[Treaty 8 Videos] [Session A] [Session B] [Session C] [Session D] [Session E] [Ordering Info]

Session B:  Genealogy Basics & Aboriginal Archival Resources

The prelude to "Session D: Aboriginal Genealogy Research - Expert Tips for Indian & Metis Family Research," this session presents genealogy research basics and tips to manage the web of information one finds through this method of historical/family research. Worksheets are provided as tools of the trade. Supplemented by a special co-presentation, Heather Devine presents documentary resources particularly useful in the area of Aboriginal research.

Pat Pettitt is a retired school teacher who caught the genealogy bug in 1976. Since 1990, she has been teaching genealogical courses for Continuing Education, senior organizations and the Alberta Genealogical Society (AGS). She is a long-time volunteer at the Provincial Archives of Alberta and the Edmonton Branch of AGS. She operates Ancestors Unlimited, a genealogical research company, and is presently Archivist Historian for the Edmonton Branch of AGS.

Heather Devine is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Alberta, specializing in Canadian Native History, American Indian Policy, and Western Canadian Ethnic History. Heather's primary research interest is Métis and fur trade ethnohistory, and she has published several articles devoted to these topics in recent years. Her most recent publication, "Ambition versus Loyalty: Miles Macdonnell and the Decline of the Northwest Company" is featured in the anthology New Faces of the Fur Trade: Selected Papers of the Seventh North American Fur Trade Conference (1998). A member of the Edmonton Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society for several years, Heather has conducted numerous sessions on Métis genealogy.