The Canadian connection

How many of us have spent countless hours attempting to find relatives who immigrated from the Old Country to Canada, either to stay or as a stopping point on the way to the United States?

I’ve spent years attempting to find the record of my great-grandfather’s entry into Canada to visit relatives before his journey onward to New York City. I have not yet been able to find him or the elusive relatives he went to visit.

However, there are new sources from the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) that might help, and if you find the information you’ve been seeking for so long, please let Tracing the Tribe know about it.

Click here for the Passenger List index (1865-1935).

Details include name, age, country of origin, occupation and destination of each passenger, and are organized by port and arrival date. Search lists for the ports of Quebec (1865-1921); Halifax (1881-1912, soon to 1922); Saint John (1900-1912); North Sydney (1906-1908); Vancouver (1905-1912); and Victoria (1905-1912 shortly).

Click here for The Likacheff-Ragosine-Mathers Collection, which contains some 11,400 files created from 1898-1922 by Canadian consular offices of the Tsarist Russian Empire. They include files - such as passport applications and questionnaires - on Jewish, Ukrainian and Finnish immigrants who came to Canada from the Russian Empire. Half of this data is available now, with the rest to be added.

For more information, contact Project Manager Angele Alain, webservices@lac-bac.gc.ca.