Between 1815 and 1850 800,000 people emigrated to Canada, mainly from Britain and Ireland. Many of us will therefore have branches of our family in Canada.
A national census of Canada has been conducted every ten years since 1851 and every five years since 1971, in addition to assorted colonial, provincial and local censuses. Under Canadian privacy laws, census records are opened to the public after 92 years.
All Canadian census records are now available to search on Library and Archives Canada's Census Search website.
The 1851 to 1911 Canadian census records are also available on FamilySearch, Ancestry and Findmypast. The 1921 Canadian census records are available on Ancestry and MyHeritage and the 1931 census is available on Ancestry and FamilySearch.
The next Canadian census to be released is the 1941 census, due for release in 2033.
