Citizenship Registration Records for the Montreal Circuit Court (1851-1945)

Search Help

• Background
• Database
• Search Screen
• How to Interpret the Results
• How to Obtain Copies of Citizenship Registration Records
• Other Resources

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Background

From 1763 until the Canadian Citizenship Act came into force on January 1, 1947, people born in Canada were all British subjects. Since immigrants born in Great Britain and the Commonwealth were already British subjects, they had no need to become naturalized or to obtain British citizenship in Canada.

A number of earlier laws governed naturalization before 1947. 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. These acts include:

• The Local Act also known as Law of Naturalization and Allegiance implemented on May 22, 1868.
• The Naturalization and Aliens Act of 1881 by which the Secretary of State was empowered to issue naturalization certificates to government employees. All other requests for naturalization were handled by provincial courts.
• The Naturalization Act of 1914 which gave full responsibility for the issuance of naturalization certificates to the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration, implemented in 1916.

Library and Archives Canada holds many collections of naturalization records. Records prior to 1850 are accessible through the Upper Canada and Canada West Naturalization Registers (1828-1850) database.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada holds records of naturalization and citizenship from 1854 to the present. 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 Canada Gazette. These lists are accessible through the 1915-1932 Canadian Naturalization database.

Library and Archives Canada holds records created by the Circuit Court office in Montreal. Most records were created between 1868 and 1916. A typical file will include:

• the petition
• the oath of residence
• the oath of allegiance
• and the certificate issued by a Justice of the Peace

and provide the following information for each petitioner:

• name
• age
• residence
• former residence
• place of birth
• length of residence in Canada
• occupation
• and date of naturalization.

Samples of Documents

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Database

This research tool provides access to 8432 references to the Citizenship Registration Records for the Montreal Circuit Court held at Library and Archives Canada. Each file was consulted in order to verify the name, age, place of birth and year of naturalization for each individual.

The content of the database entries reflects the original language used in the documents. This information was not translated. Most of the files consit of four printed form pages in English.

Important note: Given that some of the original documents are very difficult to read, some information in the database may be incorrect and/or incomplete.

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Search Screen

The search screen allows you to search by the name of the individual. You can enter a surname and/or given name.

Note that some entries include only an initial for the given names. Try searching by surname only.

When you have entered your search terms, click on "Submit". The number of hits found will be shown at the top of the results screen.

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How to Interpret the Results

Results List

Your search results will be posted as a summary list from which you will be able to obtain more detailed descriptions.

The results list contains the following fields:

Name (surname and given name)
Year of Naturalization

Click on the underlined name of the individual for more detailed descriptions of items of interest to you.

Detailed Description

The detailed description contains the following fields:

Name (surname and given name)
Age
Country of Birth
Year of Naturalization
Volume
File Number
Reference

You can obtain more details on citizenship registration records for the Montreal Circuit Court by clicking on Fonds Description.

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How to Obtain Copies of Citizenship Registration Records

Library and Archives Canada holds the original citizenship registration records for the Montreal Circuit. Each file consists generally of four pages. They are not available on microfilm.

You can print the images or save the images on your own computer. To print a copy of a scanned image, right click on the image, select copy, then paste to your word processing software, using the Edit: Paste Special Feature: Device Independent Bitmap.

Use the following link for other options such as ordering copies. Please provide the exact name, file number, volume and reference.

How to Access Library and Archives Canada Records

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Other Resources

Some provincial and territorial archives also hold citizenship and naturalization records. Records from 1854 are still in the custody of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Consult Citizenship to obtain more information on additional resources to find naturalization and citizenship records.