Ida Halpern is most notable for her work with the First Nations people of British Columbia, recording their music, transcribing it, and documenting the way it was used. At first she did not pay particular attention to Native folk songs, and even her immigration records hinted she would be researching the music of Canadian farmers. After the performance of the first east-coast Native opera, Halpern realised that Canadians seemed largely unaware of Aboriginal Canadian song. She very much wanted Canadian music to find its own voice on the world stage.