Canada Passenger Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

Canada

What is in this Collection?
This collection includes indexes and images of ships' passenger lists (also known as ships' manifests or seaport records of entry). It contains records for the ports of:


 * Quebec City, 1900-1921;
 * Halifax, 1881-1922;
 * Saint John, 1900-1912;
 * North Sydney, 1906-1912;
 * Vancouver, 1905-1912;
 * Victoria, 1905-1912;
 * New York, 1906-1912;
 * Eastern US Ports, 1905-1912.

The lists for United States ports include only those names of passengers with intentions of proceeding directly to Canada.

Collection Content
The Canadian government did not keep lists of emigrants. Before 1947, Canadian citizenship was not separate from British, and Canadians moved freely throughout the British Empire. Before 1895, when the United States government began keeping border-crossing records, Canadians moved to the United States with few restrictions.

During the early 20th century, consular officials of the Russian Empire stationed in Canada and the United States kept files on former empire residents who sought their aid (to help in filling out naturalization and passport applications or to obtain proof of military service in Russia).

These are especially helpful for documenting Jewish immigrants. Although this collection is mostly considered a list of Jewish immigrants from Russia, many of the records are for other ethnic immigrants, including Ukrainians and Finns.

There are very few passenger lists for ships coming into Canada before 1865. Lists were not made or were destroyed. The Library and Archives Canada website has posted an index of some lists that have survived. Some of these indexed names have been gathered from declarations of aliens and names of some Irish orphans.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Passenger lists may contain the following information:


 * Name
 * Age
 * Gender (male or female)
 * Nationality
 * Date of arrival
 * Port of arrival
 * Name of ship

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate age of your ancestor.
 * The year your ancestor immigrated to Canada.
 * The names of family members who may have immigrated at the same time.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: 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 compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search this collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse Images" on the initial search page ⇒Select the appropriate “Port of Arrival” category ⇒Select the appropriate “Arrival date - year” ⇒Select the appropriate “Name of Ship,” which will take you to the images.

As you search the collection by image, compare the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. 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.



What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s passenger list, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found Who I was looking for, What Now?

 * Identify the last place of residence before your ancestors departure
 * Calculate the age to give an approximate date of birth
 * Find the names of other family members traveling with your ancestor at the time.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Try using spelling variations on the name. You can even try searching by nicknames you ancestor may have used.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: