Treaty Resources Guide

To find materials specific to treaties and treaty relationships try looking up the name of the treaty in the Library collections using the Nipissing Library Search or Canadore Library Search, or the names of the parties to the treaty as title keywords.

Try for example:

• Basic search: Treaty 8
• Basic search: Cree and treaty 
• Advanced search: Title: Treaty No. 9

To begin searching for research or personal interest items, consider the types of materials you are interested in and the terms you might want to use in your search. Do you have an author, a title of a book, or a subject in mind? Are you looking for materials from a specific time period or community? All these questions could help you in your search.

If you are looking for:

• Books & E-books
• Databases
• Journals & E-journals
• Audio/visual materials
• Maps
• Government information or Statistics 
• Treaty resources
• Indigenous Methodologies

Use the Search boxes on the Nipissing Library website or the Canadore Library website. This search also includes a range of databases of journal articles and other resources. 

Think about your search terms:

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

Terminology:

Remember, research has been conducted and books have been published over a long period of time so you may need to consider various terms based on your topic or research needs. The first chapter in Chelsea Vowel’s (Métis) book Indigenous Writes provides a comprehensive overview of how the terminology used to refer to Indigenous Peoples has changed over time. She provides definitions, examples, and a list of offensive terms. This is expanded on in chapter six of Gregory Younging’s (Cree) book, Elements of Indigenous Style. Indigenous Peoples often have their own terms in their language so becoming familiar with these terms is imperative in building relationships and moving forward in a good way.

When searching for resources you may need to consider various terms to find the information you need, but the terms used may be indicative of the period it was created.

For example, you might need to try:

Indigenous, First Nations, or Aboriginal 

and include other aspects of your topic, such as treaties, reserves, negotiations, nation-to-nation, treaty rights, data sovereignty, land claims, etc., or a specific community or culture, such as Wendat, Algonquin, or Métis.