Métis Scrip Records

Commissions

North-West Half-Breed Commissions

Land Scrip

Dept. of the Interior, RG 15, Series D II 8i, Land Scrip to Métis, 1885-1917, 1.1 m, vol. 1406 to 1410.

Cancelled scrip notes which were issued to Métis by the Department of the Interior to extinguish aboriginal title to land. The scrip entitled Métis children to 240 acres and Métis heads of families to 160 acres of Dominion lands which had been declared open for entry. Scrip numbers 0001 to 0302 were awarded from 7 July, 1885 to 13 November, 1906; scrip numbers 0501 to 0503 were awarded 10 July, 1885; and scrip numbers 5001 to 5038 were awarded 26 June, 1885 to 28 December, 1910. RG 15, volume 1542 (described elsewhere) serves as a location register for the Dominion lands awarded by the North-West Commissions. The register is organized by scrip number and provides the name of the allottee, name of patentee, land description, acreage, date of patent, and the liber and folio numbers of the Letters Patent issued by the Crown. The latter are now held by Library and Archives Canada in RG 15, series D III 10.

The land scrip retained by Library and Archives Canada is grouped according to the amount of the scrip (i.e., 80 acres, 160 acres, or 240 acres), and in numerical order (registration number) within each group. Finding aid FA15-13 will guide researchers to the volume in RG 15 where the note is stored; but to use this finding aid researchers must know the scrip number. To find the note awarded to a particular claimant when the registration number of the scrip note is unknown, researchers should first refer to the delivery registers (RG 15, volumes 1519 and 1520, described elsewhere) to obtain the scrip note number, and then to finding aid FA15-13 to find the RG 15 volume number where the note is stored.