Canada Naturalization and Citizenship: Difference between revisions

=== Locating Naturalization Records ===

Naturalization proceedings were conducted by any executive office or judicial court that had the authority to grant citizenship. Naturalization records may be at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, in the courts, or in archives. The individual should have received a certificate when he finally became naturalized.  

Citizenship or naturalization records are valuable for non-British immigrants. These records begin with some aliens’ declarations taken in Lower Canada (Quebec) in the 1790s. Records from other eastern provinces date from the early or middle 1800s.  

The Family History Library has many naturalization records of Canadians coming to the United States, but only a few such records for Canada. See the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:  

[PROVINCE] - NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP  

[PROVINCE], [COUNTY] - NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP  

The National Archives of Canada in Ottawa has microfilm copies of naturalization papers for Upper Canada (Ontario) dated 1828 to 1850. These are on two rolls of microfilm at the Family History Library:  

Upper Canada. Provincial Secretary’s Office. Naturalization Returns, 1828–1850. Ottawa: Public Archives of Canada, 1980. (Family History Library microfilms [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=512984&disp=Naturalization+returns%2C+1828%2D1850%20%20&columns=*,0,0 1631550–551; computer number 547872].) This source contains about 3,000 entries, which include the immigrants’ names, occupations, residences, and dates of naturalization.  

An index to the Naturalization Returns, 1828–1850 is:  

McKenzie, Donald A. Upper Canada Naturalization Records, 1828–1850. Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, 1991. (Family History Library book [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=533199&disp=Upper+Canada+naturalization+records%2C+1%20%20&columns=*,0,0 971.3 P42m; computer number 656151].)  

Records made for Canada by the Department of the Secretary of State between 1854 and 1917 were destroyed. There is still an index with information such as name, residence, and court of certification at:  

Citizenship and Immigration Canada<br>Public Rights Administration<br>300 Slater Street<br>3rd Floor, Section D<br>Ottawa, ON K1A 1L1<br>Canada  

Telephone: 888-242-2100 (in Canada only)  

The same office holds records created after 1917. These records are more detailed and include a person’s family name, given name, date and place of birth, date of entry into Canada, and sometimes the spouse’s or children’s names. To obtain naturalization records, a resident or citizen of Canada must submit an Access to Information Request Form, available at Canadian post offices.  

Naturalization records of Canadians who moved to the United States may be an excellent source for the town or city where your ancestor was born (especially records after 1906). See United States Research Outline, "Naturalization and Citizenship." A high percentage of those named in the Index to New England Naturalization Petitions, 1791–1906 are of Canadian origin. Film numbers of the 117 microfilms (Family History Library microfilms 1429671[http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=19737&disp=Index+to+New+England+naturalization+peti%20%20&columns=*,0,0 –1429787; computer number 305194]) are in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under any New England state, such as:  

CONNECTICUT - NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP  

For more information, See the "[[Canada Emigration and Immigration|Emigration and Immigration]]" section of this outline.