Canada Emigration and Immigration

Canada Online Genealogy Records Ask the Community

Online Records

 * Bef 1865 Immigrants Before 1865 at Library and Archives Canada
 * 1780-1906 Canadian Immigrant Records, Part One at Ancestry ($)
 * 1780-1906 Canadian Immigrant Records, Part Two at Ancestry ($)
 * 1789-1935 Canada, Seafarers of the Atlantic Provinces, 1789-1935 at Ancestry ($), index
 * 1817-1896 Canada, Immigration and Settlement Correspondence and Lists, 1817-1896 at Ancestry ($), index/images
 * 1819-1838 Canada, St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger Lists, 1819-1838 at Ancestry ($), index/images
 * 1832-1937 Immigrants at Grosse Île Quarantine Station, 1832-1937 at Library and Archives Canada
 * 1862-1897 - at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1865-1935 Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1865-1922 Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City and Other Ports, 1865-1922 - at Library and Archives Canada
 * 1865-1900 Quebec City passenger lists, 1865-1900; index, 1865-1869, images.
 * 1865-1883Toronto Emigrant Office Assisted Immigration Registers Database at the Archives of Ontario is an Index to four volumes of assisted immigration registers for the period 1865-1883 (Series RG 11-3). Over 29,000 entries in chronological order, the database is searchable by surname.
 * 1865-1935 Canada, Ocean Arrivals, 1865-1935 - Ancestry ($), index and images.
 * 1881-1922 at FamilySearch - index and images.
 * 1881 Canada, British Vessel Crew Lists, 1881 at Ancestry ($) - index
 * 1899-1949 Immigrants to Canada, Porters and Domestics, 1899-1949 at Library and Archives Canada - index
 * 1904-1954 U.S., Records of Aliens Pre-Examined in Canada, 1904-1954 at Ancestry ($) - index/images
 * 1912-1939 U.S., Passenger and Crew Lists for U.S.-Bound Vessels Arriving in Canada, 1912-1939 and 1953-1962 at Ancestry ($), index/images
 * 1919-1924 Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924 at Ancestry ($) s
 * 1923-1933 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1823-1849 Irish Canadian Emigration Records, 1823-1849 at Ancestry ($), index and images.
 * 1926 at FamilySearch — index, images available through FindMyPast
 * 1929-1960 Canada, Immigrants Approved in Orders in Council, 1929-1960 at Ancestry ($), index/some images
 * 1930-1965 Immigrants to Canada 1930-1965, index
 * 1953-1962 U.S., Passenger and Crew Lists for U.S.-Bound Vessels Arriving in Canada, 1912-1939 and 1953-1962 at Ancestry ($), index/images
 * Toronto Emigrant Office Assisted Immigration Registers database at Ontario Ministry of Gvernment and Consumer Services. Also at Canada, Ontario, Toronto Emigrant Office Records Index - FindMyPast index ($).

Border Crossings

 * 1895-1956 - at FamilySearch, index only. Includes records from seaports and railroad stations all over Canada and the northern United States.
 * 1895-1956 - Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956 at Ancestry, ($).
 * 1895-1954 - . These list travelers to the United States from Canadian Pacific seaports only.
 * 1905-1963 - Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists, 1905-1963 at Ancestry, ($).
 * 1906-1954 - . Only from Michigan ports of entry: Bay City, Detroit, Port Huron, and Sault Ste. Marie.
 * 1908-1935 - Border Crossings: From U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935 at Ancestry, ($), index and images. Some records in French.($)

Cultural Groups Databases

 * 1823-1849 Irish Canadian Emigration Records, 1823-1849 at Ancestry ($), index/images
 * 1885-1949 Immigrants from China, 1884-1949 at Library and Archives Canada - index
 * 1898-1922 Immigrants from the Russian Empire, 1898-1922, index
 * 1891-1930 Ukrainian Immigrants, 1891-1930, index.
 * 1946-1963 Canada and U.S., Dutch Emigrants, 1946-1963 at Ancestry ($), index/images

Home Children

 * 1869-1930 Home Children, 1869-1930 at Library and Archives Canada - index
 * 1880s-1916 Home Children – Boards of Guardians at Library and Archives Canada - index
 * British Home Children in Canada

Loyalists

 * National Archives of Canada: Loyalists
 * United Empire Loyalists, Parts I-II, ($), index
 * The Old United Empire Loyalists List, index and images, ($)
 * 1620-1816 - The Loyalists Of America and Their Times From 1620 To 1816, ($), index
 * United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada Directory, index

Military

 * War Brides passenger Lists, WWII
 * Canadian War Children born in the UK
 * Canadian War Brides of World War I

Canada Offices to Contact
Library and Archives Canada does not hold copies of post-1935 records. Records of immigrants arriving at Canadian land and seaports from January 1, 1936 onwards remain in the custody of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada'. To request a copy of another person's immigration record, you must mail a signed request to the under-noted office: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Access to Information and Privacy Division Ottawa, ON K1A 1L1 Canada

Important Note: To obtain a copy of your own landing record, you must submit an Application for a Verification of Status (VOS) or Replacement of an Immigration Document to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Alternatively, you can apply for a Permanent Resident Card. "Immigration Records," at Library and Archives Canada, https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/Pages/introduction.aspx#a, accessed 29 June 2021.
 * The request should include the full name at time of entry into Canada, date of birth and year of entry. Additional information is helpful, such as country of birth, port of entry and names of accompanying family members.
 * The application for copies of records should indicate that it is being requested under Access to Information. It must be submitted by a Canadian citizen or an individual residing in Canada. For non-citizens, you can hire a [https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/freelance-researchers/Pages/freelance-researchers.aspx free-lance researcher to make the request on your behalf. The request must be accompanied by a signed consent from the person concerned or proof that he or she has been deceased for 20 years. Please note that IRCC requires proof of death regardless of the person’s year of birth.
 * Fee: $5.00 (by cheque or money order made payable to the Receiver General for Canada)

Immigration into Canada
Most immigrants have settled along the coasts, the southern frontiers, or the St. Lawrence River valley.

1605: The French first settled at Port Royal, near present Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

1608: The city of Quebec was established by the French. For the next 150 years, the British and the French disputed control of the area.

1749: Halifax, Nova Scotia, was founded by the British as a military garrison.

1753: The British government settled more than 1,400 Germans and Swiss at Lunenburg, southwest of Halifax.

1759–1760: British conquest of old Quebec (New France) occurred. The French remained but were joined by many British immigrants.

1760: Eighteen hundred "planters" from Rhode Island and Connecticut settled lands vacated by Acadians in Nova Scotia. A few thousand more New Englanders and Ulster Irish soon followed.

1783–1784: More than 30,000 Loyalist refugees came to Canada as a result of the American Revolution. They settled in the Maritime Provinces, the Eastern Townships section of Quebec, and in the area between the Ottawa and St. Lawrence river valleys, eventually to be called Upper Canada. The Loyalists were soon followed by other Americans coming for land.

1800: Upper Canada (Ontario) had about 35,000 people, including 23,000 Loyalists and "late Loyalists" and their descendants, mainly from upstate New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They were principally established on farms along the upper St. Lawrence River valley.

1812: Because of the War of 1812, authorities restricted immigration from the United States and encouraged immigration from the British Isles.

1815: After the close of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, many immigrants settled along the St. Lawrence River. Although many immigrants continued on to the United States, soon the "late Loyalists" were joined by many English, Scottish, and Irish settlers.

1815–1850: Greatest immigration was from Scotland and Ireland to Atlantic colonies. A few thousand came each year.

1818: The influx of Protestant Irish to Upper Canada began in earnest.

1830s: The great Irish immigration took place, especially to New Brunswick.

1846–1850s: During the Famine Migration from Ireland, tens of thousands settled farms and towns of Upper and Lower Canada.

1881: A record number of people immigrated; many headed for Manitoba. The best Manitoba farmland was settled by people from Ontario.

1890s: The boom era began in western Canada because much of the best public land in United States had already been homesteaded.

1896–1914: The Canadian government’s aggressive immigration policy encouraged agricultural settlers from Britain, then the United States. Canadian colonization agents at the seaports of Hamburg and Bremen recruited Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Austro-Hungarians.

1900s: The early 1900s were the peak of U.S. immigration to Canada.

1931: The 1931 census showed 1,300,000 U.S.-born residents settled throughout Canada: over 12 percent of the population.

Loyalists
Beginning in 1784, large numbers of American Loyalists came from the United States to settle along the St. Lawrence River. Most of the earliest settlers of Upper Canada (Ontario) were natives of the United States. By 1810, eighty percent of the white population of the province was estimated to have been born in the U.S., but only 25 percent of them were Loyalists (who had arrived by 1796) or their descendants. The rest were Americans who had recently come to Canada for land or other economic opportunities. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were listed as states of origin of many of these "late Loyalists," as they were sometimes called.
 * National Archives of Canada: Loyalists
 * United Empire Loyalists, Parts I-II, ($), index
 * The Old United Empire Loyalists List, index and images, ($)
 * 1620-1816 - The Loyalists Of America and Their Times From 1620 To 1816, ($), index
 * United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada Directory, index

British Home Children Immigrants 1870-1940
Between 1869 and the late 1930s, over 100,000 juvenile migrants were sent to Canada from the British Isles during the child emigration movement.
 * 1869-1930 Home Children, 1869-1930 at Library and Archives Canada - index
 * 1880s-1916 Home Children – Boards of Guardians at Library and Archives Canada - index
 * British Home Children in Canada

See Also:
 * Canada, Background and Search Strategies for Home Children (National Institute)
 * Canada Home Children Immigration Records (National Institute)
 * Canada Home Children Inspection Records (National Institute)
 * Canada Home Children Other Sources (National Institute)
 * Canada Home Children British Sources (National Institute)
 * Canada Home Children Bibliography and Suggested Reading (National Institute)

War Brides
During World War II, Canadian soldiers began arriving in Britain as early as 1939. For some it would be six years before they returned home. Many of these young men married and fathered children while they were overseas. In all, nearly 48,000 war brides and 22,000 children arrived in Canada during and after World War II. While the vast majority of these women were British, there were some Europeans as well. The ships that had been used to transport the service men and women to Britain returned with their wives and children. The ships carrying the war brides and their children sailed from England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Pier 21 became the depot for processing the arriving families. In 2000. a memorial plaque was mounted at Pier 21 to commemorate the war brides’ a
 * War Brides passenger Lists, WWII
 * Canadian War Children born in the UK
 * Canadian War Brides of World War I

Emigration from Canada

 * The first large emigration from Canada was between 1755 and 1758 when 6,000 French Acadians were deported from Nova Scotia. Some settled temporarily in other American colonies and in France. Many eventually found permanent homes in Louisiana, where they were called "Cajuns." A few returned to the Maritime Provinces.
 * During the "Michigan Fever"' of the 1830s, large numbers of Canadians streamed westward across the border. About one in four Michigan families finds a direct connection to Ontario.
 * By the late 1840s, over 20,000 Canadians and newly landed foreign immigrants moved to the United States each year. * TheCalifornia Gold Rush attracted many, beginning in 1849.
 * After 1850, the tide of migration still flowed from Canada to the United States. Newly arrived immigrants tended not to stay in Canada very long. Between 1851 and 1951, there were up to 80 emigrants, both natives of Canada and others, who left Canada for every 100 immigrants who arrived. A few immigrants returned to their native lands or went elsewhere, but many eventually went to the United States after brief periods of settlement in Canada.
 * Canadians from the Atlantic Provinces often went to New England. At least two million descendants of French Canadians now live in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Many also live in New York and the Midwestern states.
 * The Canadian government did not keep lists of emigrants. Before 1947, there was no Canadian citizenship 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.
 * Most immigrants to Canada arrived at the ports of Quebec and Halifax, although many came to New York and then traveled to Canada by way of the Hudson River, Erie Canal, and Great Lakes. A few arrived in Portland, Maine, then traveled overland to Canada.

For Further Reading

 * British Home Children, Veterans Affairs
 * Tracing Family History: Canada Immigration and Citizenship Genealogy Guide has links to other resources.
 * Immigration from Hungary to Canada.