Northern genealogists excited about release of 1931 census records
CBC
Thursday marked a big day in the genealogy world, and a big day for people researching their family trees.
That's the date the Government of Canada released its 1931 Census.
By law, personal information in the census can only be made public 92 years after it was completed, meaning people will now have access to important ancestral information.
Genealogists, like Sudbury's Barbara Roy, say it's an important resource for researchers looking into their family tree.
"One of the first things, if you're just starting out, is trying to find that information on your family," Roy said.
"And until you know where they were, where they came from, unless you have access to a living relative who can give you that information, the census is really your next best tool to use."
According to Melissa Beckett and François Deslauriers, who both work for Digitization Services Division at Library and Archives Canada and wrote a blog post on the project, the team digitized 187 microfilm reels, for a total of 234,678 images.
Those images are live on the Library and Archives Canada website, which people can search by province, district and sub-district.
Beckett and Deslauriers detail the very precise process – from microfilm handling to auditing the reel – in their post.
It's that kind of care that allows for microfilm reels to last several years in proper storage – 500 years, according to the duo – which lets genealogists fill in the blanks on their family trees.
"You get a whole lot of information, like where the people lived, how many people were in the family," Roy said.
"Of course, there's always family stories where maybe people didn't get along and maybe [discovering] some family members that they didn't mention."
According to Statistics Canada, the 1931 census contained questions "to gauge the extent and severity of unemployment and to analyze it causes."
In 1931, Canada was still grappling with economic upheaval during what historians call the Great Depression.
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