The process for finding Chinese Case Files at Library and Archives Canada has changed considerably since I first wrote about the finding aids in 2020. Some individual Chinese Case file information is now findable through Collection Search. Use Advanced Search for searching by numbers.
Tag: research tips
Researching Supreme Court records at the BC Archives
Genealogists are interested in a wide variety of court records from adoption to wills. I don't know about you, but I learn best by doing. In this series, I'll share what I learned about researching Supreme Court records at the Royal British Columbia Museum and Archives, Victoria, in April, 2025. For the record - haha… Continue reading Researching Supreme Court records at the BC Archives
WWII: what is a genealogy pack?
In Canada, most Second World War military files are only available on request. In this blog, I'll explore the difference between ordering a complete file and a genealogy pack by looking at two requests for the same records for the same person. If you're new to Canadian military files, see my posts Exploring First World… Continue reading WWII: what is a genealogy pack?
How to navigate Order-in-Council records part 3: online at Ancestry
As Joanna said, Ancestry's "Canada, Immigrants Approved in Orders in Council, 1929-1960" collection contains the names of twenty thousand sponsors and sixty thousand immigrants 1930-1960. It's a rich source of genealogical information for this period, and unusual for Canada, relatively recent information. If your family sponsored a family to come to Canada, you too might find their records here.
How to navigate Order-in-Council records part 2: online at LAC
It's surprising to see how much hand's on work the Privy Council did with regards the lives of ordinary Canadians. Exploring OIC records has given me insights into the thinking of the men at the centre of power: how laws are formulated and how they are managed. It's the paperwork that creates unintended genealogical records. I have a passion for exploring Chinese Canadian history but OIC records included a wide swath of the population, from Armenians to Yugoslavians.
How to navigate Order-in-Council records, part 1: real life at LAC
In the next posts I will explain Order-in-Council records: what they are and how to find them. This post explains researching at the national archives in Ottawa, Ontario. If you'd like to start with the first one, see "Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada - a rare head tax refund tale using OIC… Continue reading How to navigate Order-in-Council records, part 1: real life at LAC
The startling details of a Chinese Case File, pt. 4 – How to get your ancestor’s file
This is the follow up post to "Chinese Immigration Act Case Files: Finding aids at LAC," written exactly three years ago. In that post, I'd hoped to one day acquire a Canadian Chinese Case file. Now I have seen four and they are everything I'd hoped - and feared - they would be. For my community, simultaneously ignored by some systems while being overdocumented in others, it feels right that we reacquire the information collected about us.
[updated] My Chinese family in Vancouver was [not] overlooked by the 1931 Census of Canada -a guest post by Carol F. Lee
In this update to a Jul 2023 post, Carol finally finds her family on the 1931 census. This two-part post shows how truly difficult it can be to find your family, even when you are a careful, skilled, and thorough researcher.
Don’t overlook free digital records with my Heritage Canadiana / Library and Archives Canada hack, part 2
I like poking around in HC. There's the thrill of discovery - what will I find today - but once I find something, I automatically want to know more about it. This is when we need to find our way back to LAC. There are other ways to search LAC - by collection title or mikan number to name two - but using the reel number gives more targeted results. Multiple results for a single reel reference number means there are multiple collections on one reel.
Don’t overlook free digital records with my Library and Archives Canada / Heritage Canadiana hack, part 1
This weekend, I noticed more than one reel digitized at HC with no indication at LAC. Maybe at some point in the future, LAC will sync seamlessly with HC and the two will work simultaneously. Until that happens, check for the "secret" reels.