A recent change to Canadian citizenship law is sending people in the United States and beyond on a search for their family roots, creating an unexpected surge in demand among church archivists of all denominations.
Citizenship for people born outside Canada used to be limited to just children of Canadian citizens, but since Parliament passed Bill C-3 in December, someone born outside Canada before Dec. 15, 2025, can be recognized as a Canadian citizen if they have a Canadian grandparent or great-grandparent. For that to happen, they need to apply for proof of citizenship – and that’s where archivists come in.
Since December, archives across Canada have seen a surge in ancestral research requests, and the archives for the Diocese of Toronto are no exception. Claire Wilton, the diocesan archivist, and Sarah McDougall, the archives assistant, have been fielding hundreds of requests from people looking for their Canadian ancestors.
“It’s been nonstop,” says McDougall. “We used to respond to genealogy requests, and I would say the whole thing would take about a week. We’re now telling people, hopefully by the end of this month or up to five weeks, because we are just so inundated. It’s extreme, and it was unexpected.”
Normally, the archives gets 75 to 100 genealogical requests each year. In the first three months of 2026, they were already up to 88 requests, with more coming in each day. The archives charges a $30 search fee for up to an hour of research, along with fees for certified copies, and the incoming funds show just how high the demand is.
“Normally we make about $1,200 a year in fees. We’d already made over $5,000 up to May,” says Wilton.
The ease of finding an elusive ancestor can depend on how much information a requestor has, often from sites like Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.
“Some people have done a great deal of research, and they’re fairly certain of exactly where the person lived,” says Wilton.
Others know only that their great-grandparent was born in Ontario, requiring a lot more digging. In that case, the archives team often refers them to records from the Toronto Public Library or Library and Archives Canada to help narrow down the search. They say requestors are often surprised by what’s involved in searching historical records, and how little is available online.
“I think because Ancestry and FamilySearch are so pervasive now, they assume that our records must be available to that level as well, and they’re just not,” says McDougall. “It’s almost like an education moment. It’s been neat seeing people who have never given archives a second thought having to come to us. I do feel like people are learning, which is really cool.”
They both say they’re not surprised that many of the requests are coming from Americans who are uncomfortable with the current political climate in their home country. McDougall admits that she’s particularly attached to those cases.
“It’s the ones who are part of marginalized communities, such as LGBTQ folks and people of colour. Those are the ones I’m most concerned about, because they’re the ones who I think are the most afraid and want to come up here,” she says.
When a new request comes in, the first resource the archivists check is their map to see which churches existed at the time. That leads them to parish registers, where baptisms and marriages were recorded. With historical realities like changing parish boundaries, renamed townships, travelling clergy and new settlers on the move, finding the right record is part skill and part luck.
“It’s really a struggle for me, even though I know that it’s like a needle in a haystack for some of these. You really want to be able to find it,” says Wilton. “It’s so exciting when you’ve had a real string of not finding something and you finally find something. It’s like a big party.”
But success can be elusive. There’s simply not enough time to check every register, and sometimes requestors are left disappointed. Wilton guesses her success rate is about 40 per cent.
“It’s so hard when you’re just going to check one more church – what if it’s at that one? It’s really hard to give up, because you just don’t know,” says Wilton. “We’ve seen cases where a whole family is baptized when the oldest kid is 16, so that means you could look for a 16-year period. I usually do 10 years as a reasonable period to look for, but it’s challenging to give up.”
Both archivists have had cases where a name pops up somewhere unexpected during unrelated research, like a woman from Darlington Township who appeared in the registry for St. Philip, Etobicoke, some 80 kilometres away.
“You can never be 100 per cent certain that you’ve actually searched everywhere. And that’s hard, too, because Claire and I both want to do the best possible job, and you never know,” says McDougall.
Despite the increase in their workload, both archivists say they’re happy to help so many people looking into their family histories – though they’re also hoping the numbers start to subside soon.
“Sarah and I love genealogy, which I think makes us very much want to help people, but we also do have to respect the fact that we have a lot of internal work that still needs to be done,” says Wilton. “We’re just trying to find a rhythm and a balance whereby we’re able to help but also focus on our work.”
For her part, McDougall says she hopes this influx of attention will help more people realize how vital archives really are.
“This really is a moment that I never expected. I think people forget why archives are important, and this has been such an out-of-left-field reminder,” she says. “I’m hoping, especially at a time of financial austerity at all government levels for funding and grants, that this resurgence of need will show that this stuff is actually wildly important.”
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