Birth, Marriage and Death Records

Vital Statistics Records (Registrations of Births, Marriages and Deaths) come under the jurisdiction of the Province of Ontario. Often these government records (or 'civil records') 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.

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.

• Master List of Parishes and Churches - determines which parish holds the earliest records for an area
• Maps of Early ​​Pari​​shes of the Archdiocese of Toronto - plots parishes that existed in 1910
• Index of Town and Place Names in the Archdiocese of Toronto - tracks place names which have changed over time

Access to the records

In the Archdiocese of Toronto, original parish registers are not available to the public. DO NOT contact parishes for access to these registers.

The Archives is not available for individual genealogical research. However, if time permits, staff may provide genealogical information as regulated by provincial privacy legislation.

Digitized Records

In the 1980s, ​ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also microfilmed our parish registers up to the year 1910. Most of the microfilm reels have been digitized and can be accessed online through FamilySearch. This website is free but requires you to create an account to access any digitized records. 

​Please note that not all of each parish's records are currently digitized. If you notice gaps in the records available, consult this listing of the microfilm reel contents to determine if the records exist but were not digitized. 

Please note that this is not an ongoing program; we no longer permits third-party duplication.

Log in to your FamilySearch account in a separate window, and then click on a Parish Name in our listing below to view the respective parish's records.