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Little Bird was born in 1998
and is a status band member of the Walpole
Island First Nations Reserve.
She is
also an Underground Railroad descendant, a
direct descendant of Mariah Dyke, George Madison
Crawford and Thomas Alexander.
Mariah is
well aware and proud of her ancestral roots.
She
enjoys attending and dancing at Pow Wows. She
can also point out in the night sky the Big
Dipper and North Star, those silent sentinels
that guided some of her ancestors to freedom in
Canada.
Mariah
represents a living legacy, her pride is a
source of strength, it is a personal commitment,
an attitude which separates excellence from
mediocrity.
photo courtesy of Spencer
Alexander,
Assistant Curator, Buxton
National Historic Site & Museum
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 There
are many individuals looking for a source for their
Certificate of Aboriginal Status cards (sometimes
referred to as a Metis card or Metis status card).
The primary focus of the Ontario Metis Family Records
Center (OMFRC) is researching and documenting the
aboriginal and Metis families of North America. Our
vast record collections put us in the ideal position to
issue the cards.
These cards are sometimes referred to as an Indian
status card, certificate of Indian status, native card
or native status card. There are distinctions
between the terms. Some are issued by the
government, others by bands, and still others by Metis
organizations or Metis associations. Our cards
were initially aimed primarily at the Ontario Metis but
are now available to anyone with aboriginal ancestry.
Your membership fee will help to fund our research.
The OMFRC’s main focus is
to document and preserve First Nations and Métis family
history. The
OMFRC was founded by Art Haines with the help of a great
many people who shared his goals.
We hope to someday have all aboriginal and Métis
records in our files.
Art has been documenting his own extended family for
forty years and has spent the past fifteen years
researching aboriginal and Métis families in an
ever-increasing area that now includes all of North
America. The
OMFRC now has an extended network of volunteer
researchers who add to our files on a daily basis.
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We offer a second service that is unrelated to
the Certificate of Aboriginal Status.
This service is a search of our records as well
as archives and other record collections not in our
files. The
purpose of this search is to identify for you your
aboriginal ancestors and to give you whatever
information is available about them.
We charge $100 for this search.
This money doesn’t cover the dozens, even
hundreds, of hours that go into the search.
The money is used to purchase more records to add
to our collection.
Please visit our other website at
www.omfrc.org if this is of interest to you.
In late 2006 Art was asked to issue the Certificates of
Aboriginal Status cards.
In February of 2007 the OMFRC was formed to do
this.
Another new organization, the Métis Family Records
Center, or MFRC, has also been organized.
This organization issues cards in other parts of
Canada and throughout the United States.
Other Métis organizations require you to provide full
documented proof linking you to your aboriginal
ancestor. We
take a different approach.
If you don’t have full documentation, we try to
confirm your Métis status from our own records.
There are many Métis who simply can’t get the
official documents demanded by other groups.
We don’t feel that fact should exclude them from
being recognized.
When we receive an application we search our records to
confirm the information you give us.
A Certificate of Aboriginal Status is issued if
we are able to connect your family to our files.
There is no charge for this and your money is
refunded in full if we can’t confirm your information.
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Volunteer
