Abstract This thesis explores the important role that archivists can and have played in the expansion of Aboriginal rights in Canada. It situates and explores the roles played by British Columbia Provincial Archivist Willard E. Ireland (1914-1979) and the Provincial Archives of British Columbia in two pivotal Aboriginal rights legal cases of the 1960s and 1970s in the larger context of the relationship between Aboriginal rights and archives from the late 1800s to today, arguing that the role of archivists and archives in the pursuit of Aboriginal rights is neither passive nor neutral, and as such, deserves greater awareness and study than it has received in the past.

Abstract This thesis explores the important role that archivists can and have played in the expansion of Aboriginal rights in Canada. It situates and explores the roles played by British Columbia Provincial Archivist Willard E. Ireland (1914-1979) and the Provincial Archives of British Columbia in two pivotal Aboriginal rights legal cases of the 1960s and 1970s in the larger context of the relationship between Aboriginal rights and archives from the late 1800s to today, arguing that the role of archivists and archives in the pursuit of Aboriginal rights is neither passive nor neutral, and as such, deserves greater awareness and study than it has received in the past.