Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Canadian Census Records

Two press releases were published today about the Census Records of Canada - you can read them at:

* FamilySearch Expands Canadian Census Collection -- the FamilySearch Record Search site has added indexes for the 1851, 1861 and 1871 Canadian census records. No images yet.

* Ancestry.ca Announces Online Launch of Canadian Censuses 1851-1916 - With 32 Million Names!. The indexes and images for the 1861, 1871 and 1881 Canada census records were added to the http://www.ancestry.ca/ collection, making a full set of Canadian census records from 1851 to 1916.

There are more details about these announcements on John D. Reid's blog, Anglo-Celtic Connections in:

* FamilySearch adds 1861 and 1871 Canadian census indexes

* Canadian census index on Ancestry now virtually complete

John has more information about what is and is not available, and also about availability of census records at other web sites, some of which are free.

John summarizes the "trade-off" between Ancestry and FamilySearch, saying:

"These censuses are part of the FamilySearch records access program reported in May 2008 to provide public access to more records more quickly. In this project, Ancestry.ca provided the indexes to the 1851 and 1891 Canada Censuses, and FamilySearch created the indexes for the 1861, 1871, and 1881 Canada Censuses. It is a win-win for the public, who will have free access to all five of the pre-1900 census indexes online at FamilySearch.org."

The June/July 2009 issue of Internet Genealogy magazine had an article by Janice Nickerson titled "Canada: What's Online and What's Not." In the article, Janice summarized the Canadian census holdings at the Canada Genealogy Centre (http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/):

* 1851/1952 -- images only
* 1871 index to heads of household for Ontario only
* 1881 images and index
* 1891 images and index
* 1901 images only
* 1911 images only

The Automated Genealogy web site has census indexes for:

* 1851 for New Brunswick
* 1852 for Province of Canada (Ontario and Quebec)
* 1901 for 9 provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and The Territories)
* 1906 for Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan
* 1911 for 11 provinces, with links to the Canadian Genealogy Centre images

To summarize, it seems that there are FREE indexes and images for:

* 1851 New Brunswick -- index on Automated Genealogy (AA) and FamilySearch Record Search (FSRS), images at Canadian Genealogy Centre (CGC)
* 1852 -- index on AA and FSRS, images at CGC
* 1861 -- index on FSRS, no images
* 1871 -- index on FSRS, no images
* 1881 -- index on FSRS and CGC, images on CGC
* 1891 -- index on CGC, images on CGC
* 1901 -- index on AA, images on CGC
* 1906 -- index on AA, no images
* 1911 -- index on AA, images on CGC

The only things that are missing from the FREE side are the 1861, 1871 and 1906 images. There's been good progress on this!

Of course, the full set of indexes and images for the Canadian census records from 1851 to 1916 are available to users with a World Deluxe subscription to http://www.ancestry.com/ or a separate Canadian Ancestry subscription. They should also be available at public libraries with an Ancestry Library Edition subscription and at the 13 Family History Centers and the Family History Library with the Ancestry Institution subscription (including the San Diego Family History Center).

Did I miss anything or misstate something? If so, please let me know in a comment and I will edit my post for accuracy.

7 comments:

M. Diane Rogers said...

The Canadian Genealogy Centre at Library & Archives Canada on its census page has links to most national Canadian census projects. I hope this will be updated again very soon.

There are other Canadian census indexes, for Ontario (partial), for example, at http://ontariocensus.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ and for the complete 1901 British Columbia Census at www.bcgs.ca

For some information on when each set of new Canadian census images will be available free at Library & Archives Canada, see the schedule on-line: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/about-us/012-215.01-e.html

I have written about these census projects and partnerships several times. I do not feel that these partnerships are necessarily a 'win win' situation for Canadians & many people, I know, agree with me.

M. Diane Rogers said...

Sorry about the links:

Try : Ontario Census GenWeb Project

1901 British Columbia Census at
British Columbia Genealogical Society


Library & Archives Canada Collaborative Arrangements

JDR said...

It's great to finally have a virtually complete set of searchable Canadian censuses available online. No point in complaining about the good because it isn't perfect!

As Ancestry point out, there are still some areas missing. A comment on my Anglo-Celtic Connections blog points out a portion of Toronto missing. There's also an 1870 Manitoba census that's been overlooked. As in genealogy, there is no end.

Anonymous said...

A correction
You missed that the 1906 census for Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan at Automated Genealogy has an index and links to the images at the CGC (same as for 1901 and 1911), so:

To summarize, it seems that there are FREE indexes and images for:
* 1901 -- index on AA, images on CGC
* 1906 -- index on AA, images on CGC
* 1911 -- index on AA, images on CGC

Anonymous said...

Why should anyone have to pay for information found on the various LSD genealogy forums when we have supplied the information via taxes?

It's a scam. Historic gov't records should be free for everyone and easily accessible.

anon

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This is the first time that I've read a blog about Canadian Census I thought that that information was given by the government but it is good that we have it.

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