Introduction

The Indian Affairs Annual Reports collection was first issued on CD-ROM in 1997. Through a cooperative effort between the former National Library of Canada and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the full text of these annual reports is now available on the Web. We hope that users will find the reports a rich resource for historical research.

What is contained in the Indian Affairs Annual Reports collection

The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development was created in 1966. The Indian Affairs Annual Reports (1864-1990) collection contains the complete annual reports for the department from 1967 to 1990. In 1991 the departmental annual report was integrated into the Estimates Part III (which now includes the Report on Plans and Priorities and the Performance Report) and the Public Accounts.

Before 1966, different departments were responsible for the portfolios of Indian Affairs and Northern Affairs. For a list of these departments, see the history section of this site.

The Indian Affairs Annual Reports collection also contains the annual reports for the Indian Affairs portfolio for the years 1864 to 1966. The annual reports for Northern Affairs are not included. To access a Northern Affairs annual report from before 1967, consult the government documents collection of a research library. Refer to the publications of the department that was responsible for Northern Affairs at that time.

Schedules of Indian Bands, Reserves and Settlements is a separate publication that is also valuable for historical research. The Schedules from 1902 to1992 have been digitized and added to the Indian Affairs Annual Reports collection.

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