receipts and, in a few instances, lists of individual subscribers and band censuses, kept by G. Mill McClurg in his capacity as Treasurer of the United Bands. Most of the series concerns McClurg's March 1904 request for lists of subscribers to the United Band movement. The arrangement is alphabetical, with the subscription and census files being subdivided by band name. The census records, although somewhat sparse, provide evidence of band membership, and were likely used in determining both voter eligibility and the Indian status of individuals.

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This microfilm consists of minutes and resolutions of the United Bands and of individual Band Councils. Arrangement is alphabetical by band or organization and chronologically within each band.

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This microfilm consists of legal documents, including power of attorney authorizing McClurg and Hunter and Hunter to represent the bands regarding land boundaries, arreared monies, hunting and fishing rights, and appeals for the franchise. Many include chiefs signatures and contain seals.

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This microfilm consists of draft by-laws, claims for unceded territory and recollective statements by elderly Indians regarding boundaries for hunting and fishing grounds.

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This microfilm contains correspondence of John Monague, Chief of the Beausoleil/Christian Island Chippewas and Secretary for the United Bands.

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This microfilm contains the correspondence by two Toronto law firms, Hunter and Hunter, and later Goodman and Galbraith, with various individuals, including band chiefs and politicians. Of particular interest is Goodman and Galbraith correspondence with federal Members of Parliament in 1911 after the election of the Borden government, and the rejection of the United Bands authority by the Department of Indian Affairs.

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This microfilm contains correspondence between Walter Simon, who replaced McClurg as General Secretary of the United Band movement in 1912, and the chiefs about routine United Bands administrative matters.

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This microfilm consists of correspondence, legal documents and accounts from the Department of Indian Affairs and its pre-confederation predecessors, the Indian Offices. Of particular interest are some of the early letters from Superintendents of Indian Affairs such as T.A. Anderson and W.R. Bartlett describing aboriginal peoples during the Canada West period. In the T.A. Anderson file (F 4337-10-0-3) are two letters from chiefs including totem signatures. A number of the letters are between various Superintendents and their immediate subordinate officials and Chief George Paudash of the Hiawatha/Rice Lake reserve. Other letters are to George Snake of the Snake (Georgina) Island reserve. A significant number of documents deal with presents promised the Indians under treaties. There is a letter requesting that all arms stockpiled by the Indians in their assistance in putting down the 1837 rebellion be turned in (F 4337-10-0-2). There are also letters thanking the Indians on behalf of the British government for their assistance in building Brock's monument, and for fighting alongside the British in the War of 1812. As well, there is a letter of complaint by the Snake Island Indians regarding the conduct of Samuel Peter Jarvis, Chief Superintendent of the Indian Department. (see also A.E. Williams series, F 4337-12, regarding his research on the incident). 

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This microfilm consists of correspondence, treaties, memorials, historical recollections and accounts. Of particular interest are mid-19th century transcripts in English and Ojibway of the 1818 Gun Shot Treaty; a totem-signed agreement from 1852 between the chiefs of Rice lake, Scugog and Mud Lake; memorials and petitions by the Rice Lake reserve to Governor- General Edwin Walker Head; an 1838 letter from a grandson of King George III, Augustus d' Este to Chief John Sunday; correspondence of Chief Padaush of Rice Lake; and an 1812 transcription by Colonel Robert McDoel of a speech by Thomas Carron, Chief of the Menomini Indians.

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This microfilm consists of correspondence, notes and newspaper clippings. The correspondence is with Chief Lorenzo Big Canoe of Georgina Island about McClurg and the United Bands, and with the Department of Indian Affairs and the National Archives about archival records.

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This microfilm consists of printed government materials pertaining to aboriginal issues, collected by A.E. Williams. Included are Legislative Assembly and House of Commons debates, Bills and circulars, many from the pre-confederation period. Included are bills regarding the franchise and hunting and fishing rights.