Resources for Canadian Genealogists



Resources for Canadian Genealogists Find more genealogy blogs at FamilyTree.comAre you searching for information about your Canadian ancestors? Where you begin looking could depend on where you live. Genealogists who are Canadian might have access to resources that Americans would have difficulty accessing.

Veterans Affairs Canada
The Veterans Affairs Canada website has some resources that could be useful to genealogists. The Index of Medals and Decorations is a list of different types of military medals. If you know the name of the medal your ancestor received, you can click a link to find out more information about the medal. If you don’t know the name of the medal, try clicking on some links in the list and looking at the pictures.

You can also search the Books of Remembrance from the Veterans Affairs Canada website. These seven books commemorate the lives of more than 118,000 Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country in uniform. The information goes back to Confederation. It is possible to request a copy of a specific page.

Library and Archives of Canada
The Library and Archives of Canada has a section dedicated to Genealogy and Family History. There is a list of databases that are searchable online. The resources are split into the following categories: Births, Marriages and Deaths; Census and Enumerations; Immigration and Citizenship; Land; Military; and People. Each categories is broken up into smaller portions that relate to specific years.

AMICUS is a searchable resource that includes public sources such as books and newspapers. It also contains references to local histories, church and cemetery indexes, family histories, city directories, genealogy society journals, and more.

University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia website has a searchable collection of BC Historical Newspapers. This project features digitized versions of historical papers from around the province. The newspapers date from 1865 to 1994. Type the name of a newspaper into their search engine and select the dates you want to search through.

Newspapers are great resources for genealogists. You might find an obituary, which can give you the date of an ancestor’s death, the name of their spouse and children, and other personal information. An ancestor may have had an article or recipe printed, or have been in the paper for winning a sporting event.

Search Locally
The city or town your ancestor lived in could hold some valuable information. Check courthouses for vital records, churches for parish records, and local genealogy organizations for additional help. Seek out the genealogy libraries at the local universities. Visit the cemeteries and take photos of the gravestones.

Image by waferboard on Flickr.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* Library & Archives Of Canada

* Ontario, Canada Digital Newspapers

* US / Canadian Veterans – WW I Files

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