Canadian Passenger Records 1865 - 1935 - Ancestry.ca

In a world first, Ancestry.ca, Canada's leading
family history website, launched online the Canadian Passenger Lists,
1865-1935, which contains more than 7.2 million names, including 5.6 million
of those who travelled from around the world to start a new life in Canada. The collection is fully indexed by name, month, year, ship and port of
origin and arrival of more than 4,000 ships, and includes original images for
more than 310,000 pages of historical records. It is the first time that these
records have been indexed and made available online. The Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, the originals of which are held
by the Library and Archives Canada (LAC), are the official records of the
arrival of the majority of people accepted as immigrants in Canada during this
key immigration period. An estimated 11.6 million Canadians or 37 per cent of its current
population have ancestors included in this collection(1), which also includes
records for many vacationers and travellers, business people, crew members and
historical figures such as foreign leaders, scientists and celebrities. The collection includes passenger lists from all the major ports of
arrival including Halifax, Saint John, North Sydney, Quebec City, Montreal,
Vancouver, Victoria and even east coast ports in the US where many arrived
before proceeding directly to Canada overland. The main immigrant nationalities arriving in Canada during this period of
rapid growth were British, Irish, Ukrainian, Russian, German, Chinese and
Polish (the majority of French immigrants, the second largest Canadian
immigrant population, arrived prior to 1865). Passengers from mainland Europe usually sailed to Great Britain where
they boarded trans-Atlantic ships at ports such as Liverpool, London and
Glasgow. Immigrants from Europe destined for western Canada landed at ports on
the east coast, then continued their journey by train. Ships arriving on the
west coast carried passengers from Asia, Australia and Honolulu. Contained in the collection are records for a number of ships which
tragically never made it to their final Canadian destinations, including that
of RMS The Empress of Ireland, a passenger ship which was rammed in dense fog
on the St Lawrence River near Quebec on the 29th of May 1914 and sank in just
14 minutes. 1,012 passengers and crew drowned - a larger loss of life than
when RMS Titanic sank. Individual records include information such as the passenger's first and
last name, estimated birth year, year of arrival, port of arrival and
departure, ship name, occupation, final destination in Canada and other family
members listed with their relationship indicated.