Indigenous people played key role in Confederation, says U of T researcher

October 28, 2016 by Department of History Staff

A U of T researcher and his team will be the first to mine a historical archive that promises to shed new light on the critical role of Indigenous communities in the process of Confederation.

Brian Gettler, an assistant professor of history at U of T Mississauga, will target more than 40,000 pages of documents from the 1860s and 1870s produced by Indian Affairs – the predecessor to today’s department of Indigenous and northern affairs, which is the governing body responsible for managing relations with Canada's First Nations communities.

Until now, these archives have been largely unexplored by researchers. Find out more in a feature article published by U of T News.