1921 Canadian census free online
Over eight million records from the 1921 Canadian census have been published for free on the Libraries and Archives Canada (LAC) website ( bac-lac.gc.ca).
The LAC has created a new database allowing users to search images of 8,800,617 records by name.
The database is the 16th set of census records published by the LAC, with the earliest dating from 1825. It was added to ancestry.com in 2013, but this is the first time it’s been made freely available online.
The census began on 1 June 1921. 11,425 enumerators collected data across the nation, which was then divided into 11 provinces and territories.
Canadian censuses are more detailed than English ones. As well as your ancestor’s name, residence and occupation, they include details such as their nationality, race, language, religion as well as their level of education.
In 1955, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics was authorised by the Public Records Committee to microfilm and destroy the original paper records of the 1921 census. As a result, the census only exists in microfilms, which LAC scanned to create the images. The microfilming was not of consistent quality and some images are hard to read or unreadable.
One of the notable people found in the 1921 census is LM Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables and its sequels. Listed under her married name of Lucy Macdonald she is living with her husband Ewen, a minister, their two sons and a servant. Interestingly the enumerator has crossed out ‘Author’ under her occupation and written ‘None’.
To search the database, go to bac-lac. gc.ca/eng/census/1921.