History Matters: Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples Past and Present

Heritage Toronto is pleased to present an exploration of the latest archaeological insights into the lives of Indigenous people in Southern Ontario prior to contact with Europeans.

A panel discussion called Before Ontario: Archaeology and the Province’s First Peoples will take place on Wed Apr 02, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Toronto Reference Library Atrium, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON Phone: 416-395-5577.

Join the editors and some of the contributors to Before Ontario: The Archaeology of a Province (2013) for a panel discussion. Panelists include:

· Dr. Marit Munson

· Dr. Susan Jamieson

· Dr. Anne Keenleyside (Trent)

· Dr. Ron Williamson of Archaeological Services Inc.

· Chief Kris Nahrgang of the Kawartha Nishnawbe First Nation

· Dr. Neal Ferris (Western Ontario)

· Dr. Andrew Stewart of Strata Consulting

The panel will be moderated by Shawn Micallef, a noted journalist and Toronto Public Library’s Writer-in-Residence in Fall 2013.

This panel discussion is presented in collaboration with http://activehistory.ca and Heritage Toronto at http://heritagetoronto.org

Dr. Charles Marius Barbeau Honoured in Oklahoma

The Museum of Civilization, located in Ottawa, has received word that the Sam Noble Museum in Norman, Oklahoma, is honouring the legacy of Dr. Charles Marius Barbeau with a special exhibition called “The Gathering of Traditions: A Centennial Celebration”. It features objects and photographs from the Barbeau collections at the Museum of Civilization.


The press release says that “Dr. Barbeau, who travelled to the state one hundred years ago to document the culture of its Huron people. The materials he collected—now housed in the Canadian Museum of Civilization—represent a unique historical record that is helping descendants reconnect with their heritage.

Barbeau travelled to Oklahoma in 1911 and 1912. He was then working for the Geological Survey of Canada, studying the Aboriginal cultures of Eastern Canada. In Ontario, he met a Huron elder named Mary McKee who told him about her relatives in Oklahoma. She urged Barbeau to go there to learn more about the Huron culture.

He did so, meeting members of the Wyandotte Nation and Seneca-Cayuga tribe. Armed with an early recording device, he captured their language, legends, and songs on wax cylinders. He also took photographs and detailed field notes, and purchased some of their belongings. He returned to Canada with a priceless cultural record. By accessing those collections, members of the Wyandotte Nation and Seneca-Cayuga tribe have learned long-forgotten details about their ancient culture.

He received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University, and was among the first graduates in the new discipline of Anthropology. He also received many awards and honours in his lifetime and posthumously. In 1985, he was recognized as a “person of national historic importance” by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada”.

To see more about the exhibit at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman, Oklahoma go to www.snomnh.ou.edu/exhibits

To read more about Dr. Barbeau, go to Wyandotte Nation: Preserving the future of our past! at www.wyandotte-nation.org/traditions/dr-charles-marius-barbeau

Aboriginal Records Requested

Researcher and writer Janice Nickerson needs help gathering illustrative examples for a soon-to-be published guide to Aboriginal genealogical research in Central and Eastern Canada.

She will pay $25 per document to anyone who can send me a copy of a civil registration, will or estate record, newspaper Item, school record, land and property record, notarial record from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, in which an Aboriginal person is featured, preferably explicitly identified as such.

She also needs non-church documents from Quebec, and newspaper items, school records, or land and property records for Ontario.

She only needs one of each type of document for each province.

The deadline is January 25th.

Please contact Janice directly for details at janice@uppercanadagenealogy.com, or call 416.920.2206.

She can also be contacted by mail at:

Janice Nickerson
Upper Canada Genealogy
Suite 2807, 33 Isabella Street
Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2P7
www.uppercanadagenealogy.com

Library and Archives Canada Celebrates Human Rights Anniversary

The Library and Archives Canada (LAC)--in a joint partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR)--acknowledged the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th.

A Canadian, John Humphrey, wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 with the encouragement of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of the U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The CMHR has embarked on its first virtual exhibition entitled, "Everybody Has the Rights: a Canadian and The Words that Changed the World", and the LAC has been key in the launch of this inaugural exhibition.

As the press release says, "The LAC identified archival records, offered interpretive captions for each document, digitized documents for the inaugural exhibit and provided advisory services and support for copyright permission requests."

There are four area in which the LAC website can provide you with information on human rights, and they are -

1. The Chinese Head Tax - You can find original certificates and registers of Chinese immigration and links to libraries and institutions if you go to www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/northern-star/index-e.html.

2. Black History - You can go to the "Under A Northern Star" webpage and read the historical papers of former slaves, read about the events being held at the LAC during Black Heritage Month. or see the photo of Africville, the Black community that once was part of Halifax before it was torn down in the 1960s.

3. Ukrainian History - There are immigration documents such as the passenger lists and land grants which provide a picture of what life was like from 1914 to 1939. They can be viewed at
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/framingcanada/026020-3500-e.html.

4. Aboriginal History - There are treaties records, Band and Agencies information, Government of Canada records, the database of Indian Reserves, Jesuit Records, Métis genealogy and the Project Naming web project on www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aboriginal/index-e.html.

5. And you can go to the Canadian Genealogy Centre and view all the information there is there in a genealogical context in both official languages www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/index-e.html

"The Last Hundred Days" of WWI

Do you know that on November 11th, Canada will mark 90 years since the First World War ended?

More than 100,000 Canadians fought in that war and this year, the period from August 8th to the signing of the armistice on November 11th will be called "The Last Hundred Days."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement (08/08/08) that "Over 'The Last Hundred Days', Canadian soldiers advanced 130 km and 30 Canadians and Newfoundlanders earned the Victorian Cross."

If you are searching for your WWI ancestor, the best place to start your search is at the Canadian Genealogy Centre at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/022/022-909.006-e.html>.

There you will see the 600,000 personal records of Canadians who enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).

If you enter the last name and the first name of your ancestor in the search engine, you will see the actual enlistment papers that your relative signed - the enlist papers that got him into WWI.

Also on the site is a section devoted to the Aboriginal Soldiers, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and Newfoundland Forestry Corps, the Air Force and the Navy. (Some of these files may not be online - check with the LAC first to see if they are, or have to be, borrowed since they would be on microfilm.)

If you would like, you can also go to the Veterans Affairs Canada <www.vac-acc.gc.ca> site for information about the graves and memorials of the 116,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders who died.

The site contains digital images of photographs and personal memorabilia about individual Canadians.