Canada, Northwest Provinces Census, 1906 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The census day for Canada was June 24th, 1906. This collection contains indexes of the Northwest Provinces of Canada.

A number was assigned to a district, a letter to a sub-district and a number to a subdivision of a sub-district. Some sub-districts also have a number, i.e. "a(1)" means sub-district "a1" and "a1" means sub-district "a", subdivision "1".

National census records are arranged by province and within provinces by census districts and subdistricts. Census districts are voting districts, not counties. Although a voting district may have the same name as a county, it may not include the same townships. In some provinces, townships are equivalent to census subdistricts.

Since the boundaries varied from census to census, it is not easy to tell which census district an eastern Canadian township or western Canadian village was in. Contemporary maps of the census districts have been lost or destroyed.

The national government of Canada has taken censuses every ten years since 1871 and every five years since 1971. The 1871 census covers the four original provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. The first coast-to-coast census was taken in 1881. Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949. For Newfoundland few 19th-century censuses that list names have been found. They mostly contain statistical summaries.

There are some printed forms that have been taken English and French. The responses that the people gave to the enumerator, were either in English or French.

The Canada Census article has more details.

Record Content
Census records may contain the following information:


 * Full name
 * Gender
 * Age
 * Marital status
 * Relationship to head of household
 * Place of birth
 * Approximate year of birth

How to Use the Record
To use this collection, it would be helpful to know the following information:


 * Name of ancestor
 * Approximate year and place of residence

Search the Collection
Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Using the Information
This collection can help you further your research in the following tactics:

Use the locality and dates found in your census search to search other records, like civil registration or church records.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor
If you can’t find your ancestor's location, you can try:

Look through the civil registration first to get the information that you need. When you have found that information, you can guess where your ancestor might be living at the time of the census.

General Information About These Records
These censuses list a large proportion of the population. Unfortunately, portions of some have been lost, and some geographical areas within the provinces were missed by the census takers.

Related Websites

 * Index to the 1906 Census of the Northwest Provinces
 * Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906
 * 1906 Census on Rootsweb
 * Canada Census Records Online from CensusFinder.com
 * Census Records in Canada from AllCensusRecords.com
 * Canadian Census Tutorial

Related Wiki Articles

 * Canadian Censuses Online
 * Canada Census
 * How Canadian National Censuses Are Organized

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A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection
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