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  1. #1
    Mary Anne
    Guest

    Thumbs up Canadian Resources Online

    (Sorry, folks, there are actually 4 Parts, making this Part 1 of 4...)


    I just thought I would set down a listing, all in one place, of some online resources for folks who are researching relatives in Canada. Bo Peep has graciously agreed to put a "sticky" on this note, so that it will not get buried. This list is far from complete, of course, but I have also included some "compendium" Websites that may point to even more.

    First, a word about history and historical records in Canada. In the early days of Canada (up until about 1860), settlement existed primarily in what was then Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Québec) and the so-called maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island). Settlement of the western or Prairie provinces (now known as Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) really did not start until after about 1860. Alberta and Saskatchewan did not become provinces until 1905; Manitoba and British Columbia had been established in 1870 and 1871, respectively. Newfoundland did not join confederation until 1949. The northern territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) are still sparsely settled and often do not have records before 1898 or so.

    Generally speaking, until 1867, when Canada ceased to be a British colony, most records were collected and maintained by the federal government. This would include land records, military records, immigration and census records. During this early period, before civil registration started, vital statistics (birth, marriages, deaths) would have been collected and maintained by church and/or religious organizations.

    Since civil registration started (earliest in 1837), provincial governments have been responsible for the collection and maintenance of vital statistics records (birth, marriages and deaths). Although it varies from province to province, these records are not generally made publicly available until after 90-100 years, when they may be handed over to the provincial archives. Provincial governments are also responsible for land titles records.

    I have organized this list of sites by currently existing province/territory, from West to East, with a section for Canada-wide and federal government sources at the end. The information available at these sites is free - indeed, it is Canada's federal government's policy to do this (although this may not be the case with information held by provincial governments). I have not included here any "for profit" or "pay-per-view sites", although some of the same data listed here may be available through them.

    So, see Parts 2, 3 and 4 for the "goods", and enjoy........


    Mary Anne

  2. #2
    Mary Anne
    Guest

    Thumbs up Canadian Resources Online...Part 2..British Columbia to Manitoba (and north)

    Part 2...

    British Columbia

    Vital Statistics (index online; printed certificate can be ordered) https://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/genealogy/electronic_index.html

    Genealogical and Historical Societies in British Columbia (a fairly complete listing of all of them) https://www.bcgs.ca/BC-gen-Hist-Society.htm

    British Columbia Provincial Archives https://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/index.htm

    Yukon

    Vital Statistics (searches must be done from hard copy; records only from 1898). Contact [email protected]

    Genealogical Society (doesn't have a website). Contact [email protected]

    Yukon Territorial Archives https://www.tc.gov.yk.ca/75.html

    "Yukon Genealogy", a compendium of genealogical, historical and archival resources available in the Yukon https://www.yukongenealogy.com/index.htm

    Alberta

    Vital Statistics (no online index; search and printed certificate can be ordered) https://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/766.cfm

    Alberta Genealogical Society https://abgensoc.ca/

    Alberta Family History Society https://www.afhs.ab.ca

    Archives Society of Alberta: A gateway to a number of archives within the province of Alberta, including the provincial, the Glenbow and some city archives: https://www.archivesalberta.org/walls/index.htm

    Canadian Pacific Railway Land Sales database (1881-1927 – includes lands sold in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as well as Alberta; searchable) https://ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesCPRSearch.aspx

    Saskatchewan

    Vital Statistics (online index; certificates can be ordered) https://www.isc.ca/VitalStatistics/

    Saskatchewan Genealogical Society https://www.saskgenealogy.com/

    Saskatchewan Provincial Archives https://www.saskarchives.com/web/services-pub.html

    Manitoba

    Vital Statistics (online index; certificates can be ordered) https://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php

    Manitoba Genealogical Society https://www.mbgenealogy.com/

    Manitoba Historical Society www.mhs.mb.ca

    Provincial Archives https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/fa...ory/index.html

    MB Legislative Library (has lots of good genealogy stuff..and links) https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/leg-lib/genealogical.html

    Hudson's Bay Company Archives https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/index.html

    Northwest Territories

    Vital Statistics (apparently there is nothing online, but you can write or phone for records after 1925 to:
    Registrar General
    Vital Statistics
    Department of Health & Social Services
    Government of the Northwest Territories
    Inuvik, NT X0E 0T0
    1-800-661-0830 (toll free)
    (867) 777-7420)

    Northwest Territories Genealogical Society (doesn't seem to be online, but the address is P.O. Box 1715, Yellowknife X1A 2P3

    Northwest Territorial Archives https://pwnhc.learnnet.nt.ca/programs/archive.htm

    Nunavut

    Nunavut Vital Statistics -- these guys still really only have snail-mail for enquiries:
    Nunavut Vital Statistics
    Bag #3, Health and Social Services
    Rankin Inlet, NU
    X0C 0G0
    Tel: (867) 645-5002
    Fax: (867) 645-2997

    Nunavut Terrritorial Archives -- no website, but the address is
    Nunavut Archives
    P.O. Box 310
    Igloolik, Nunavut X0A 0L0
    Tel: (867) 934-8626
    [email protected])

    And on to Part 3...

  3. #3
    Mary Anne
    Guest

    Thumbs up Canadian Resources Online...Part 3...Ontario, Québec and Atlantic

    Part 3...

    Ontario

    Ontario Vital Statistics -- these guys seem to have split things up:
    https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/englis...e-records.aspx
    and https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/englis...an/vsmain.aspx

    Ontario Genealogical Society (umbrella society - has 30 branches in the different counties of Ontario) https://www.ogs.on.ca

    British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa https://www.bifhsgo.ca. Has a major database on British Home Children who were sent to Canada by Middlemore Homes https://www.bifhsgo.ca/home_children_index.htm

    Ontario Historical Society https://www.ontariohistoricalsociety.ca/welcome.asp

    Archives of Ontario https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/index.aspx

    County Atlas Digitization Project (43 atlases for counties in Ontario, 1874-1881, showing township maps as well as property of residents – searchable by name)
    https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/

    Detailed map of Ontario towns and counties for genealogical research https://www.westol.com/~beaurega/map.htm

    Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid (searchable database of memorial inscriptions) https://www.islandnet.com/ocfa/

    Québec

    Vital Statistics (no online index; records since 1900; certificates can be ordered) https://www.etatcivil.gouv.qc.ca/en/default.html

    Federation of Genealogical Societies of Québec (in French) https://www.federationgenealogie.qc.ca/

    Federation of the Founding Families of Québec (in French) https://www.ffsq.qc.ca/

    Quebec Family History Society https://www.qfhs.ca

    Eastern Townships Research (many immigrants to Canada from Britain came to the Eastern Townships of Québec) https://www.rootsweb.com/~qceastwn/

    Eastern Townships Heritage Webmagazine
    https://www.townshipsheritage.com/home.html

    Québec Provincial Archives https://www.banq.qc.ca/portal/dt/gene...genealogie.jsp

    One of the best online resources for Québec information is a site called "That's My Family", the so-called federated search engine residing at the Library and Archives of Québec. Births/Marriages/Deaths (before 1900), cemeteries, court documents and a variety of other Québec resources can be searched here
    https://recherche-c.voicimafamille.in....jsp?locale=en

    Detailed map of Québec towns and counties for genealogical research https://www.westol.com/~beaurega/map.htm

    New Brunswick

    Vital Statistics (online index; certificates can be ordered) https://archives.gnb.ca/APPS/GovRecs/VISSE/?L=EN

    New Brunswick Genealogical Society https://www.nbgs.ca/

    New Brunswick Provincial Archives https://archives.gnb.ca/Archives/Default.aspx?L=EN

    Nova Scotia

    Vital Statistics (no online index; certificates can be ordered) https://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/access/vi.../genealogy.asp

    Nova Scotia Genealogical Network Association https://nsgna.ednet.ns.ca/

    Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society https://nsgna.ednet.ns.ca/rnshs/

    Nova Scotia Provincial Archives https://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/

    Nova Scotia Heritage Website https://novascotiaheritage.ca/en/home/default.aspx

    Prince Edward Island

    Vital Statistics (no online index; certificates can be ordered) www.gov.pe.ca/vitalstatistics/

    Genealogical and Historical societies https://www.islandregister.com/

    Prince Edward Island Provincial Archives https://www.edu.pe.ca/paro/

    Newfoundland and Labrador

    Vital Statistics (no online index; certificates can be ordered) https://www.gs.gov.nl.ca/gs/vs/birth-cert.stm

    Genealogical and Historical societies https://www.fhsnl.ca/

    https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

    Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Archives https://www.therooms.ca/archives/


    And on to Part 4...

  4. #4
    Mary Anne
    Guest

    Thumbs up Canadian Resources Online...Part 4... Canada-wide

    Part 4...

    Canada-wide

    Library and Archives Canada – the Canadian Genealogy Centre (lots of great searchable databases relating to genealogy, and more being added all the time – passenger lists, military records, Western Land Grants (1870-1930), census, immigration records, etc. ..covers only information sources that are under the purview of the federal government, and NOT Births/Marriages/Deaths, which are under provincial jurisdiction) https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/g...y/index-e.html

    Canada's local histories online https://www.ourroots.ca/e/

    "Cyndi's List" (lots of good Canadian links) https://www.cyndislist.com

    "Automated Genealogy" (a searchable database for the Canadian censuses 1851-1911, with links to scans of actual census pages – see scousecan's excellent description of what is available in post 19 January 2008 post entitled "Tips regarding Collections Canada") https://www.automatedgenealogy.com

    Cemeteries in Canada https://www.findagrave.com/ and https://www.interment.net/can/

    Newspapers https://www.paperofrecord.com

    "CanGenealogy" (a compendium of links to genealogical resources in Canada) https://www.cangenealogy.com/

    "Canadian Genealogy and History Links" (another compendium – it has a section for each province) https://www.islandnet.com/~jveinot/cghl/cghl.html

    "Canada GenWeb" (another compendium – also there are GenWebs for each province) https://www.rootsweb.com/~canwgw/

    "Canadian Genealogy Records Online" (links to online databases) https://www.genealogysearch.org/canada/

    And, finally a registry of various transcription projects being undertaken by various Canadian genealogical societies and other groups https://www.afhs.ab.ca/registry/

    End of Part 4 of 4.




    Good Hunting!!! Thanks to Bo Peep for making this a sticky!

    Mary Anne
    (in chilly Ottawa)

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