How to Research Recent Family Members in Canada
Summary Details60-minute presentation with Q&A session and 4-page PDF handout
Audience Level: Beginner -Expert
Summary
Researching recent family members in Canada can be a real headache. Privacy laws and long closure periods limit access to many twentieth-century records, but useful sources are still available. Learn where to look for information about Canadian relatives and how to research recent generations while respecting privacy and access restrictions.
Researching recent family members in Canada can be a real headache. Privacy laws and long closure periods limit access to many twentieth-century records, but useful sources are still available. Learn where to look for information about Canadian relatives and how to research recent generations while respecting privacy and access restrictions.
Description
Finding information about recent family members in Canada can be difficult when many government records remain closed. However, plenty of other sources can help fill in the missing details. Learn how to use online searches, border entry and naturalization records, military records, newspapers, obituaries, directories, yearbooks, voters’ lists, court records, and social media. This presentation explains what may be available, where to look, and how to research twentieth- and twenty-first-century family members while respecting Canadian privacy laws.
Finding information about recent family members in Canada can be difficult when many government records remain closed. However, plenty of other sources can help fill in the missing details. Learn how to use online searches, border entry and naturalization records, military records, newspapers, obituaries, directories, yearbooks, voters’ lists, court records, and social media. This presentation explains what may be available, where to look, and how to research twentieth- and twenty-first-century family members while respecting Canadian privacy laws.
Outline
Privacy laws and long closure periods can make recent family history research frustrating, but closed government records do not mean the search must end. Many other sources can help us learn about relatives who lived in Canada during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
This presentation covers:
Privacy laws and long closure periods can make recent family history research frustrating, but closed government records do not mean the search must end. Many other sources can help us learn about relatives who lived in Canada during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
This presentation covers:
- What Canadian privacy laws and record closure periods mean for genealogists
- How to search for yourself and your family members online
- Search techniques for finding people with common names or limited identifying information
- What social media may reveal and how to use it responsibly
- Border entry records and the evidence they may contain about travel, residence, and family connections
- Canadian naturalization and citizenship records
- Second World War service records and related military sources
- Newspapers, including birth and marriage announcements, community news, death notices, obituaries, and funeral announcements
- City and telephone directories
- School yearbooks, alumni records, and local histories
- Federal, provincial, and municipal voters' lists
- Court, estate, cemetery, funeral home, and probate records
- Professional, organizational, and community records
- How to compare information from several sources before reaching a conclusion
- Privacy, discretion, and respect when researching people who may still be living
Learn how to look beyond closed vital and census records, find alternative sources, and piece together the lives of recent family members in Canada.
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