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Guide to Canadian Jewish Genealogical Research

From retired JewishGen course Canada and the Great Lakes May 2012. Updated by Bruce Brown for JewishGen Education, September 2023

Canada Background

Canada has the world’s fourth-largest Jewish population.  According to the Canada 2001 Census, there were 348,605 Jews currently living in Canada.

Canada consists of 10 provinces and 3 northern territories.

Map of Canada

Jewish immigration primarily occurred between 1850–1939.  It was the beginning of the pogroms of Russia in the 1880s, and continuing through the growing anti-Semitism of the early 20th century, that millions of Jews began to flee the Pale of Settlement and other areas of Eastern Europe for the West.  Although the United States received the overwhelming majority of these immigrants, Canada was also a destination of choice due to enticement for free land and less stringent immigration requirements.  Even for immigrants whose final destination was the United States, steamship companies advertised passage through Canada as a more desirable route for immigrants who wished to avoid tougher U.S. inspectors upon arrival.

The primary ports of Canadian immigration and years of available records are:

  • Quebec City and Montreal (Quebec), 1865-1935;
  • Halifax (Nova Scotia), 1881-1935;
  • Saint John (New Brunswick), 1900-1935;
  • North Sydney (Nova Scotia), 1906-1935 (these include mostly ferry arrivals from Newfoundland and St-Pierre-et-Miquelon, with a few passengers in transit from other countries);
  • Vancouver (British Columbia), 1905-1935;
  • Victoria (British Columbia), 1905-1935;
  • Via New York, 1906-1931; and other eastern United States ports, 1905-1928 (these lists include only the names of passengers who stated that they intended to proceed directly to Canada).

The Library and Archives Canada has an online page for Jewish research.

Researching immigrants to and through Canada

It was not too long ago that the only way to perform Canadian genealogy was by manually slogging through microfilms ordered through the Mormon Church Family History Center (and usually taking two weeks to arrive.)  Things have really changed.  Thanks to lots of volunteer work, more and more records are being computer indexed allowing us to perform Canadian research on our home computer that’s easier, faster, and more productive.

The sections categorized in this document detail the many specific internet locations and organizations to help you find information about your family.  As a minimum in your research, there are three main data sources you will want to know about and have access/contact:

  1. Ancestry.com($) or Ancestry.ca($): Containing many different types of records, this is a subscription service that requires payment, but you should be able to get free access at many local libraries. Ancestry has the broadest selection of computer-indexed material searchable by surname and generally provides the most productive results of any data source. www.ancestry.com or www.ancestry.ca. Frankly, a subscription to Ancestry.com is a must for any serious Canadian researcher.

  2. FamilySearch is free and keeps expanding their collection. Their Canadian holdings are extensive. Canada Online Genealogy Records

  3. Findmypast($) also has a robust Canadian collection. Findmypast

  4. MyHeritage($) also has a growing Canadian collection. MyHeritage.com

  5. The Library and Archives of Canada has a web site called the Genealogy and Family History site that has an index to nearly three million records in a variety of categories. It generally does not provide as productive searches as Ancestry.com but is free. A list of the databases is available and a master search capability is also available online at no cost.

    The National Archives of Canada
    395 Wellington St.
    Ottawa, ON K1A 0N3
    Canada
    613-996-7458

  6. Jewish Genealogical Organizations, Museums and Archives: These groups are organized by city and are a wonderful way to get data such as cemetery records, and newspaper articles such as obits and wedding announcements. Their service is free but they welcome donations. A list of these organizations is provided in a separate section in this document. You can find records generally not available through Ancestry.com.

If you are researching ancestors who settled in Canada, then the following types of documents and records should be of interest to you:

  1. Canadian Census Records; provides the immigration date to help locate the passenger manifest
  2. Passenger Manifests into Canadian and Selected US Ports; includes the major ports of Montreal and Halifax
  3. Border Crossing Records; both from U.S. to Canada and Canada to U.S. Canadian citizens would sometimes visit or eventually immigrate to the U.S. These border records provide useful genealogic information.
  4. Naturalization; the actual naturalization approval form is not much value but the application contains useful data.
  5. Birth, Marriage and Death Records — the Vital Records
  6. Cemetery records and photographs; provides the age, Hebrew name, and father’s name
  7. Newspaper Articles; includes both city and local Jewish papers
  8. City Directories provide the profession and prove residency in the directory year
  9. Voters Lists provide name, address, and profession
  10. National Registration of 1940 provides year of arrival of immigrants
  11. Passport Applications and Identity Documents typically provide age and town of residence
  12. Land Records reveal the date the ancestor was in Canada, sometimes immediately after immigration
  13. Military Records provide age, rank, and location/date of service
  14. Jewish Genealogical Societies, Museums, & Libraries help you find all the above
  15. Ask A Librarian via telephone to request data in a library archive
  16. Meta Search — a search through several search tools simultaneously
  17. Other Archives & Online Search Sites — additional sites to try if none others work
  18. Phonebook Listings if you need to find a living person in Canada
  19. Miscellaneous Sites — other places to go for specialized research projects

If you are researching ancestors who immigrated to the United States via a Canadian Port, the following documents should be of interest:

  1. Passenger Manifests into Canadian and Selected US Ports; includes the major ports of Montreal and Halifax. For passengers heading directly to U.S. cities, there also will be a separate U.S. Passenger Manifest, containing more useful information than on the Canadian manifest. This type of manifest is typically found in Ancestry.com as a border crossing record.

  2. Border Crossing Records; both from U.S. to Canada and Canada to U.S. United States citizens would sometimes visit relatives in Canada or travel there on vacations. These border records provide family names and addresses.

U.S census records will provide the year of immigration that is useful for the Canadian passenger manifest and border crossing searches.

The following sections will provide details on methods and locations to provide the above information.

Canadian Census Records

A hyperlinked table to all available census records is provided below.

All census returns from 1825 to 1916 have been digitized and are currently available on multiple websites. All digital images and indexes to those census returns are available on Library and Archives Canada website. A searchable database for years 1851 to 1921 is available at Ancestry.ca. Steve Morse has a excellent Canadian Census search tool that allows searches on an expanded set of parameters such as address.

Census By Place Where To Find
1825 Lower Canada (Quebec) Census of 1825
FamilySearch.org: Census of 1825
MyHeritage.com: Census of 1825 ($)
1842 Canada East, Canada West Canada East Census of 1842
Canada West Census of 1842
MyHeritage: Lower Canada Census of 1842 ($)
1851 Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Ancestry.ca: 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia ($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collections
The 1852 and 1881 Historical Censuses of Canada
1851 Census of New Brunswick Index
Census of 1851
MyHeritage.com: Census of 1851 ($)
1861   Ancestry.ca: 1861 Census of Canada ($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collections
MyHeritage.com: 1861 Canada Census ($)
1871 Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Census of Canada, 1871
Census of Ontario, 1871
Ancestry.ca: 1871 Census of Canada($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collections
MyHeritage.com: 1871 Canada Census ($)
1881   Census of Canada, 1881
Ancestry.ca: 1881 Census of Canada ($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collections
The 1852 and 1881 Historical Censuses of Canada
MyHeritage.com: 1881 Canada Census ($)
1891   Census of Canada, 1891
Ancestry.ca: 1891 Census of Canada ($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collections
MyHeritage.com: 1891 Canada Census ($)
1901   Ancestry.ca: 1901 Census of Canada ($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collection
Automated Genealogy (searchable by name)
Census of Canada, 1901 (not searchable by name)
MyHeritage.com: 1901 Canada Census ($)
1906 Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Ancestry.ca: 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta ($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collection
Automated Genealogy Index, 1906
Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906
MyHeritage: 1906 Canada Census of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba ($)
1911   Ancestry.ca: 1911 Census of Canada($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collection
Automated Genealogy, 1911
Census of Canada, 1911 (not searchable by name)
MyHeritage.com: 1911 Canada Census ($)
1916 Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Ancestry.ca: 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta ($)
FamilySearch.org: Historical Record Collection
Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1916
MyHeritage.com:1916 Canada Census of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba ($)
1921   Census of Canada, 1921($)
Census of Canada, 1921 (free)
Newfoundland Census,1921
MyHeritage.com: 1921 Canada Census ($)
1926 Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta Census of Prairie Provinces, 1926 at FamilySearch Images not searchable by name
Census of Prairie Provinces, 1926 at FamilySearch Searchable by name
Census of Prairie Provinces, 1926 at Library and Archives Canada Searchable by name
1931 Canada Wide Browse by Sub-District at Library and Archives Canada Images not searchable by name
1931 Canadian Census at Ancestry ($) Searchable by name

Passenger Manifests

Immigration Years Port(s) Name Search Canadian Archives and Ancestry.com Internet Location(s)
1832-1937 This database includes information on 33,026 immigrants whose names appear in surviving records of the Grosse-ÃŽle Quarantine Station between 1832 and 1937. Parks Canada provided the data. Yes CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Immigrants at Grosse-ÃŽle
Yes Ancestry.com: Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935($)
Before 1865 There are no comprehensive nominal lists of immigrants arriving in Canada before 1865. Few such lists have survived. There are some lists available for 1717-1760 and 1786 on microfilm, Irish immigrants in the early 1820s, and Montreal in 1832. Yes CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Passenger Lists before 1865
Yes
Ancestry.com: New Brunswick, Canada, Passenger Lists: 1834 ($)
1865-1922 Quebec (1865-1921)
Halifax (1881-1922)
Saint John (1900-1922)
North Sydney (1906-1922)
Vancouver (1905-1922)
Victoria (1905-1922)
New York (1906-1922)
Eastern American coast (1905-1922)
Yes CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Passenger Lists, 1865-1922
Yes Quebec Port Passenger Lists, 1865-1900
Yes FamilySearch: Canadian Passenger Lists, 1881-1922
Yes Ancestry.com: Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935($)
1919-1924 “Form 30A Ocean Arrivals”

Quebec
Halifax
Saint John
North Sydney
Vancouver
Victoria
Partial; locate reel number to perform manual search. CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Form 30A, 1919-1924 (Ocean Arrivals), Microfilm Surnames

“Microform Digitization” Microfilm reels:

CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Form 30A, 1919-1924 (Ocean Arrivals), Microform Digitization
Yes Ancestry.com: Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924($)
1919-1924 “Form 30 Border Entry” Partial; Based on surname letters, locate reel number to perform manual search. CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Form 30, 1919-1924 (Border Entries), Microfilm Surnames

“Microform Digitization” Microfilm reels:

CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Border Entry, Form 30, 1919-1924, Microform Digitization
1925-1935 Quebec
Halifax
Saint John
North Sydney
Vancouver
Victoria
Yes, but then points to reel number.
First note the arrival date, ship’s name, volume, page and microfilm reel numbers and then consult Microform Digitization to view the actual page.
CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Immigration Records (1925-1935)

“Microform Digitization” Microfilm reels:

CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Microform Digitization
Yes Ancestry.com: Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 ($)

Steve Morse also has developed a web-based search tool that is connected to the Ancestry.com databases covering the years 1865 to 1935.  It offers the ability to filter results by additional parameters, including age.  It is located at SteveMorse.org: Searching the Passenger Lists in One Step.

Note that search terms for the Canadian Ancestry.com database, as well as the Steve Morse front-end, require a minimum 3-letters for either the first or last name.

To view Canadian manifest microfilm reels directly, it is no longer necessary to order them through the Mormon Church LDS Family History Centers.  The manifests can now be viewed at Ancestry.com: Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935($).  On the right side of the screen, under “Browse this Collection” select Port, Year, Month and Ship.  The manifest reels are also accessible online at CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Passenger Lists, 1865-1922.

Records of immigrants arriving at Canadian land and seaports after January 1, 1936 are in the custody of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.  To request a copy of another person’s immigration record, mail your request to:

Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Public Rights Administration
360 Laurier Avenue West
10th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1A 1L1 Canada

Please note that:

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

  • Applications for copies of documents must be submitted on an Access to Information Request Form (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat) by a Canadian citizen or an individual residing in 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 20 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. Proof of death is not required if the person would be over 110 years of age.

Home Children Immigration: Between 1869 and the late 1930s, over 100,000 juvenile migrants were sent to Canada from the British Isles during the child emigration movement. Motivated by social and economic forces, churches and philanthropic organizations sent orphaned, abandoned and pauper children to Canada.The Federated Jewish Farmers of Ontario; Morris Saxe and the Canadian Jewish Farm School, Georgetown, Ontario were associated with this program. Searchable data base here.

Border Crossing Records

An overall explanation of the border crossing records is provided in the article by Smith, Marian L.: “By Way of Canada: U.S. Records of Immigration Across the U.S.-Canadian Border,” 1895-1954 (St. Albans Lists) (National Archives and Records Administration, Prologue Magazine, Fall 2000, Vol. 32, No. 3).

Steve Morse has developed a web-based search tool that is connected to the Ancestry databases covering the years 1895 to 1956. It offers some additional ability to filter results to include age of the immigrant. It is located at SteveMorse.org: Searching the Canadian Border Crossings Lists in One Step.

Some border crossings may not have been accurately indexed so it may be useful to go directly to the index card microfilms at familysearch.org.

The cards are organized alphabetically and numerically in order of Soundex code. The Soundex code can be determined from a surname using a web converter.

With the passage of order-in-council PC 695 on 21 March 1931, the government of Prime Minister R.B. Bennett implemented the tightest immigration admissions policy in Canadian history. Further restrictions were deemed necessary after the onset of the Great Depression in order to combat soaring unemployment and further economic decline.

Naturalization

The Canadian Naturalization Database is available at CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Canadian Naturalization 1915-1951. The database provides access to two sets of records. The first set covers the years 1915 to 1939 and is searchable by name. The second set covers the years 1939 to 1951 and is searchable only by month and year.

Library and Archives Canada gratefully acknowledged the contribution of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal and its volunteers, without which this project would not have been possible. Additionally, the support of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa is acknowledged in the original digitization of the lists from 1915 to 1932.

The detailed naturalization records contain a wealth of information; they usually give the port and exact date of arrival in Canada. If arrival was through the US, they usually also list the US arrival details. In many cases, a wife and children were naturalized along with the father. If the naturalization was prior to 1915, there are no original records, but if the wife or a child later applied for a naturalization certificate in their own name (quite common), many details of the original application (including arrival information) are often replicated in this later application.

These naturalization records can only be requested by Canadian citizens or residents. They are available under the Canadian Access to Information laws, which grant access only to those categories of people. However, there is no requirement that the requestor be directly related to the person naturalized. Any friend or colleague who is Canadian or lives in Canada can make the request. Specific instructions for ordering the Naturalization record are at CollectionsCanada.gc.ca: Canadian Naturalization 1915-1951.

Births, Marriages and Death Records (also known as the Vital Records)

Many free vital records for all provinces are available at FamilySearch.org.

Ancestry.ca’s vital record database($) also accesses a wide variety of records.

The National Archives of Canada does not hold vital records as civil registration is not a federal jurisdiction. Thus Library and Archives Canada does not hold copies of birth, marriage and death registrations and cannot issue certificates. However, the National Archives does provide pointers to the provincial offices that may have the records, as detailed at CollectionCanada.gc.ca: Provincial and Territorial Archives.

A list of online death indexes for Canada is also available.

For other areas of Canada, check with the appropriate Jewish Genealogical Societies listed in a separate section below.

Facebook Discussion Groups

Jewish Cemeteries

Newspapers & Obituaries

The various heritage centers, listed in a separate section, are excellent resources to obtain the city and local Jewish newspapers containing birth, wedding, special event and death announcements.

City Directories

Historic city directories provide addresses and types of business engaged by ancestors. The directories also confirm residency in a particular year.

Voters Lists

Canada Voters lists($) cover the years 1935 to 1980 and typically include name, address, profession or marital status.

National Registration of 1940

The National Registration File of 1940 resulted from the compulsory registration of all persons, 16 years of age or older, in the period from 1940 to 1946. The information collected includes name, address, age, date of birth, conjugal status, dependents, country of birth, nationality, racial origin, languages, education, general health, class of occupation, occupation or craft, employment status, work experience by type, mechanical or other abilities, latent skills, wartime circumstances, previous military service. A search can be undertaken by Statistics Canada for an individual after the following information or documentation has been provided:

  • Proof that the individual has been deceased for more than 20 years. A death certificate is preferable. However, any document that indicates the date of death, for example an obituary notice, is acceptable.
  • The individual’s place of residence during the registration period.

The charge is $45.00 Canadian for each record.

For more information and to order the records, go to Statistic Canada’: Searches of the National Registration File of 1940.

Passport Applications and Identity Documents

An overall discussion of Canadian Passports can be found at Passport Records.

The largest collection of passports is in the Likacheff-Ragosine-Mathers (LI-RA-MA) collection, created 1898-1922 by the consular offices of the Tsarist Russian Empire in Canada; 11,400 files pertain to Jewish, Ukrainian and Finnish immigrants who came to Canada from Russian Empire. The files include passport applications, identity papers and questionnaires containing general information. Released 10/06, 55,000 images are available. Click the “Search” link on the left to search the database.

All other online passport sources have relatively insignificant numbers of holdings.

Land & Estate Records

Military Records

School Yearbooks

Jewish Genealogical Societies, Museums, & Libraries

These organizations provide valuable genealogical information and should be a priority as you do your research.

Ask a Librarian

Many large Canadian libraries have significant genealogical holdings and can provide answers to specific questions, sometimes over the telephone and sometimes over an internet messaging chat capability. These libraries may be found at Genealogy Links: Libraries.

Meta Search

These are sites that perform searches at several other search sites simultaneously.

Other Archives & Online Search Sites:

  • Peel's Prairie Provinces is a resource dedicated to assisting scholars, students, and researchers of all types in their exploration of western Canadian history and the culture of the Canadian prairies. This website contains both an online bibliography of books, pamphlets, and other materials related to the development of the Prairies, as well as a searchable full-text collection of many of these items.

  • Canada-wide Blog Site with reference links and how-to information at Finding Your Canadian Story.

  • A directory of selected genealogical resources may be found at ArchivesCanada.ca.

  • A world-wide compendium of Jewish genealogy at Blood and Frogs.

  • An impressive number of online books at Early Canadiana Online. Searching on "Jewish" yeilds 7,780 results; "Hebrew" produces 6,229 results.

  • Editions of the Canada Year Book are available for the years from 1867 to 1967

  • Try searching for a name in the top right box at the Government of Canada Web Site. It has links to a wide variety of documents and data bases.

  • A Directory of Canadian Genealogical Resources, enables you to access databases, catalogues and Web sites regarding genealogical fonds and collections all over Canada. As an example, using the keyword “Jewish” it provided links to the various Jewish genealogical societies in Canada as well as the site of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. All told, there are 25 topics covered under the category “Jewish”.

  • The JewishGen Discussion Group Archives

  • Avotaynu Magazine

  • Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s, from the Ancestry.ca site: “This database contains over two million records referencing individuals from all regions of Canada, as well as early Alaska. The vast majority of the records fall between 1600 and the mid-to-late 1900s, although some records date before the 1500s. Gleaned during twenty years of research from over one thousand different sources — including city directories, marriage records, land records, census records, and more &#mdash; this collection of names represent one of the most complete indexes to historical Canadian records available.”

  • A blog site of latest Canadian genealogy news, links and data bases is at Genealogy a la carte.

  • A large number of links can be found at the blog site Climbing My Family Tree.

  • Ten Free Canadian Genealogy Sites

Canadian Phonebook Listings (current)

Miscellaneous (Non-Online Search) Sites

  • Center for Jewish History

    In addition to general histories of the Jews in Canada, both the American Jewish Historical Society and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research have library and archival resources containing genealogical information about Jews in Canada. Additional resources are available in the Genealogy Institute.

  • United HIAS Service, Main Office, N.Y

    Collection includes materials on Jewish Immigrant Aid Society, Canada. Consult the finding aid, which will help locate correspondence and some immigrant lists from specific European countries to Canada for the period of 1944-1962. YIVO Record Group 245.7.

  • National Jewish Welfare Board, Bureau of War Records. Include data cards on individuals in the service, 1940-1969, ordered alphabetically.

Making Your Searches More Productive

Even having ready access to all of the online databases, it is easy to miss ancestor records due to variations in the spelling of their first and last names. Spelling errors typically occur because:

  • As a matter of convenience, the ancestor deliberately changed the spelling over the years, but we emphasize that name changes did not occur at the Port of Entry.

  • Names were altered due to the disparity in pronunciation of certain letters between English and other languages.

  • Census takers and other government employees collecting and recording data made spelling errors on their forms due to a variety of reasons.

  • The person who did the computer indexing misinterpreted the spelling due to the agent’s bad handwriting or poor image quality and entered the names incorrectly into the database.

Recognizing that inconsistent spellings may be more the rule than the exception, it is useful to have a search strategy to deal with the challenges of locating records without knowing the exact spelling.  Around 1920, a phonetic indexing technique "SOUNDEX" was developed to deal with spelling variations.  In 1985, the method was further refined by Randy Daitch and Gary Mokotoff to better accommodate eastern European names.  But in many instances we may want to perform an “Exact” spelling search to reasonably limit the numbers of responses to search queries.  For exact searches, the proper use of the asterisk (*) and question-mark (?) wildcards as letter substitutes is critical.  An asterisk is used to replace one or more letters, while a question mark substitutes for only one letter.

There are two general strategies for determining how to use these wildcards.  The strategy also has to take into account that for Canadian Manifest queries, the first or last name must have at least three letters.

The first strategy is to make a list of all known name variations from records already collected.  Here is an example of such a list:

ZELBOVITCH
ZELBOVITZ
ZELL

The common search term to include these names but open the door for new possibilities would simply be ZEL* . A variation of the search, excluding ZELL, could also have been ZELBOV* or even Z?LB?V* if we had doubts about the vowels. This search ultimately found the correct manifest for ZELBOVICIUS.

A second strategy is in cases where we don’t have the luxury of owning records showing possible name variations. Take SANOFSKY. The first step is to go to a listing of known Jewish name variations such as the “Searching Ashkenazic Reference Books for Jewish Surnames in One Step” and the Avotaynu Surname Database. Here is an excerpt:

SoundexNameDatabases
467450SAMOVSKIDK
467450SAMOVSKIID
467450SAMOVSKIJLn
467450SAMOWSKIA
467450SAMWICKKg
467450SANOFSKYJKg
467450SANOVSKIYD
467450SANOWSKAA
467450SANOWSKIA

Looking at the surnames that may be close to SANOFSKY, we can experiment with various search term alternatives. Assume the first letter is an S, but we are not sure if the second letter is an A or O. And we will assume an “SK” sound, but not sure if a Y or I ends the name. We can construct a universal search term to accommodate all these assumptions: S*SK? In fact, this search term came up with the successful search for SANOWSKY. In most instances, many variations of the search terms, using the wildcards, will be required.


APPENDICES

Appendix A: The Jewish Community in Canada

The earliest Jewish community in Canada was established in 1759, when Jews were first officially permitted to reside in the country.  The first congregation was founded in 1768 in Montreal.  Jewish settlement was mainly confined to Montreal until the 1840’s, when Jewish settlers slowly began to spread throughout the country.  Jewish immigration increased around the turn of the 20th century, as it did in the United States.  Today, Jews make up approximately 1.2% of Canada’s population.

Other sources of information include:

Appendix B: Books and Periodicals

University of Calgary has many online books available at their Our Roots website. You don't need to log on in order to use the site. You can search by book title or content. Of particular interest are the following titles:

  • Creating community - images of Vancouver's Jewish history - 25th anniversary of the Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia

  • Heritage & history - the Saskatoon Jewish community

  • Land of promise - the Jewish experience in Southern Alberta

  • Pioneers, pedlars and prayer shawls - the Jewish communities in British Columbia and the Yukon

  • The architecture of Jewish settlements in the prairies - a pictorial history

  • Peaceful Invasion (book about immigrants to Manitoba)

  • Wapella farm settlement - (the first successful Jewish farm settlement in Canada) - a pictorial history

The following list are "hard copy" books available from a wide variety of sources:

  • Arnold, Abraham. The Life and Times of Jewish Pioneers in Western Canada. (Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada) 1969.

  • Canadian Jewish Year Book 1939/40, edited by Vladimir Grossman. Includes articles and statistics about the Jews of Canada and the world. Lists Jewish organizations, histories of the organizations (including some discussion of individuals), and books published that year.

  • Dor L’Dor. Journal of the Jewish Genealogy Society of British Columbia.

  • Eker, Glen and Deborah Pekilis. Jewish Residents of the Maritimes in the 1901 Census of Canada. (1993). Lists name, date of birth, place of birth, year of immigration, occupation and place of residence.

  • Gottesman, Eli. Who’s Who in Canadian Jewry. (Jewish Institute of Higher Research, 1965).

  • Israelite Daily Press: the 100th Anniversary Souvenir of Jewish Emancipation in Canada and the 50th Anniversary of the Jews in the West. (Israelite Daily Press, 1932). English and Hebrew.

  • Jewish Residents in the Canadian Census. Montreal & Quebec City (1871-1901); Toronto (1861-1901); Western Canada (1861-1901); Canadian Maritime Provinces (1901); Greater Quebec Province (1871-1901). Alphabetical listings within districts.

  • Montreal Forum. Quarterly publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal.

  • Prominent Jews of Canada: A History of Canadian Jewry Especially of the Present Time through Reviews and Biographical Sketches, edited by Zvi Cohen (Canadian Jewish Historical Publ. Co., 1933).

  • Rosenberg, Louis. Jewish Mutual Benefit and Friendly Societies in Toronto, 1896-1944. (Canadian Jewish Congress, 1946). Does not mention individual names, but provides a demographic overview of Jews in Canada and the societies in Toronto. AJHS F 1059.5 .T68 R5.

  • Shem Tov. Journal of the Toronto Jewish Genealogy Society. Genealogy Institute.

  • “The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue,” from John Borthwick, Historical and Biographical Sketches from Borthwick’s Gazetteer of Montreal. (n.d., 1890’s). Accomplishments of Montreal’s Sephardim.

  • Tapper, Lawrence F. Archival Sources for the Study of Canadian Jewry. (National Archives of Canada, 1987). English and French.

  • Tapper, Lawrence F. Biographical Dictionary of Canadian Jewry, 1909-1914: From the Canadian Jewish Times. (Avotaynu, 1992).

Books Online

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