Historal Parish Registers banner
Home

Genealogy

For All Canadian Citizenship by Descent (C-3) Requests:

The Archives does not hold the original copies of parish register books and does not have the jurisdiction to issue certified copies of records.

All available microfilmed parish records from our collection have been digitized and published on ARCAT Online for personal research. 

Please contact the Archives of Ontario for copies of civil records. For church records that pre-date the start of civil records, contact the approrpiate parish to inquire whether they have the resources available to fulfill your request.

ARCAT is not available for genealogical research. 

If you are looking for birth, marriage and death records, these come under the jurisdiction of the Province of Ontario. These government records (or 'civil records') often contain more genealogical information than Church records.

Vital Statistic Records are transferred from the Office of the Registrar General of Ontario to the Archives of Ontario after a certain date. A new year is released to the general public on an annual basis. 

Visit the Archives of Ontario website to find out more about accessing Vital Statistics Records.

Digitized Records

ARCAT is pleased to provide access to our pre-1910 Historical Parish Registers via our digital collections portal, ARCAT Online.

Dynamic digital images of these registers are available, and users have the option to download PDF copies of individual pages.

The registers you will find on ARCAT Online include records from parishes within the boundaries of The Archdiocese of Toronto: the City of Toronto; the regional municipalities of Peel, York, and Durham; and Simcoe County. Record dates range from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.

Please note that not all of each parish's records have been digitized, therefore, there may be gaps in the records available

Click HERE to access our Historical Parish Registers and to view the unique artifacts and other materials showcased on ARCAT Online.

Historical Parish Registers

Parishes maintain records of administered sacraments. Historically, Baptisms and Marriages were recorded; however some registers also list First Communion, Confirmation and Deaths. 

Burial registers for Catholic Toronto cemeteries are kept by Catholic Cemeteries. Historical burial records for rural parish cemeteries - if they exist - are usually kept by the parish that administers the cemetery. We do not have duplicate copies of rural cemetery registers.

Elmbank Cemetery (a.k.a. Toronto Township Cemetery #29, Gore Cemetery, 5th Line Cemetery) was formerly located within the confines of Pearson International Airport and relocated to Assumption Cemetery, Brampton in 2001. View photos and transcriptions of the headstones at www.archtoronto.org/elmbank

Ontario Ancestors (formerly Ontario Genealogical Society) has transcribed headstones from various Catholic cemeteries within the current boundaries of the Archdiocese of Toronto.