People who know I love genealogy know that I am always talking about Library and Archives Canada (bac-lac). When I first was starting my genealogical research this website was my top resource. I still use it quite often when performing my Canadian research and each time it seems as though I discover a new set of collections.
Bac-lac is a website owned and curated by the Canadian government. They have a wide range of digitalized collections and an even wider range of ones that are cataloged or transcribed. Some of their most popular collections include census, immigration, and military records. They also have a page that offers genealogy help both in the form of basic tips and how to hire a professional (since I was a broke student when I started my research, I opted for the tips).
This post is going to focus on how to search census returns. I will write (and link) posts later on for the military and immigration records.
Census Records
On the census records page, each census return is listed in a column on the left hand side of the page in ascending order. Notice that beside some of the census years there are place names. If a province is listed beside a census then that means the returns are contained to that geographic area. If there is not province listed then the census includes returns for all the province that were part of Canada during that year. Another way of identifying if a census return includes the area you are interested in you can scroll down on the Census page to the Databases section and there is a table there that summarizes the provinces/territories included in each census.
Before searching some of the older returns it may be beneficial to look up some maps showing the area that comprised Lower Canada and Upper Canada. It is also beneficial to know that Quebec was once called Canada East and Ontario was called Canada West.
After selecting a census you can search it by clicking on the blue "Search: Database" button at the bottom of the table of contents. Before conducting your search it is often beneficial to familiarize yourself with the information that it contains and how that information was collected. Each census has a page that lists the column headings, and abbreviations that were used. To learn how the information was collected you can read the enumerator instructions. I find this particularly helpful when searching for a persons age as some returns required the enumerator to round the age of adults over 15 to the nearest multiple of 5. In some cases the enumerators were provided with an entire book of instructions. In that case I just read the sections that are most important to me conducting the initial search then reference it accordingly after I have found the household I was searching for. For example, the 1881 census has an instruction manual containing 84 pages!
The search parameters for early census returns have less search fields as they featured less identifying information, but in general basic searches can be performed using the following fields: keywords, surname, first name, age, and province. If you are finding too many results there is an option to perform an advanced search in which you can use the additional fields of: district name, district number, subdistrict name, subdistrict number, division number, and page. The district and subdistrict information can be found on the previous page under the "issues about this census and database" section or on the top right under Related > Databases and Districts > Districts and Sub Districts. The district and subdistrict names and numbers can vary with census returns therefore it is beneficial to check before performing an advanced search.
Unfortunately there is no way to filter or sort the results, however there are two ways of viewing them. The first is by clicking on the blue item number. This will take you to a page where the information for that person has been transcribed. On that same page you can view the record as a JPEG or PDF. The second way to view a result is by directly viewing the record. This can be done by clicking on the blue JPEG or PDF link below the census image.
*Note that this post was originally published in 2020, and although it has undergone several minor revisions, the layout of bac-lac website may have changed*
Related Posts
Canadian Census Records (Part II)
Canadian Census Records (Part III)
Canadian Census Records (Part IV)
Canadian Immigration Records (Part I)
Canadian Immigration Records (Part II)
Was Your Ancestor Double Enumerated?
New Release: The 1931 Canadian Census
Tips for Finding Your Family in the 1931 Canadian Census
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