Immigration records

Passenger lists are an official government record of incoming passengers arriving in Canada by ship. These lists were not standardized until the twentieth century. They can contain information such as:

• the name of the ship
• port and date of arrival
• name, age and country of origin
• occupation
• destination
• amount of money carried

There are no comprehensive collections of passenger lists before 1865. Most of our passenger lists date from 1865 to 1935.

Explore these pages and databases:

• Passenger lists before 1865 – French Regime, 1608 to 1760
• Passenger lists before 1865 - British Regime, 1760 to 1865
• Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City and Other Ports, 1865-1922 (search by name)
• Passenger Lists, 1865-1922 (search by ship)
• Passenger Lists and Border Entries, 1925-1935 - Nominal Indexes
• Manifest indexes, 1906-1920

For the years 1919 to 1924, individual Form 30A records were used to document arrivals by sea.

The federal government started recording information about individuals arriving in Canada through the United States border in 1908. Since then, several different border entry forms have been used. They each collected different kinds of information, such as:

• name and age
• country of birth or citizenship
• occupation
• destination
• port and date of entry

For the years 1908 to 1918 and 1925 to 1935, they used border entry lists.

For the years 1919 to 1924, they used individual Form 30 records to document arrivals by land.

There are no border entry records before 1908.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) holds the records of immigrants who arrived from 1936 to the present. Library and Archives Canada does not have copies of those records.

You can submit an application to IRCC by using one of their forms:

• Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Online Request
• Application for a Verification of Status (VOS) or Replacement of an Immigration Document

You can address questions about those forms to IRCC.

You may find references in various federal government records, including these:

• Immigration Branch Central Registry Files (RG76): Most of the records relate to administrative, policy and operational matters from 1893 to the mid-1900s. There are only a few files on individual immigrants and for those files, the person’s name usually appears in the title. There are other files relating to groups of immigrants. The word “lists” usually appears in those file titles. Examples include records relating to:
  • immigration reception buildings, sometimes called “sheds”, detention buildings and hospitals where immigrants were treated
  • medical examinations
  • refugees
  • immigrants from specific countries or ethnic and religious groups
  • the Empire Settlement Act, such as the 3000 British Families Settlement Scheme
  • organizations that helped immigrants come to Canada, such as the Salvation Army and the Overseas Settlement Committee
• Department of Agriculture (RG17): That department was responsible for the administration of immigration from 1868 to 1892. Some of the files include names of immigrants. The file titles do not always specify if names are included.
  • Some RG17 files relate to home children. You can search those files by name in our Home Children records database.
• Department of the Interior (RG15): There are some records relating to immigration to the western provinces in the period from 1892 to 1916.

To search for these types of government records:

• Go to Collection Search.
• Select Advanced Search.
• In the Database field, select Collections and Fonds.
• In Any of these words, enter a keyword. Examples of keywords:
  • a person’s name
  • immigration, immigrant, emigrant, settler, settlement, refugees
  • lists
  • RG number, such as RG76, RG17 or RG15
  • a place or province in Canada or another country
  • the name of an organization
  • building, hospital, shed, detention, medical examination

There was no central register of deportees until the 1960s. Few deportation case files before that have survived. You can find lists of deportees in some government records. For information on finding those resources, consult our guide on deportation records.

In times of war, the government has identified certain segments of the population as “enemies of the state” or “enemy aliens.” In some instances, such individuals were deported from Canada.

During the Second World War, Japanese Canadians were designated as “enemy aliens.” From 1941 to 1947, Japanese Canadians were offered two options:

• deportation to Japan (referred to at the time as “repatriation”)
• being sent to internment camps outside of British Columbia

10,000 naturalized Canadian citizens of Japanese descent were deported to Japan.

LAC holds this record relating to Japanese deportation:

• Repatriation of Japanese (RG76, volume 647, file A66589, parts 1 and 2, starts on microfilm C-10586 and continues on C-10587)
  • This file includes lists of naturalized Canadians repatriated to Japan from 1941 to 1947.

To learn more about Japanese Canadian internment and to find more archival records, see our guide on the topic.

If your ancestor left Canada, there may be other sources available:

• During the Second World War, women and children wanting to leave the country needed permission to do so. For example, a woman wishing to marry a serviceman in England or a widow or orphan returning to Scotland to live with family. You can find names and details in lists in this file:
  • Regulations to control travel of women and children entering or leaving Canada during wartime, 1940-1946 (RG76, volumes 455-456, file 694686, microfilm C-10397 and C-10398)
• The National Archives in England has a collection of inward passenger lists, 1878 to 1960. Many of those lists are for ships departing from Canadian ports. The lists are digitized and indexed on the subscription website Ancestry. It's available free at many libraries including Library and Archives Canada.
• The names of Canadians entering the United States were usually recorded in American government border records, 1895 to 1956. Those lists are often referred to as the St. Alban’s lists. Most of the records are digitized and indexed on Ancestry and the free website FamilySearch.
• If your ancestor moved to Maine, there may be a record of them in the Maine State Archives’ collection of digitized Alien Registrations.

Admitted

Admitted entry as a non-immigrant or as a returned Canadian.

Alien

A person who was not a British subject or a Canadian citizen.

BICA

British Immigration and Colonization Association.

Boys Training Scheme (1927)

A cooperative arrangement between the federal and provincial governments to bring older British boys to Canada and train them for farm work for eventual placement with local farmers.

British Bonus

A commission paid by the Canadian government's Immigration Branch to steamship booking agents in the United Kingdom for each suitable immigrant who purchased a ticket to sail to Canada. The immigrants themselves did not receive a bonus.

CA

Church Army.

C of E (C of ES)

Church of England.

CEA

Catholic Emigration Association.

CA

Church Army.

CGEA

Canadian Government Employment Agent. These agents received commissions from the government for placing newly arrived immigrants with employers who were seeking labourers or domestics.

CJWOC

Canadian Jewish War Orphans Committee.

CIAS

Catholic Immigrant Aid Society.

CNR and CPR

Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway. In addition to transporting immigrants by sea and rail, the CNR and CPR also recruited labourers for farm employment through their own colonization departments.

Continental Bonus

A commission paid by the Canadian government's Immigration Branch to steamship booking agents in European countries for each suitable immigrant who purchased a ticket to sail to Canada. The immigrants themselves did not receive a bonus.

Detained

Not permitted to immediately enter the country, usually for medical reasons.

Domestics

Young women trained overseas to work as domestic help.

Empire Settlement Act (ESA)

Under the ESA the Canadian government offered assisted passage to young men and women, in the form of loans and reduced fares, to encourage the immigration of farm labourers and domestic workers.

File (Fyle) no.

A file originally contained within the Immigration Branch's old Central Registry Files series. Unfortunately, the files relating to individual immigrants were not retained.

GTR

Grand Trunk Railway.

Guide

Written beside surnames on some 1925-1935 records. It refers to old guidelines used by the Immigration department when creating nominal indexes.

Harvesters

Men recruited to assist Canadian farmers with harvesting on the Prairies.

IMM 1000

Individual Record of Landing document in use from 1952 to 2003.

Immigrant

In 1911, an immigrant was defined as a person entering Canada with the intention of acquiring Canadian domicile.

Landed Immigrant

A person who has been legally admitted to Canada for permanent residence.

MV

Motor vessel (type of ship).

NABC

National Association of Boys Clubs.

Nat.

Naturalized or applied for naturalization.

North Atlantic Trading Company (NATC)

A company contracted to find suitable immigrants, 1899-1910.

NCHO

National Children's Home and Orphanage.

Overseas Settlement Committee (OSC)

The British government body that dealt with Empire migration dating from 1919.

P.C. (Privy Council)

Refers to amendments (Orders in Council) relating to federal government Acts, such as the Immigration Act. For example, PC920 related to the minimum amount of money an individual must have in their immediate possession in order to be allowed admittance into Canada.

Permanent Resident Card

Proof of permanent residence status, effective 2004.

RG76

Records of the Immigration Branch records held at Library and Archives Canada (Record Group 76).

Rejected

Denied entry by an immigration official to enter Canada.

Released

Released from detention and allowed to enter Canada.

Remittance man

A young British immigrant to Canada, usually a family's second son, who received a remittance or allowance from his family.

Ret'd Canadian

A returning Canadian resident.

RMS

Royal Mail Ship. Some passenger ships were authorized to transport mail.

SA

Salvation Army.

Sec. SS

Section and sub-section of the Immigration Act under which an individual’s entry was rejected.

Smith’s Permit

Refers to an immigration official named Smith who gave permission for an individual to immigrate to Canada or to remain in Canada. It was likely John Obed Smith, who was the Assistant Superintendent of Emigration from 1908 to 1924. Previous research has been unable to locate any other information about the use of the term “Smith’s Permit/Card”.

SPCK

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

SS.

Steamship.

Steerage

The least expensive accommodations on a passenger ship.

3000 Families Scheme (1925-1928)

Under the terms of the Empire Settlement Act, the Canadian government made land available to British immigrant farmers, while the British government advanced settlers funds for stock and equipment.

Transmigrant under Bond

This phrase was often stamped by British immigration officials on the passports of passengers who disembarked from European vessels and boarded trans-Atlantic ships in British ports. The bond likely refers to the guarantee between the shipping companies and the British government that the transmigrants were not remaining in Great Britain.

UC of C

United Church of Canada.

VDCK

Volksverein Deutsch-Kanadischer Katholiken/Volksverein Deutsch-Canadischer Katholiken, church-affiliated association that assisted Russian-German immigrants.