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About Canadian Naturalization and the Project
About Canadian Naturalization
From 1763 until the Canadian Citizenship Act [www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/legacy/chap-5.html] came into force on January 1, 1947, people born in Canada were British subjects. Thus, immigrants born in Great Britain and
the Commonwealth, being British subjects by birth, had no need to be naturalized or to obtain British citizenship in Canada.
A number of earlier laws governed naturalization. Under these acts, aliens could petition for naturalization. If successful, they would swear allegiance to the British sovereign and would be granted the rights of someone born within the British Empire.
The Government of Canada published detailed lists of those naturalized as stipulated by the Naturalization Act of 1914 and later acts. From 1915 to 1932, all naturalizations were published in the annual reports of the Secretary of State, who was responsible for naturalization, and in the Canada Gazette, an official publication reporting weekly on activities of
the Government of Canada. Each entry typically included the person's name, country of origin, place of residence in Canada, and occupation. Names of wives and children were often included.
All naturalization certificates issued for the years 1915 to 1920 were published in the Secretary of State annual report of 1919-1920. In that report, the certificates were arranged by type and serial number. For the years 1921 to 1932, the lists appeared annually and the certificates were listed alphabetically by surname. In most years, there were some names added at the end of the
list detailing supplementary lists or special cases such as revocations.
In all, the naturalization records of approximately 200,000 immigrants to Canada from over 80 countries were documented in the nearly 4,000 pages published from 1915 to 1932. A Chart gives information about the number of people naturalized each year by country
of origin. Nearly 90 years later, the decision to digitize these lists has allowed us to create this online resource relating to Canadian naturalization.
About the Project
The lists of naturalizations published in the Secretary of State annual reports and in the Canada Gazette were recognized several years ago as being a valuable genealogical resource
by a variety of people. Among them was an archivist from Library and Archives Canada who was the founding president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa. At that time, however, the technology to make them available and usable online was not readily available. Genealogists did not broadcast news of this resource at that time due to fears that the fragile paper records could be subject to significant damage through frequent handling.
In 1997, the records were brought to the attention of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal by a political science professor. Through a combination of careful planning and luck, the two Jewish genealogical societies decided to work together to make this valuable resource more accessible to the public. The Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal assumed responsibility for digitization, and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa funded the project. The timing of the creation of the Canadian Genealogy Centre was a perfect match for this project.
Read the Full Story of
the "discovery" and digitization of these records in an article published in the Fall 2002 issue of Avotaynu [www.avotaynu.com], The International Review of Jewish Genealogy.
Ongoing Indexing
In the long term, names from the entire list of naturalizations will be entered and searchable in one database. The Jewish Genealogical Societies of Montreal and Ottawa are coordinating volunteers for indexing the names in the 1921-1932 lists through Canadian genealogy societies. Should your society be interested in coordinating a group of volunteers, please contact Naturalization-Indexing@JGS-Montreal.org for more information.
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