HISTORY & MÉTIS HISTORIC TEXTS
Since some years, one attends a renewal of interest with regard to the earths granted by the federal government to the Métis of the Manitoba and the former Territories of the Northwest. The files created by the commissions of Métis certificates, and by the ministry of the inside in the setting of his activities of administration of the policies on the federal earths, are consulted today by numerous people. The documents don a particular importance however in two domains: the debate that surrounds the allegations made by the Métis to the effect that the federal government didn't respect their rights as autochthonous people; and the domestic antecedents, notably in the case of people that tries to be recognized again according to the Law on the Indians.
As archivist, I am encouraged by the attention granted to these documents, but I must admit that I feel a certain concern for the people who undertake some research in Métis certificates. Unfortunately, the documents making state of the formalities executed by the various commissions about the certificates are not classified; it is a problem with which the national Archives of Canada should have composed when the documents confided them in the years 1950, 1960 and 1970. The methods of conservation of the documents greatly varied from a commission to the other; this situation, semidetached to the methods inadequate of management of files adopted by the ministry of the inside, can entail a big confusion at the people who make some research for a first time.
For example, it is not rare that the researchers hold for acquirement that a demand of certificate will be in one the four sets carrying the enrollment "demands of certificates" in the files of the ministry of the inside - RG 15, D sets II 8a, affidavits, 1870-1885,; D set II 8b, demands, 1885,; D set II 8c, demands, 1886-1906,; and D set II 8d, demands, district of the Mackenzie stream. Strength is to confess that this supposition is not unreasonable, but the reality is all other. Numerous demands of certificates are also in the three registers of correspondence created by the Direction of the federal earths - that are kept now by the national Archives of Canada in the following files: main office of the correspondence, RG set 15 D II 1; files on the Law on the Manitoba, RG set 15 D II 2; and files of the Métis, RG set 15 D II 3. He seems that the employees of the ministry often withdrew demands of the four sets of special documents and placed them in individual files of the correspondence registers. It usually occurred when a demand required a particular attention. The individual file contained all documents that the ministry detained in relation with the demand of regulation, including the demand of certificate.
A part of the problem with regard to the relative documents to the certificates probably comes of the lack of information. Until now, the major part of research was about the government's politics; one doesn't have anything practically says methods of administration of the ministry, that is to say the process established by this last to create and to use the relative documents to the certificates. Evidently, without this context, the researchers can determine with difficulty where they must look for the documents of which they have need, then, when they found them, how they should interpret them and use them.
The guide of the archives of the certificates of the Métis has been written to facilitate research in the federal files about the commissions of Métis certificates. This guide doesn't want to be exhaustive or definitive; it is rather about a guide destined to orient the researchers toward the obvious archivistic sources to the national Archives of Canada in the group of archives 15 (RG 15), that contains the documents of the ministry of the inside. As main organism responsible of the administration and the enhancement of all federal earths and the natural resources in the former Territories of the Northwest, the ministry of the inside played a primordial role in the establishment of the federal politics concerning certificates, the creation and the management of the commissions on the certificates and the administration of the decisions of every commission with regard to the assignments made to every Métis family. Considering the mandate of every commission, it goes without saying that the documents kept at the national Archives are part of the group of archives created for the ministry of the inside (RG 15).
We hope that the guide of the archives of the certificates of the Métis will help the researchers to know the files of the RG 15 better and will give them the necessary information to consult, of autonomous way, of other funds of the national Archives. For example, the Division of the manuscripts of the national Archives regroups the personal documents of several Prime ministers and ministers who exercised a certain influence on the relative federal politics to the business of the Métis. Among these documents, let's note those of Sir John A. Macdonald (MG 26A), Prime minister of Canada of 1867 to 1873 and 1878 to 1891, secretary of the Interior of 1878 to 1883 and general superintendent of the business of the Savages of 1878 to 1887; Alexander Mackenzie (MG 29A), Prime minister of Canada of 1873 to 1878; David Laird (MG 27 I D10S), secretary of the Interior and superintendent of the business of the Savages of 1873 to 1876, lieutenant-governor of the Territories of the Northwest of 1876 to 1881 and commissioner of the Indian business for the Territories of the Northwest, the Manitoba and Keewatin, 1898.
Since the concession of certificates was one of the main methods used by the federal government to abolish the autochthonous fundamental rights, it could be essential to establish if a person or his forebears accepted a certificate, in order to determine Métis statute. Therefore, the documents of the ministry of the Indian Business (RG 10) contain some files, mainly the "thriller novel" (RG 10, set B 3b), that make reference to individual cases of acceptance of certificates and the repercussions of this acceptance on the rights descended of treaties. These files explain the people who had accepted some certificates as how adhered to the treaties again. They consign the general development of the federal politics concerning certificates after the dissolution of the ministry of the inside, in 1936. Besides, the set B 8m (RG 10) contains some alphabetic indexes of the demands of abandonment of the rights descended of treaties to accept some certificates (1870-1920), the lists of the Métis that abandoned their rights descended of treaties (1885-1926), the lists of the Métis that received some certificates and recovered their rights descended of treaties later (1885-1910) and of other documents having milked to the payments of other accounts (1884-1903). The researchers who want to study the governmental politics on Métis certificates should consult the indexes and the relative reference marks obviously also in these sources.
As I already mentioned it, the present guide carries mainly on the documents created by the ministry of the inside for numerous commissions allowed to count the Métis in the west of Canada. This process of census has been undertaken by the federal government in order to abolish the fundamental rights that the Métis could detain because of their autochthonous statute. The RG 15 contains other documents, that note the process of delivery of certificates; however, these documents concern no commission in particular, it is why they have not been included. In some cases, these other documents are about a bigger range of certificates that those that have been delivered to the Métis. For example, RG 15, set B 3 (volumes 1754 to 1760) contains the big books and the registers of the certificates created by the Direction of the accounting of the ministry of the inside. These documents allowed the accountants of the ministry to keep informed of the delivery and the acquisition of all types of certificates, including those that had been delivered to the Métis residents and the military staff who participated in the rebellion of 1885 and the Boer war. The big books serve to get information on people (purchasers and grantors) that purchased these certificates.
In the same way, the documents of the set D II 8 I, RG 15 (volumes 1424 to 1474) contain a set of transfers of earths. These documents served to the transfer of property rights (by the assignor) to one second part (the grantor), before the presentation of the declarations of homestead, and were used in all situations questioning of the federal earths, including those that had been acquired by the slant of certificates of Métis. Another set of documents (RG 15, III 14) contains several reports of judge Robert H. Myers, that have been named according to the C.P decree. 1148 in date of June 21, 1905, to investigate following complaints deposited by Métis residing to the United States against R.C. Macdonald for false representation. Lastly, the way whose federal government treated Métis certificates - among others - made the object of a complete analysis by the three royal commissions that have been created to make investigation on the transfer of the administration of the natural resources, of the state to the three provinces of the Prairies. The documents established by the ministry of the inside to push the position of the federal government are in the sets TO 2k, TO 21 and TO 3 (RG 15), and the documents created by the commissions are in the RG 33. The documents concerning the Saskatchewan are in the RG 33-50, those of the Alberta, in the RG 33-51, and those of the Manitoba, in the RG 33-52. Of course, the people who want to study the process of delivery of certificates in detail should examine the relative descriptions attentively to these documents in the indexes of the RG 15 and the RG 33.
Some of my colleagues of the national Archives of Canada dedicated a lot of time and of energy to the development of the guide of the archives of the certificates of the Métis; others undertook various works in order to return the documents more accessible to the researchers. Maggie MacLelland and Nancy Counds computerized several of the old instruments of research that were on support paper (15-16, 15-17, 15-19, 15-20, 15-21 and 15-22), Yvan Goudreau participated in the reading of tests; Freda Thompson and Patty Anderson contributed to the conversion of the numeric files in MINISIS format. Bennett McCardle and Bill Russell accepted to read the manuscript gently and suggested some improvements. Antonio Lechasseur, Martin Tétreault, Jean-Stéphen Piché, Norman Fortier, and Dennis Boulé published the French translation. Doug Payette, Art George and Ross MacKays supervised various aspects of the transfer on microfilms of sets of the central register of the Direction of the federal earths (RG 15, D II 1). Finally, Simon Snow, Yvan Goudreau, John Armstrong and Carl Bouchard undertook the works necessary to the update of the entries of the RG 15 and RG 68 in the MINISIS data base for the title deeds. I am anxious to thank particularly Bruce Wilson for his/her/its unshakable support all along this enterprise and Doug Whyte that accepted to share his office with dusty registers and a loud colleague gently.
Jeffrey S. Murray, Archivist,
Division of the governmental archives,
National archives of Canada
August 26, 1994
Source:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/0201200112_f.html
630 French Métis of the Canadian west:
5390 affidavit of Métis of the west:
http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1 =
5391 script of affidavit of the west:
http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca/netacgi /