The 1931 Canada census was released this month at Library and Archives Canada. Eager genealogists crashed the servers. Ancestry® released its indexed version on 2 Jun 2023. The sleuths in my group Genealogy for Asian Canadians made a big discovery: in 1931, the enumerators counted the Chinese not in Canada.

Wait, what?

Enumerators counted the Chinese not in Canada

Well, this is a new one for me. I know enumerators want to count everyone but this is a whole next level of counting heads.

Lists of non-resident Chinese, Vancouver, BC

On Ancestry and LAC, the City of Vancouver enumerators listed 1151 Chinese names with the notations, “This information supplied by the department of immigration,” and “to be counted in this district.” There are no addresses. All persons are listed as “lodger.” The handwriting is not the same as the preceding page, suggesting the entries were not made by the same person.

I have so many unanswered questions: Who recorded these names? From where did they get this information? And who decided this was the way to go?

Lists of non-resident Chinese, Victoria, BC

The City of Victoria enumerators followed the same process. On Ancestry you can find a list of 683 Chinese persons with no addresses “to be counted in this district.” Here is page one.

Lists of non-resident Chinese, Nelson, BC

It appears these lists were created for large and small cities. Here is the list for Nelson, BC, with 42 names.

How many of these lists are there? Can we find another?

How to find these lists

Reasoning that Chinese were more urban than rural, I looked for a list for Canada’s largest city: Toronto, in Ontario.

Lists of non-resident Chinese, Toronto, ON

There is no lookup for persons not living in Canada, so first I assumed the lists would be added to subdistricts near existing Chinatowns. Where was Toronto’s Chinatown in 1931? I will also assume Chinatown has not moved in ninety-two years. In 2023, Google Maps shows Toronto’s Chinatown at the intersection of Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street, like a cross extending down both roads.

I found the right area in the 1924 electoral district maps. You can see Chinatown in two subdistricts: Toronto West Centre and Toronto South, bisected by Dundas.

Using Ancestry’s film strip to find the lists

There are seventy-one subdistricts in Toronto West Centre. I clicked on each image in the district (about 3500 images). I was unable to find the lists but I did learn a more efficient method of research.

One of the things I love most about collections like Ancestry’s is the ability to research the entire collection at once. I used the Film Strip feature. This is a toggle in the middle of the navigation panel that brings up a series of images like a roll of negatives. Using this feature allowed me to quickly scroll thousands of images.

The lists I want are missing columns 4-10 and 28-40; therefore, I’m looking for records that are uniformly missing the same information. In the example, you can see in the thumbnails where the columns change. Census pages with normal entries have all of their columns filled while census pages for persons not in Canada are missing eighteen columns. They look like a “T.”

I located the Toronto Chinatown lists in the ninth subdistrict of the second possible Chinatown district of Toronto South. Here it is on Ancestry. The lists run from pages 20-33, with 617 names for Toronto.

Where did the information come from?

Based on a careful reading of the lists, it appears these names are linked to Chinese Immigration registers for C.I.9 certificates. A C.I.9 certificate is a Chinese-only re-entry permit. No registers of C.I.9 have yet been digitized but the records may be found at Heritage Canadiana and Library and Archives Canada.

Researchers theorize there is a connection based on three observations: i) the presence of persons on this list appears to match the existence of CI9 certificates; ii) the organization of the names appears to match the organization of CI9 registers (Canadian-born separate from foreign-born); and iii) some names on these lists appear to have been out of Canada in 1931. For more, see my post, “Over 5K new Chinese Canadian records are now online at Héritage Canadiana.”

Such a concerted effort by enumerators should have been documented but my review of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics 1931 publications and the Instructions to Commissioners and Enumerators, 1931 provided NIL results. I’ll have to come back to this.

Other notable lists – sailors

As is so often the case in genealogy, when you’re searching for one mystery, you find another. I found a list of Canadian sailors, presumably from Ontario, who were also out of the country. Note there are ten pages to peruse, or up to five hundred names.

Again, the Instructions to Commissioners and Enumerators, 1931 was unhelpful in learning why this list was created.

Postscript

It’s been a whirlwind in the run up to the centenary to the Chinese Exclusion Act on 1 Jul 2023. I haven’t had a moment to find my own families in the 1931 census and of course the moment I started looking, I ran straight into another genealogical mystery. If you know why enumerators went to such extraordinary lengths to enumerate Chinese persons not in Canada, please share it with me. Our working theory is that enumerators were charged with counting “all” Canadian residents, alien or otherwise, and the best information for the 1931 census was the register of Chinese re-entry permits.

Thank yous

Thank you to Robert Louie, Connor Mah, Allen Mar, and Betty Tang for your comments, discoveries, and work in my group Genealogy for Asian Canadians, and for sharing the locations of the 1931 Chinese census-cum-immigration lists for Nelson, Vancouver, and Victoria. Thank you to researchers such as Ken McKinlay at Family Tree Knots, and Teresa at Writing My Past, for their posts providing tips on navigating (and correcting) the early releases.

References

“Seventh census of Canada 1931,” 1931, volumes 1-13, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Library and Archives Canada Collection Search (https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.832354/publication.html#shr-pg0 : accessed 16 Jun 2023).

“Seventh census of Canada 1931, instructions to commissioners and enumerators – Regulations pertaining to the census of population and agriculture,” 1931, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Library and Archives Canada Collection Search (https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.832323/publication.html : accessed 16 Jun 2023).

Canada, 1931 Canada Census, Toronto, Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district of Toronto South, subdistrict no. 1, polling division no. 1, Toronto, pgs. 3-13, lists of captains, sailors, and steamship personnel, digital images, images 4-14 of 14, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Jun 2023); citing LAC RG31.

1931 Canada Census, population schedule, lists of Chinese persons “This information was supplied by the department of immigration,” “to be counted in this Sub. District,” digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 Jun 2023); citing LAC RG31.

• Nelson, British Columbia, population schedule, enumeration district of Kootenay West, subdistrict no. 75, pg. 29 of 29, lists of Chinese persons “This information was supplied by the department of immigration,” “to be counted in this Sub. District,” digital images, image 30 of 30.

• Toronto, Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district of Toronto South, subdistrict no. 9, polling division no. 10, Toronto, pgs. 20-34, lists of Chinese persons “to be counted in this Sub. District,” digital images, image 21-34 of 34.

• Vancouver, British Columbia, population schedule, enumeration district of Vancouver Centre, subdistrict no. 38, ward 3, pgs. 80-104, lists of Chinese persons “This information was supplied by the department of immigration,” “to be counted in this Sub. District,” digital images, images 81-105 of 105.

• Victoria, British Columbia, population schedule, enumeration district of Victoria City, subdistrict no. 6, ward 5 (Victoria), pgs. 29-43, lists of Chinese persons “to be counted in this Sub. District,” digital images, images 30-44 of 44.

“Chinese Canadian Genealogy,” n.d., website, Vancouver Public Library (https://www.vpl.ca/guide/chinese-canadian-genealogy : accessed 30 May 2023).

Government of Canada, Department of Immigration and Colonization,  “Chinese immigration records: C.I.9 certificates from Vancouver and Victoria,” digital images, Chinese immigration certificates no. 9, Héritage Canadiana (https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_156416 : accessed 20 Feb 2022); citing reels T-6038 to T-6052.

Government of Canada, Department of Immigration and Colonization,  “Records of entry and other records,” Chinese immigration certificates no. 9, [digital images], Héritage Canadiana (https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_156416 : accessed 20 Feb 2022); citing reels T-16603, T-16604, T-16609,

Government of Canada, Department of the Interior, 1924, digital images, “[Federal electoral district maps, 1924] [cartographic material],” item no. 204320, map of Toronto West-Centre, item 179 of 263, Library and Archives Canada Collection Search (https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/index : accessed 16 Jun 2023); citing reference Local class no.: G1116.F7 .C3 1924, Box number: 2000712119, 2000712122–2000712124, 2000712116, 2000712116, 2000712117, 2000712117, 2000712118, 2000712118.