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Ontario Metis project reveals root ancestors

Material could help people apply for Metis citizenship or Harvester Cards
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The Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO) has released the results of its Root Ancestors Project following five years of research involving well over 100,000 historical records.

The project identified hundreds of Metis root ancestors from recognized historic Metis communities within Ontario, including northern Lake Superior, Rainy River/Lake of the Woods/Treaty 3, Abitibi Inland and several others.

It was initiated after a Metis Nation of Ontario General Assembly decision in 2011 to create "a list of root families that people could simply trace to" and "a compilation of easily accessible source materials relevant to genealogical research" to help individuals apply for Metis citizenship or Harvester Cards.

The project has resulted in the largest collection of publicly available genealogical data on Ontario Metis.

In a news release, MNO noted that, unlike in western Canada, Metis land and money scrip was, for the most part, not issued in Ontario. It said the extensive Metis scrip records available to Metis in the Prairies for completing their genealogies don't assist the descendants of many historic Metis communities in Ontario in completing their own genealogical records.

Ontario Metis rely on different documents that identify Metis families in the historic record.

The researchers were able to identify over 5,000 descendants of the root ancestors who lived in seven well-recognized Metis communities.

However, MNO said it continues to undertake additional research for the potential identification of other historic communities as well as for new information that may expand the existing communities.

Details of the project outcome were released on Saturday, August 19 at the MNO annual general assembly in Kenora.

 





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