Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto)

Address:
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Public Rights Administration
360 Laurier Avenue West
10th floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1

Web site: http://www.archives.ca/02/020202/0202020404_e.html

Post-1935 Immigration Records

Citizenship and Immigration Canada have records of immigrants arriving at Canadian land and seaports from 1 January 1936 onwards. Applications for copies of documents must be submitted on an “ Access to Information Request Form ” by a Canadian citizen or a resident of Canada.

Fee: $5.00, payable to the Receiver General for Canada

The request must be accompanied by a signed consent from the person concerned or proof that he/she has been deceased twenty years. Proof of death can be a copy of a death record, a newspaper obituary or a photograph of the gravestone showing name and death date.

The request should include the following information: full name at time of entry into Canada, date of birth, year of entry. Additional information is helpful, such as country of birth, port of entry, and names of accompanying family members.

Copies of Access to Information Request Forms and Personal Information Request Forms can be obtained from most Canadian public libraries and federal government offices.

Naturalization Records

Citizenship Registration and Promotion holds records of naturalization and citizenship from 1854 onwards. The originals of records dated between 1854 and 1917 have been destroyed. However, a nominal card index has survived, which provides information compiled at the time of naturalization, such as present and former place of residence, former nationality, occupation, date of certification, name and location of the responsible court. The index rarely contains any other genealogical information.

Records created after 1917 are more detailed, indicating the surname, given name, date and place of birth, entry into Canada, and in some cases, the names of spouses and children.

The same rules/fees, etc., apply as for requesting information from the post-1935 passenger list. The only difference is the request should include: full name, date and place of birth, and if possible, the number of the Canadian citizenship or naturalization certificate.