The fonds documents Swain's career at the Deputy Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, including his role in the standoff at Oka, Quebec, in 1990. One series also consists of research materials collected during the writing of Swain's 2010 books, Oka: A Political Crisis and its Legacy.
This collection consists of twelve documents concerning the settlement of the Algonquin and Nipissing First Nations at Oka, Quebec, some in Anishinaabemowin, 1831-1853. There are also letters and documents mostly addressed to N. O. Greene, a solicitor and activist, concerning the Indigenous communities of Oka, 1878-1880.