Teaching Indigenous Education

Welcome!
This section is designed to help you find research and primary sources related to Indigenous treaties. You’ll find tips for searching, recommended databases, and key resources for understanding historical and contemporary treaties involving Indigenous Peoples.

Why Focus on Treaties?

Treaties are foundational to understanding Indigenous–settler relationships, rights, and governance across Canada. However, treaty research can be complex because historical documents, legal texts, and Indigenous perspectives may be scattered across different collections. This guide helps you locate accurate and respectful resources.

Getting Started

• Search the library homepage and other databases for treaties using recommended keywords and subject headings (see the "Search Tips" section).

• Explore major resources like treaty texts, maps, government reports, and Indigenous interpretations.

• Use the "Treaty Information" box for direct links to treaty collections.

• Ask for help! The Library help chat can support your research needs.

When researching treaties, it's important to seek out Indigenous interpretations and scholarship alongside government or legal documents. Where possible, use the specific name of a treaty (e.g., Treaty 6, Jay Treaty) and include community names to find more focused research.

How to search:

Think of your search terms!

• If you want just a few good results, use one or two terms
• If you want to make your search wider, use more related terms.

Try, for example: "first nation*'" or aboriginal* or native* or Indigenous

Remember, the names or spelling of Indigenous nations or communities may vary, and names may change over time. The names communities use for themselves may be different from how they are referred to in English.

In many databases: 

• "quotation marks" keep your search terms together (e.g. "first nations" will search for instances where those two words appear next to each other). 
• *asterisks can help you search for words that have the same root (e.g. indigen* searches indigenous, indigenize, indigeneity etc. BUT will also search indigent).

Try looking up the name of the treaty in the library catalogue, or the names of the parties to the treaty as title keywords.

Try for example:

• Title: Treaty No. 6
• Title: Treaty 8  Subject: Indians of North America
• Title: Cree and treaty  Subject: Indians of North America

Language matters. Search using multiple terms such as "Indigenous," "First Nations," "Métis," "Inuit," or "Native American" to capture different perspectives and materials. When possible, also search using nation-specific names (e.g., Haudenosaunee, Cree, Anishinaabe).

Government of Canada [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Some suggestions for subject terms and subject headings:

• Native peoples Canada Treaties
• Indigenous peoples Canada Treaties
• Indians of North America Alberta Treaties
• Native peoples Canada Claims
• Native peoples Canada Constitutional Law
• Native peoples Canada Government Relations
• Métis Claims
• Indians of North America Canada Treaties
• Inuit Claims
• Land transfer
• Land tenure